SHSAT

Introduction “Is the SHSAT test hard?” That’s the million-dollar question swirling around in the minds of countless 8th and 9th graders in New York City every year. As the ticket to the city’s prestigious specialized high schools, the SHSAT (Specialized High Schools Admissions Test) certainly carries some weight. But does that automatically make it difficult? […]

The SHSAT exam uses the 7th/8th grade Next Generation Learning Math Standards as its foundation for the level of math tested on the exam. The SHSAT mathematics section rests on four main pillars: Arithmetic, Algebra, Statistics, and Geometry. Please note that the exam contains harder questions than you would expect to see on the 7th […]

The SHSAT isn’t your typical exam. Instead of getting a pass or fail grade, students receive a scaled score ranging from 200 to 400 for each of the two sections – English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. The total score is 800. The term “passing” in the context of the SHSAT can be a bit […]

Introduction In recent years, New York City lawmakers have attempted to transform the admission process for specialized high schools, selective public high schools, by moving away from the SHSAT (Specialized High School Admissions Test). COVID-19 precautions have further complicated the testing process. In October 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the chancellor initially failed to […]

Throughout New York City sits nine of the cities most elite public high schools. These high schools, aptly named Specialized High schools, provide academic instruction to the city’s brightest students. These high schools each have focused specializations and educate students using the most effective instructional methods. Since these schools are public high schools, any student […]

Just as you will be seeing revisions on the SHSAT that have rely on grammar basics like Subject/Verb Agreement and Articles, you also will need to remember how to structure sentences using conjunctions.  Conjunctions (such as ‘and’) connect words, phrases, and sentences.  Conjunctions function in three ways:  to coordinate ideas, to pair ideas, and to […]

You’ll remember from your elementary school days that articles help a writer tell the reader whether they are talking about something general (“tell me about a superhero”) or something specific (“tell me about the superhero with the most anger issues”).  Good writing will make use of both kinds of articles, and good revisions will make […]

So far, our revision prep for punctuation has focused on the comma, which makes sense.  Misuse of commas is the single most common mistake made in writing, and SHSAT writers will take advantage of those mistakes and see if you can identify them.  But, there are many other punctuation mistakes that are made in writing.  […]