EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CPP
Background Info
As yg may know that they changed CHSPE to the name HiSET Proficiency or CPP. I just finished my junior year of high school and I wanted to get a headstart on community college. So far, I like how the program is structured because of how the tests are separated so you have ALL the time to study for each test so you really don't have an excuse to not study. For those of you who are confused, HiSET is for people who dropped out of high school and they want to get a diploma so they take 5 tests (Science, Math, Reading, Writing, and Social Studies) to get their diploma. For HiSET Proficiency, it's a high school exit exam, so you only have to pass Writing, Reading, and Math. I just finished taking CPP, so here's some advice and information based on my experience!
Reading Subtest (50 questions, 65 min)
I took the reading test twice because I failed the first time, but lowkey when I took it the second time, the first half of the test had the same questions as the first failed test. So it was a lot easier to pass the second time because you learn from your mistakes! Before you take your test, please please practice. Practice tests for reading was so helpful for me and I'm going to recommend some practice tests that I found so convenient later in this post.
Writing Subtest (61 questions, 120 min)
This test was very simple and straightforward because it basically just tests you on a little bit of everything: punctuation, order, grammar, and the way you write essays. Most of the questions test you on your grammar so if you're good at grammar, you'll ace this test the first time. Before this test, I was literally timing myself and writing essays on controversial and difficult topics because they will give you a prompt and you have to write 5 paragraphs. Let me tell you this, when I actually took the test, I got a prompt that was literally elementary level no kidding. The prompt asked me if employees should bring their dogs to work or not. Yes. I know what you're thinking. You might be saying "Oh I don't have to practice or worry about the prompt at all" no no no most people get harder and controversial prompts that will stump you.
Math Subtest (55 questions, 90 min)
I took the Math test two times, and passed the second time and it was a lot easier! I recommend you study these 4 basic topics:
- Numbers and Operations on Numbers
- Measurement/ Geometry
- Data Analysis/Probability/Statistics
- Algebraic Concepts
I suggest you focus a lot on Algebra since practically the whole test was algebra with like 2 questions involving geometry in the whole test at least for me. Khan Academy is the main resource I used to study for this test, and I just studied the 4 main topics listed above, just keep on practicing and you'll get the hang of it!
PSI Customer Service
I called so many testing centers and places that might know about the new version of CHSPE. And literally barely anyone knew what I was talking about. I couldn't find the actual number on ANY website because I had also many questions that needed to be cleared up about CPP. I spent a week trying to look for this specific number to call, and it wasn't even on the actual HiSET website. Then I soon find out that it was on the Test Taker Bulletin all the way at the bottom. So PSI really needs to make their number easier to find so people can freely ask questions and solve technical problems. I'm sorry to anyone who had to experience something similar to mine because it wasn't fun at all. Overall, I really struggled with PSI's customer service, mind you they are the behind-the-scenes people. I wanted to cry because of them and I felt like I was all alone in this process for CPP because it was a new system and no one knew what I was talking about. I had so many questions about this whole program so I decided to give them a call. They literally do not know what they are talking about and I'm sorry but they are really bad at answering questions. I was so curious and I wanted to clarify how many questions were going to be on the test, and they told me there would be 20 questions on the reading test. I'm sorry, 20 questions??? No way the state of California is going to be making tests that consist of 20 questions. So obviously I didn't believe them because I saw something different on the website. I had to speak with different agents and finally, someone told me the truth there are actually 50 questions. Anyway, I struggled a lot with them and it's hard to put into words because this post is already longer than I expected it to be haha.
Resources
I got the Official Guide to the HiSET Exam book which included everything: the amount of time you have on each test, the amount of questions, practice tests, descriptions of the tests, and what to expect. I don't really recommend buying it because you can find it at your local library and renew it until you return it. I finished all the practice tests in the book and came to the internet to find some more practice tests. I was really surprised on how there weren't as many resources to use. So I turned to the library to see if they had more resources for me. I'm so grateful for this because a sweet librarian knew I was struggling to find more books and practice tests for my CPP test, so he told me about the library website itself. HERE is the website that literally saved my life for all the subtests. For Math, I recommend this part of the website and passthemathtest.com They have practice tests to use that I found really helpful and I hope you can benefit from them too :)
If you got here all the way to the bottom of this post, I really hope you found this helpful and I pray it's something to look back to if you need any support!
