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One of the tests you may need to take before high school is the High School Placement Test, or HSPT. The test has multiple-choice questions that cover five subjects. The HSPT has reading, math, language, verbal, and quantitative sections. Anyone will tell you that the key to passing a major test is through preparation before you take the test. If you’re looking for free HSPT Reading section test practice, Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools have your back! You can choose from several different free practice options, including the Question of the Day. Every day, you can answer a free random question that pertains to the HSPT Reading section.
The Question of the Day changes on a daily basis. Each question is pulled from a massive collection of free HSPT Reading section practice tests. When you are registered with the website and you answer the question each day, you get a full assessment based on how you did, including any past questions that you may have answered. You are given key information that can provide valuable insight into your learning needs. You can see what concepts you most frequently get incorrect, and where you are at your strongest, allowing you to focus your studies on that particular area through other Learning Tools, such as Learn by Concept, flashcards, or full-length practice tests.
The Question of the Day provides further intelligence into your HSPT Reading section test preparedness, such as what percentile you would be placed by ranking you among anyone else that answered the question, and how long you took to answer the question. The information is further able to be used to help you create a specific study plan based on your individual needs, allowing you to use your study time on materials that you need to study. Through the randomization, you reap the benefits of rotating through different topics, such as ensuring the information is fresh in your mind, and preventing boredom related to sticking to the same topic.
With Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools, you have the ability to study a wide range of different HSPT Reading section concepts. The Question of the Day covers them all at random, allowing you to have a quick refresher on a daily basis. You’ll be asked questions pertaining to the following HSPT Reading section topics: contemporary life, natural science, humanities, and social science. These may focus on comparison, contrast, main ideas, passage reasoning, authorial purpose, implied characteristics, inferring, predicting, concluding, cause and effect, fact and fiction, and details. In addition, there are questions for defining vocabulary words, finding the meaning among multiple possible meanings, and using context clues to determine word choice.
Before it’s time for you to take the HSPT, take the time to review the Question of the Day and other Learning Tools. They offer a valuable combination of focused study on core concepts, as well as free practice testing to determine how ready you really are. Rather than simply memorizing different ideas and facts, you can use your study time to test yourself on your true knowledge.
Question of the Day: HSPT Reading
Adapted from Ten Great Events in History by James Johonnot (1887)
Following the Council of Clermont, preparations for invading the Holy Land began in almost every country of Europe. The nobles mortgaged their estates, the farmer endeavored to sell his plow, and the artisan his tools to purchase a sword. During the spring and summer of 1096, the roads teemed with crusaders, all hastening to the towns and villages appointed as the rendezvous of the district. Very few knew where Jerusalem was. Some thought it fifty thousand miles away, and others imagined it but a month's journey; while at the sight of every tower or castle the children exclaimed "Is that Jerusalem?"
Little attempt at any organization was made, though the multitude had three leaders. It is said that the first band, consisting of twenty thousand foot, with only eight horsemen, were led by a Burgundian gentleman called Walter the Penniless. They were followed by a rabble of forty thousand men, women, and children led by Peter the Hermit. Next followed a band of fifteen thousand men, mostly Germans, under a priest named Gottschalk.
Like their nominal leader, each of the followers of Walter the Penniless was poor to penury, and trusted for subsistence to the chances of the road. In Hungary, they met with loud resistance from the people, whose houses they attacked and plundered, but in Bulgaria, the natives declared war against the hungry horde; they were dispersed and almost exterminated. Some, including Walter, reached Constantinople, where they awaited Peter and his companions. The Hermit, who had the same difficulties to contend with in marching through Hungary and Bulgaria, reached Constantinople with his army greatly reduced, and in a most deplorable condition. Here he and Walter joined forces. They were hospitably received by the emperor, but their riotous conduct soon wearied out his patience, and he was glad to listen to a proposal to help them at once pass into Asia.
The rabble accordingly crossed the Bosphorus, and took up their quarters in Bethynia. Here they became perfectly ungovernable, ravaging the country around, and committing incredible excesses; at length Peter, utterly disgusted and despairing, left them to their own guidance and returned to Constantinople. The bravest of them were annihilated in a battle fought near Nice, Walter the Penniless falling with seven mortal wounds. Between two and three thousand alone escaped. The emperor dismissed them, with orders to return home, and thus ended the disastrous expedition of Walter the Penniless and Peter the Hermit.
The fifteen thousand Germans led by Gottschalk never reached Constantinople, being slaughtered or dispersed during their passage through Hungary. Thus, within a few months, upward of a quarter of a million of human beings were swept out of existence. And they had spent their lives, without one important result having been accomplished. This was the worst paroxysm of the madness of Europe.
Can we infer is the main reason for the failure of the first crusades described in the passage, according to the author?
A lack of armor
Disorganization and a lack of careful planning
Poor morale
Terrible leadership
A lack of friendliness to other early crusaders
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