What is the SHSAT?

The Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) is an exam targeted toward New York City’s seventh and eighth graders. There are nine “specialized” high schools across the city’s five boroughs, and eight of these schools require the SHSAT for admissions. This exam is the only criteria for admission into these schools — no essays, no interviews, just a good score on the SHSAT.

Fiorello LaGuardia High School is the only specialized high school that does not require the SHSAT, as it is a school for music and the performing arts. The eight schools do require the test are:

  • The Bronx High School of Science

  • The Brooklyn Latin School

  • Brooklyn Technical High School

  • High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College of New York

  • High School of American Studies at Lehman College

  • Queens High School for the Sciences at York College

  • Staten Island Technical High School

  • Stuyvesant High School

What’s on the SHSAT?

The SHSAT is divided into two sections. The first section is related to English Language Arts (ELA) and consists of a Revising/Editing component as well as a Reading Comprehension component. Revising/Editing Part A will test students on basic grammar concepts, while Revising/Editing Part B is more concerned with how to improve a passage on the basis of clarity, precision, and flow. There are 57 questions in total, with 9-19 questions for Revising/Editing and 38-48 questions for Reading Comprehension — all multiple choice.

The second section is related to Math. The Math section starts off with five grid-in questions followed by 52 multiple-choice questions. The questions are based on seventh grade Math concepts; if you choose to take the SHSAT in ninth grade, however, you will have to answer a handful of eighth-grade-level Math questions.

How is it scored?

SHSAT scores are collated using a raw score, a scaled score, and ultimately a composite score.

The raw score is tallied based on the number of questions answered correctly. Each question is worth a single raw point, and there is no penalty for incorrect or blank answers. (Sidebar: This means you should always guess.)

There are 114 questions on the SHSAT in total, and 20 of those questions are known as “field test” questions. Field test questions are quite literally being tested out by the Department of Education — as a result, these questions don’t count for anything. Do not waste any time trying to find field test questions; the DOE will never draw attention to them.

The final raw scores are then converted into a scaled score. This is where SHSAT scoring gets a little tricky: each specialized high school scales their scores differently, the scales change every year, and the DOE never releases what the scaled scores are.

What does this mean for your SHSAT prep? It means that you should primarily focus on raising your raw scores as much as possible, only focusing on any scaled score estimates as exactly that — estimates to give you a rough idea of where your SHSAT practice test scores might place you.

Person with pen and paper

Where and when is the SHSAT taking place? (Two-for-one question)

There are several schools across the five boroughs that serve as SHSAT test sites. Among the specialized high schools that typically serve as testing sites are Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science, Staten Island Tech, and Stuyvesant. Other schools include Hillcrest High School and Long Island City High School. When you register for the SHSAT, you will be appointed a testing site depending on the location of your current school.

In the past, the SHSAT was usually taken around the last weekend of October. However, as a result of the pandemic, the 2020 SHSAT was only finally administered on August 18th of this year. The DOE has yet to announce a date for the 2021-2022 SHSAT; thus, it is highly recommended that you visit their website regularly to check for updates.

Why does the SHSAT matter?

The SHSAT is the only rubric that determines admissions into eight of the nine specialized high schools of New York City. Schools such as Brooklyn Tech and Stuyvesant are not only extremely competitive in nature but also bring a level of prestige that is not shared by too many other New York schools. In other words, getting into one of these specialized high schools has the potential to create outstanding opportunities for your academic future.

Since there’s neither an interview nor an essay component involved in specialized high school admissions, success on the SHSAT is your only option if you hope to attend one of these schools — that’s the bad news. The good news? We have our SHSAT experts at the ready to help you understand and master the ins, the outs, and the what-have-yous of SHSAT prep.

Take your first step toward conquering the SHSAT by reaching out to an expert and asking for help. Click here now for a free consultation!