What is the SHSAT? The fall 2026 test, explained for parents
By Trieu Ly · Updated
The Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) is the only thing that decides admission to 8 of New York City’s specialized high schools. NYC residents in 8th grade, or in 9th grade for the first time, can take it. From fall 2026 it has 100 questions in 180 minutes and is computer-adaptive, which changes how your child moves through the test.
Checked against NYC Public Schools’ SHSAT page and its Specialized High Schools page. Test rules also come from the NYC Guide to the SHSAT for 2027 Admissions (PDF). NYC says “2027 admissions” because students who test in November 2026 start high school in September 2027. SHSAT Practice Test is independent and not affiliated with NYC (where our facts come from).
| Who can take it | NYC residents who are current 8th graders or first-time (not repeating) 9th graders, at any public, charter, private, parochial or home school. 8th graders test for 9th-grade seats; 9th graders test for 10th-grade seats. |
|---|---|
| Where and how | On a computer NYC provides. Some public middle schools test at the child’s own school on a school day. Other students test at a central NYC site on a weekend. Paper only for the few students whose IEP or 504 plan requires it. |
| Test days | November 14, 15, 18 and 21, 2026, by grade and school type: SHSAT test dates |
| Test ticket | Registered students get a test ticket in MySchools, NYC’s online system for school applications. It shows the date and site. |
| Results | Early spring 2027 |
| How many tries | Once in 8th grade and once as a first-time 9th grader, then no other chance. |
| Required? | Only for the 8 testing schools. A student can also apply through the general high school application and the LaGuardia audition; NYC says families can use all three paths. |
| Essay | None. ELA is reading comprehension plus revising and editing. |
| Test fee | NYC’s SHSAT pages list no test fee. |
| Who makes it | NYC Public Schools gives the test. NYC’s contract records show it hired Pearson for the computer-adaptive test. |
What is the SHSAT used for?
Of NYC’s nine specialized high schools, 8 admit by SHSAT score alone. NYC says “no other criteria are used.” The ninth school is LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. It admits by audition and does not use the SHSAT.
The 8 testing schools:
- Stuyvesant High School
- The Bronx High School of Science
- Brooklyn Technical High School
- The Brooklyn Latin School
- High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College (HSMSE)
- High School of American Studies at Lehman College
- Queens High School for the Sciences at York College
- Staten Island Technical High School
See how the specialized high schools compare.
How offers work. NYC ranks students by score and gives each one at most one offer, to the highest school on their registration list that still has a seat: how SHSAT offers are made. Some students below the cutoffs may be invited to the summer Discovery program instead.
How many questions are on the SHSAT, and how long is it?
The fall 2026 SHSAT has 100 questions, 50 in ELA and 50 in math, in 180 minutes (3 hours). NYC says each subject includes 10 unscored field-test questions; it does not say which ones, and they do not change how the test adapts.
| Test year | Questions | Time | How it is given | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | 100: 50 ELA + 50 math | 180 minutes | Computer-adaptive | New |
| Fall 2025 | 114: 57 ELA + 57 math | Same | Computer, fixed form | First digital SHSAT; same questions for everyone |
| Fall 2017 to 2024 | 114: 57 ELA + 57 math | Same | Paper | Math included 5 grid-in questions |
| Through fall 2016 | 95: 45 verbal + 50 math | 150 minutes | Paper | Verbal had scrambled paragraphs and logical reasoning |
English language learners (ELLs), eligible former ELLs and students with approved extended time get 360 minutes. ELLs and eligible former ELLs also get directions in 12 languages and NYC’s paper bilingual glossary, but the questions are not translated. For the fall 2025 format, see the NYC Guide to the SHSAT for 2026 Admissions (PDF). For the paper test, see NYC’s 2024-25 Specialized High Schools Student Handbook (PDF) and its 2016-17 handbook.
Check any prep book against this table. If it does not describe the adaptive 50 + 50 test, it covers an older one.
What’s on the SHSAT?
The SHSAT has two sections with 50 questions each: English Language Arts (reading comprehension plus revising and editing) and math.
English Language Arts (50)
- Reading comprehension: passage sets (a reading passage and its questions) on literary and informational texts, such as stories, poems, speeches and science or history articles. Answers come from the text, not outside knowledge.
- Revising/Editing Part A: improve a passage’s ideas and organization.
- Revising/Editing Part B: fix grammar, usage and punctuation in sentences, based on grade 7 language standards. Try 10 Part B style grammar questions.
Math (50)
- Topics: word problems and computation on ratios and proportional relationships, the number system and expressions, equations and inequalities, statistics and probability, and geometry. Try 10 SHSAT-style math questions.
- Level: New York State standards through grade 7. The test for 9th graders goes through grade 8 (see how the 9th-grade SHSAT differs). NYC’s pages do not mention Algebra I, trigonometry or the SAT.
Both sections mix multiple choice, fill in the blank and technology-enhanced items: see the question types on screen.
What “adaptive” means on test day
Adaptive means the test adjusts to your child’s answers: a right answer can bring a harder question, and a wrong one an easier question. The first question is of average difficulty, and the test updates its estimate of your child’s level after each answer, or each passage set. Everyone still answers the same number of questions, on the same standards and question types.
Your child can
- Choose ELA or math first, and split the time between them
- Change answers inside a passage set until the set is submitted
- Use the on-screen tools and scrap paper
Your child cannot
- Skip a question: an answer is needed to move on
- Go back to a math question or a stand-alone ELA question
- Return to a passage set after moving to the next one
- Return to a subject after submitting it
What this changes on test day, and which old tips to drop: SHSAT tips for the adaptive test.
What the SHSAT looks like on screen
Your child takes the SHSAT on a computer NYC provides, with a toolbar of on-screen tools, a clock they can show or hide, and scrap paper. Calculators are not allowed, and NYC does not say whether the software has an on-screen one. No formula sheet is given.
Tools in ELA
- Highlighter
- Answer Eliminator
- Notepad (kept for the whole ELA section)
- Pencil
- Line Reader Mask
- Bookmark (inside a passage set)
- Glossed Word (a pop-up definition for a word with a dotted underline)
Tools in math
- Highlighter
- Answer Eliminator
- Notepad (cleared on each question)
- Pencil
- Line Reader Mask
- Equation Editor (to type some answers)
Tools from the NYC Guide to the SHSAT for 2027 Admissions (PDF, pages 6, 7 and 20). When we opened NYC’s four practice tests on October 14, 2026, the practice toolbar showed Review, Bookmark (ELA), Pointer, Answer Eliminator, Notepad, Pencil, a color contrast setting and Exhibits. That is the practice portal, so the real test’s toolbar may differ.
Scrap paper, calculator and formulas
- Scrap paper: provided, and collected at the end. Only answers entered on screen count.
- Calculator: not permitted. NYC doesn’t say whether the test software has one on screen. Tips: working without a calculator.
- Formulas: NYC says they “will NOT be given,” so learn perimeter, area, volume and surface area by heart. Formulas to know.
Question types
Questions are multiple choice, fill in the blank, or technology-enhanced items, where your child drags, selects, types or graphs an answer. NYC’s sample sheet of item types (PDF) shows each format, not real difficulty:
- Multiple choice
- Multiple response
- Drag and drop
- Fill in the blank
- Equation editor
- Inline choice (drop-down)
- Hot text
- Hot spot
- Table grid
- Point graph
- Shape transformation
- Solution set: 9th grade only
Pacing
100 questions in 180 minutes is about 1.8 minutes a question (our arithmetic). NYC’s guide says: “Do not spend more than a couple minutes on any one question.” Make a real attempt at every question and rule out wrong choices before an educated guess; NYC says rapid guessing at the end is not better than a best attempt.
Try the same rules on a full practice test: answer to move on, no going back in math. Free, no sign-up.
Take the free SHSAT practice testHow is the SHSAT scored?
NYC scores the SHSAT from your child’s pattern of right and wrong answers, weighed against each question’s difficulty. Each subject becomes a scaled score, and the two add up to the composite score that NYC ranks students by. On the adaptive test, the same number right can give different scores: how SHSAT scoring works.
For 2026 admissions, the lowest score that won a 9th-grade offer ran from 495 at Brooklyn Latin to 561 at Stuyvesant. Those students took the fall 2025 test. NYC calls this the “lowest qualifying score” (the cutoff). See SHSAT cutoff scores by school and year.
How to start preparing
Take an official practice test
NYC posts four full online practice tests, with no login, plus answer explanations. NYC has not said whether they adapt. When we opened all four on October 14, 2026, each was a fixed list of 100 questions that did not change with the answers. Start with NYC’s official SHSAT practice tests, and let your child try the Student Readiness Tool to learn the tools and question types.
Or try ours
Our own full-length practice test (50 ELA and 50 math questions, 3 hours) is free with no sign-up. It is a fixed form, so it does not adapt like the real test. Take the free SHSAT practice test.
Score it
The SHSAT score calculator turns the number right into our score estimate, not an NYC score.
Make a plan
Our SHSAT prep plan covers when to start and what to practice.
SHSAT questions parents ask
Is the SHSAT hard?
NYC does not rate its difficulty, but it is competitive: for 2026 admissions, 4,023 of 26,123 students who tested got an offer, about 15%. The math goes up to New York State grade 7 standards (grade 8 for 9th graders), with calculators not allowed and no formula sheet, and there is no passing score.
What is the highest score you can get on the SHSAT?
NYC has not published a maximum, minimum or average score for the new adaptive test. Past tests and what they topped out at are on the SHSAT score calculator page.
How many students take the SHSAT and get an offer?
For 2026 admissions, NYC’s admissions outcomes data shows 26,123 students took the SHSAT and 4,023 received an offer. That is about 15% (our calculation). Offers by school: SHSAT results for 2026 admissions.
How is the SHSAT different from TACHS or ISEE?
Each is the entrance test for a different group of schools. The SHSAT is NYC’s test for the 8 public specialized high schools. The TACHS is for Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn/Queens and the Diocese of Rockville Centre (Long Island). It is an online test of reading, math and language. For fall 2027 entry, 8th graders take it November 6 or 7, 2026, says the Archdiocese of New York. The ISEE is the Independent School Entrance Exam for private (independent) schools, run by E3n, which ERB is now part of, for students applying to grades 2 to 12. Each test has its own registration, so a child applying to more than one kind of school may take more than one test.