SHSAT & SHS Prep:
Every Question, Answered

The SHSAT (Specialized High Schools Admissions Test) is the single entrance exam used by the New York City Department of Education to determine admission to eight of NYC's nine specialized public high schools, including Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech. It is the only criterion: scores alone determine acceptance, with no consideration of grades, recommendations, or interviews.

Yes. Beginning with the 2025 administration, the SHSAT is delivered digitally on the TestNav platform that NYC also uses for state assessments. Students take the test on a school-issued device with split-pane reading passages, drag-and-drop questions, hot text selection, inline dropdowns, and other interactive question types that did not exist in the paper version. Practicing on screens that mirror the real interface is now essential.

The NYC Department of Education typically administers the SHSAT for 8th graders during the last week of October and the first week of November, with 9th-grade testing in early November. Registration opens in early September through each student's school counselor. Exact 2026-2027 dates are published by the DOE in the spring of 2026.

Starting Fall 2026, the SHSAT is a computer-adaptive test with 100 questions across two sections: 50 ELA (Revising/Editing plus Reading Comprehension) and 50 math (multiple choice plus fill-in questions answered with an on-screen equation editor). Question difficulty adapts to your answers, and scoring accounts for difficulty, so harder questions are worth more. Each section's performance score is scaled and the two are summed into a composite used for admissions. Each specialized high school sets its own cutoff score each year, with Stuyvesant requiring the highest, followed by Bronx Science, then Brooklyn Tech.

Eight NYC specialized high schools require the SHSAT: Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn Latin School, High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, and Staten Island Technical High School. Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School (the ninth specialized school) requires an audition or portfolio instead of the SHSAT.

100 questions total in 180 self-paced minutes: 50 ELA and 50 math. ELA is Revising/Editing plus Reading Comprehension passage sets; math covers algebra, geometry, number sense, ratios and proportions, statistics and probability, and word problems, as multiple choice plus fill-in questions. Because the Fall 2026 test is adaptive, the exact mix each student sees varies with their performance. You must answer each question to move on, you cannot return to answered questions (except within a reading passage set before you submit it), and calculators are not allowed.

There are 11 interactive question types on the digital SHSAT that do not appear in any printed textbook: matrix sort, drag-to-table, inline insertion, single target drag, inline dropdown, multi select, drag-to-expression, interactive graph, interactive number line, radio button matrix, and hot text. Practicing them only with paper resources leaves students unprepared for roughly one quarter of the questions on test day.

SHS Prep is the first SHSAT platform built from the ground up for the digital test. Most prep options are either expensive in-person tutoring centers (typically $1,500 to $6,000 for a full prep cycle) or generic online practice that does not replicate the TestNav interface. We built SHS Prep to be a comprehensive alternative: 10 mock exams and 4,900 plus practice questions your child can work through on their own schedule, at their own pace, for a one-time payment. It is not a replacement for a dedicated tutor if that is what your budget allows, but it is the closest thing to a tutor that fits into a normal family's budget and a busy kid's week. We wanted to make a fully comprehensive platform that can stand on its own for students who cannot afford the center or the tutor.

Yes. The platform's question renderer reproduces the TestNav split-pane layout, the interactive question types, and the digital test conventions students see on exam day. There is also a dedicated Digital-Only Question Practice section where students can drill the 11 new interactive formats in isolation until they become reflexive.

SHS Prep offers three plans tied to the SHSAT calendar: a $34 Monthly that auto-cancels at the end of the cycle, a $99 Season Pass for the full 2026 SHSAT cycle, and a $169 Early Studier Plan covering two cycles or two students. All payments are one-time after checkout, with no auto-renew and no surprise charges after the November test.

Nothing: no auto-renew, no surprise charges. The Monthly plan auto-cancels at the end of the SHSAT cycle. The Season Pass and Early Studier Plan expire on a fixed date tied to the SHSAT calendar. You can also cancel or switch plans from your dashboard at any time.

SHS Prep does not currently offer a free recurring trial. The blog has free SHSAT practice resources including a score calculator, study plans, vocabulary guides, and detailed walkthroughs of every question type. For families who cannot afford a paid plan, we offer free and discounted accounts on a case-by-case basis. We want SHS Prep to be accessible to all NYC middle school students. There is no GPA cutoff and the application takes about five minutes; see the next question for details.

SHS Prep is built for 7th and 8th graders preparing for the standard 8th-grade SHSAT, which determines admission to 9th grade at the specialized high schools. The platform also supports 8th graders preparing to take the 9th-grade SHSAT, which determines admission to 10th grade. Younger students (6th graders) can use the platform to start early, but the question difficulty assumes pre-algebra and middle school ELA fluency.

SHS Prep contains 4,900 plus practice questions across all 41 active SHSAT subtopics, evenly split between math and ELA. Every subtopic has dedicated question sets, so nothing is skipped and nothing is over-represented. Questions are tagged by category, difficulty, and question type so students can drill the exact area they need.

There are 10 full-length mock exams (Forms A through J), totaling 1,140 questions. Each mock exam follows the official SHSAT blueprint, runs under timed conditions, and is auto-scored on submission. After each test students get a Skills Snapshot and a detailed analytics breakdown showing per-category accuracy, question-type performance, and recommended focus areas.

Most successful candidates study consistently for 6 to 12 months before the test. A typical study plan is 5 to 10 hours per week starting in the spring of 7th grade or the summer before 8th grade, ramping up to 10 to 15 hours per week in September and October. Cramming in the final weeks rarely produces meaningful score gains because the test rewards deep familiarity with question patterns and timing strategy.

The most effective workflow is: (1) take a full mock exam to establish a baseline, (2) review the analytics to find your weakest subtopics, (3) drill those subtopics in Targeted Practice with the lessons and question sets, (4) take a second mock exam two to four weeks later, (5) repeat the cycle. The Digital-Only Question Practice section should be folded in early so the interactive formats become routine before test day.

No. No legitimate SHSAT prep program can guarantee a score because outcomes depend on the student's starting point, time invested, study consistency, and test-day execution. SHS Prep provides the questions, mock exams, lessons, and analytics needed to prepare effectively, but the work is the student's. Families who use the platform consistently and engage with the analytics tend to see substantial improvement between mock exams.

For self-motivated students, yes. SHS Prep gives students more practice questions, more mock exams, and more detailed analytics than most in-person tutoring centers, at a fraction of the price (centers and private tutors in NYC typically run $1,500 to $6,000 for a full SHSAT cycle). For students who need accountability, motivation, or one-on-one feedback to stay on track, an in-person tutor or hybrid approach may work better. Many families use SHS Prep alongside a tutor as the practice and analytics layer, since the platform covers the volume of drills a tutor can not deliver in weekly sessions.

We offer free and discounted accounts on a case-by-case basis for any NYC middle school student whose family cannot afford the platform. No GPA cutoff. We want SHS Prep to be accessible to all. The application takes about five minutes and lives at /signup/scholarship. SHS Prep was built to be a standalone tool for students who would not otherwise have access to prep, not a luxury add-on. Families can also email team@shsprep.com and we will help directly.