SHSAT (Specialized High Schools Admissions Test)

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Who Takes the SHSAT?

Eligible New York City students applying to one of the eight testing Specialized High Schools can take the SHSAT.

Students who take the SHSAT are generally:

• Current NYC residents in 8th grade applying for 9th-grade admission
• Current NYC residents in 9th grade for the first time applying for 10th-grade admission

Students attending public, charter, private, and parochial schools may be eligible to take the test.

The SHSAT is administered in the fall for admission to a Specialized High School the following school year.

Major Change: The SHSAT Is Now Computer-Adaptive

Beginning with the fall 2026 SHSAT for fall 2027 admission, the SHSAT is moving from a paper-and-pencil assessment to a computer-adaptive test.

This is an important change for students preparing for the exam.

On a computer-adaptive test, the difficulty of the questions a student receives changes based on the student’s performance as the test progresses.

Students begin with a question or passage set of average difficulty. As they answer questions, the testing system continually updates its estimate of their performance.

Generally:

• Correct responses may lead to more challenging questions.
• Incorrect responses may lead to lower-difficulty questions.
• The test continues adapting as the student progresses.
• Every student answers the same number of questions.
• All students are tested on the same grade-level standards, content areas, and question types.

Students should focus on answering each question as accurately as possible rather than rushing through to reach the end of the test.

How Many Questions Are on the SHSAT?

The current SHSAT contains 100 questions divided into two sections:

Students have a standard testing time of 180 minutes, or 3 hours, to complete the test.

Students may choose whether they begin with the ELA or Math section.

What Is on the SHSAT ELA Section?

The ELA section contains 50 questions assessing two primary areas:

Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension questions measure a student’s ability to understand, analyze, and interpret texts.

Students may need to:

• Determine central ideas
• Identify important details
• Make inferences
• Analyze an author’s purpose or point of view
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases in context
• Analyze how ideas develop
• Use evidence from a text
• Compare or connect ideas

Revising and Editing

Revising and Editing questions measure a student’s ability to recognize errors and improve written text.

Students may need to evaluate:

• Sentence structure
• Grammar and usage
• Punctuation
• Word choice
• Organization
• Clarity
• Development of ideas
• Transitions
• Relationships among sentences and paragraphs

For passage sets, students can return to questions and change their answers until they submit their responses for that passage set.

Is There an Essay on the SHSAT?

No. The SHSAT does not include an essay.

The ELA portion assesses Reading Comprehension and Revising and Editing through test questions rather than an extended written essay.

What Is on the SHSAT Math Section?

The Math section contains 50 questions.

According to NYC Public Schools, the Math section covers areas including:

• Ratios and proportional relationships
• The number system
• Expressions
• Equations
• Inequalities
• Statistics and probability
• Geometry

Students should be prepared to apply mathematical concepts to both straightforward and multistep problems.

The assessment is aligned with the New York State Next Generation Mathematics Learning Standards applicable to the grade level being tested.

How Long Is the SHSAT?

Students receive 180 minutes, or 3 hours, of standard testing time.

Because students choose which section to begin with, they should develop a pacing strategy that allows sufficient time for both ELA and Math.

Students with approved testing accommodations may receive additional time or other accommodations according to NYCPS policies.

Where Do Students Take the SHSAT?

Students taking the current SHSAT use NYC Department of Education-provided computers.

Testing may take place:

• At the student’s home school during an SHSAT School Day administration, or
• At an assigned testing site on a designated weekend test date

Students cannot take the SHSAT at home and cannot use their own computer for the test.

How Is the New Computer-Adaptive SHSAT Scored?

The move to computer-adaptive testing changes how the system calculates student performance.

Each SHSAT question has an established difficulty level. As a student progresses through the test, the system estimates performance based on the student’s pattern of correct and incorrect responses relative to question difficulty.

The system updates the performance estimate as the student answers additional questions.

At the end of the assessment, the student’s final performance score is calculated and transformed into the reported SHSAT score.

The ELA and Math performance scores are standardized into scaled section scores. Those scaled scores are then combined to create the student’s composite SHSAT score used for ranking.

This means families should not attempt to predict a student’s current SHSAT score simply by counting the number of questions answered correctly on a practice test. The new adaptive scoring process also considers the questions’ difficulty characteristics.

How Are SHSAT Scores Used for Admission?

Admission to the eight testing Specialized High Schools is based on a combination of:

1. The student’s SHSAT score
2. The student’s ranked Specialized High School preferences
3. Available seats at each school

The process considers students in descending order of SHSAT score.

The student with the highest score is considered first and receives an offer to their highest-ranked school that has an available seat. The process continues in score order until the available seats are filled.

Because school preferences matter, students should carefully consider the order in which they rank the Specialized High Schools.

Can Students Review Their SHSAT After Testing?

Students who take the SHSAT in fall 2026 can sign up for a Test View in spring 2027 after scores are released.

Families should follow NYC Public Schools instructions after scores are released for information about requesting a Test View.

How Should Students Prepare for the Computer-Adaptive SHSAT?

Preparation for the new SHSAT should include both content mastery and familiarity with digital adaptive testing.

Students should:

1. Strengthen ELA Reading Comprehension skills.
2. Practice Revising and Editing questions.
3. Review all Math content tested at their grade level.
4. Practice multistep mathematical problem solving.
5. Become comfortable reading passages and solving problems on a computer.
6. Practice the current digital SHSAT question formats.
7. Work with questions across a range of difficulty levels.
8. Develop a pacing strategy for the three-hour test.
9. Review incorrect answers to identify skill gaps.
10. Take full-length digital practice tests before test day.

Because the assessment is adaptive, students should practice careful, accurate problem solving rather than simply trying to answer questions as quickly as possible.

NYC Public Schools also provides an official SHSAT Guide, preparation information, sample questions, and full-length digital sample tests.

Practice for the SHSAT

TestingMom offers SHSAT practice designed to help students strengthen the ELA, Math, reasoning, and test-taking skills needed for Specialized High School admissions testing.

For students preparing for the new SHSAT, practice should increasingly reflect the computer-based format, current question types, and range of difficulty levels students may encounter.

Want to try us out? Sign up for a free account today and get 100 free practice questions.

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