The SHSAT and associated trademarks are property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with or endorse Caddell Prep LLC or Caddell Prep Inc The following test was taken from the 2016-2017 Specialized High Schools Student handbook. Jun 12, 2018 After replacing the test's logic section with a revising/editing section and reducing the multiple choice answers from 5 to 4 in 2017, these new changes represent yet another major evolution in the design of a once static test. The 2018-2019 handbook features 2 full length tests. Download the 2018-2019 SHSAT handbook here. 2.0 PREPARE TO TAKE THE SHSAT Families should review this section together so that children are well prepared for the test. 2.1 Know What to Expect ҿ Become very familiar with the design of the test by reviewing the following in this handbook: description of the test on page 3 the two full-length sample tests.

By Akil Bello, a career test prep teacher and tutor who has spent 25 years helping people prepare for admissions tests, and board member of PASSNYC. You can contact Akil at akil@passnyc.org.

After a long wait (changes were first announced in September 2016), I finally got a full look at the new SHSAT when the DOE posted the 2017 - 2018 Specialized High School Handbook online. Fortunately, seeing the full test hasn’t changed very much at all my initial thoughts about the changes.

But since there are changes (no matter how superficial) I like to define, quantify, and categorize them so that families have the most up-to-date and complete information possible. Read on to learn about the changes and how they might be relevant to you.

Format

The overall format of the exam saw a few minor changes (4 choices rather than 5, 114 questions rather than 95, addition of experimental questions), but overall it remains a 2.5 hour test with about 100 multiple choice questions in English and math.

Reading Comprehension

The old exam had 5 passages with 6 questions each and a total of 30 reading comprehension questions. The new exam has 6 passages with 5 to 7 questions each. If nothing else tells the story of how unremarkable the changes will be, the reading comprehension tells the tale. The new handbooks actually reuses passages from the 2011 and 2013 handbooks and almost all of the questions and answers that went with those passages are reused with only minor wording changes. Here is a sample

This first question #25 is from the 2013 Handbook:

This question is one of the few in which almost all of the choices are changed, most questions were repeated from the earlier handbooks without any edits at all. There is even 1 or 2 new questions added to old passages, but overall reading comprehension is what it’s always been.

Here are some tips for the reading comprehension section:

Each question set starts with a main idea question so be prepared to answer “What is the passage mainly about?” for every passage you read.
When given line references, read more than the lines given. Line references tell you where to find what they are asking about, but not necessarily where to find the answer.
Answers that are half-right are all wrong. Be sure to read the full text of the answer, since many of them may start correct but later introduce something that makes the choice incorrect.

Revision/Editing

Revision/editing questions are new to the exam. These are probably the biggest change to the exam and students should make sure they spend some time getting comfortable with not only the format but also the content. Since nothing like this is tested on the statewide assessments there is a good chance many schools didn’t heavily integrate the topics and rules tested on these questions into their curriculum.

Here is a sample question:

Note that the question asks about correcting a “misplaced modifier.” This question is the reason why no one should take this test without having at least done the 2 practice tests in the 2017 Handbook. What if the student isn’t familiar with misplaced modifiers? How can someone correct something they haven’t heard of?

Here are a few of the other terms and grammatical concepts that a test taker should become familiar with before testing day:

Quantitative Information
Logical sequence
Transitions
Precision
Concision
Modifier
Verb tense
Pronoun person and number
Pronoun clarity
Pronoun agreement
Subject-verb agreement
Possessive nouns and pronouns
Items in a series

Math

The math section of the test will not change much at all. The topics and style of questions remains consistent with previous years. The only new element of the math section is the introduction of 5 grid-in questions. The challenge with grid-ins isn’t as much the math as it is filling the grid in properly. A test taker should make sure they understand how to fill in the grid so they don’t lose points by filling things incorrectly.

The short story is “start left and make sure to write and bubble everything.”

Hope this helps! If you need more advice or help please feel free to comment, contact our partners or send us a message.

Akil

This page has links to past SHSAT Handbooks, NYC Specialized High School Admissions Test

Don't hesitate to email us if you're stuck on any problem that you come across in your prep! Have fun and enjoy!

We are often asked what topics are on the SHSAT, as well as the difference in topics from the Grade 8 SHSAT to the Grade 9 SHSAT. We've provided some details about this in some YouTube videos. Our math list can be found here and our ELA list can be found here. Respective PDFs for those videos are as follows: Math, Formulas, and ELA. Please note that these contain high-level information; you will need to drill-down on each topic, subtopic, and formula in order to be proficient.

Also have a look at Greg's Tutoring NYC SHSAT Problem of the Day (POTD) series on YouTube! It's also useful for many other standardized tests and admissions exams! Check out https://www.GregsTutoringNYC.com/POTD

As well, have a look at our 'SHSAT ELA Starter Kit' videos https://www.GregsTutoringNYC.com/SHSATELA

Our SHSAT 9 YouTube Livestreams are now easily and conveniently available in a list! Check it out https://www.GregsTutoringNYC.com/SHSAT9

This year's handbook:

2020-2021 Handbook Note: Greg's Tutoring NYC is currently doing a Cover to Cover walkthrough review of the 2020-2021 SHSAT Handbook! That can be found at https://www.gregstutoringnyc.com/SHSATReview
Errata for 2020-2021 Handbook (created by Greg's Tutoring NYC)

Here's some past SHSAT handbooks, each contains two SHSAT practice tests (note that some problems overlap across handbooks):

2017-2018 Handbook Note: Greg's Tutoring NYC did a a Cover to Cover walkthrough review of the 2017 SHSAT Handbook! That can be found at https://www.gregstutoringnyc.com/SHSATReview

Shsat 2016 2017

These past SHSAT handbooks contain Scrambled Paragraphs and Logical Reasoning sections. These sections have been replaced by the Revising/Editing sections. You might want to try some of those questions for fun plus they are currently indirectly tested at a much less volume (for instance, questions testing sentence addition or deletion edits). Note again note that some problems overlap across handbooks

Shsat Handbook 2016 2017