HAST Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield HAST facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. A jacket costs $80. It is on sale for 25% off. What is the sale price? → $60
2. Which is the most precise and concise revision of: 'Due to the fact that it was raining, the event was cancelled'? → Because it was raining, the event was cancelled.
3. A passage describes an inventor who failed 1,000 times before succeeding. The author's main purpose is most likely to: → Inspire readers to persist through failure
4. A rectangular piece of paper is folded in half twice (each fold halves the paper). How many layers of paper are there? → 4
5. If a shape has four equal sides and four right angles, it is a square. Shape X has four equal sides but no right angles. What is Shape X? → A rhombus
6. A square is divided into 4 equal smaller squares. Three are shaded. What fraction of the large square is unshaded? → 1/4
7. What is the meaning of the idiom "spill the beans"? → To reveal a secret
8. Some athletes are students. All students study hard. Which conclusion is definitely valid? → Some athletes study hard
9. Select the word that best completes the sentence: Despite the heavy rain, the football match was ______. → Continued
10. Which sentence uses the apostrophe correctly? → The dog's collar is red.
11. Which figure does NOT belong: circle with dot inside, square with dot inside, triangle with dot inside, rectangle with no dot? → Rectangle with no dot
12. What is the greatest common divisor (GCD) of 24 and 36? → 12
13. In a pattern sequence, each shape gains one side per step: triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon. What comes next? → Heptagon
14. A pattern alternates: large dark circle, small light circle, large dark circle, small light circle. What is the 7th figure? → Large dark circle
15. Solve for x: 3x + 5 = 20 → 5
16. A farmer has both chickens and cows. There are 20 heads and 56 legs total. How many cows are there? → 8
17. Four boxes are labeled Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. Only one label is correct. The Red box is not Red, the Blue box is Blue. Which label is correct? → Blue
18. HAND is to FINGER as FOOT is to _____? → Toe
19. Identify the assumption: 'We should increase funding for public libraries because reading improves literacy.' → Public libraries promote reading
20. Which sentence is in the active voice? → The scientist discovered a new element.
21. Which punctuation correctly ends a direct question embedded in a statement: 'She asked whether the test would be hard'? → Period (.)
22. A 3D shape has 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices. What is it? → Cube (rectangular prism)
23. A bag contains 3 red, 4 blue, and 5 green marbles. What is the probability of picking a blue marble? → 1/3
24. A story's narrator says: 'I never trusted him, and now I know why.' This is an example of: → Foreshadowing resolved
25. An isometric drawing shows a shape with 3 visible faces: a top, a front, and a right side. Each face is a 2×2 square grid. What is the shape? → A 2×2×2 cube
26. What is the next number in the sequence: 2, 6, 12, 20, ...? → 28
27. Choose the word that is most opposite in meaning to "APPROVE": → Reject
28. If today is Monday and an event occurs every 5 days starting today, on which day does it next occur after Friday? → Monday
29. A passage says: 'Despite the storm, the crew pressed on.' What does 'despite' signal? → A contrast between an obstacle and an action
30. What is the effect of using short, fragmented sentences in a piece of writing? → Creates tension and urgency