What Is the SHSAT? The Complete 2026 Guide
The SHSAT (Specialized High Schools Admissions Test) is the single admissions criterion for eight of New York City's nine specialized high schools, including Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech. It is available only to New York City residents. Most students take it in 8th grade; 9th graders may take the 9th-grade version for a limited number of seats. The exam, along with school preference order, is the only factor that determines admission, not grades, attendance, or teacher recommendations.
A student needs a scaled score, not a percentage or letter grade, that clears that year's cutoff for their preferred school. Cutoffs are recalculated every year based on seats available and applicant performance, so there's no fixed passing score. Published 2026 values ranged from 495 (Brooklyn Latin) to 561 (Stuyvesant).
Start Here: The Full SHSAT Decision Journey
Four guides, each answering one part of the process in full before pointing anywhere else.
Scoring, Format & 2025-26 Cutoffs
How raw scores convert to scaled scores, what changed with the 50-question computer-adaptive format, and the full 8-school cutoff table.
Prep Timeline by Grade + Free Resources
A realistic month-by-month plan from 6th through 8th grade, official free DOE practice materials, and a downloadable checklist.
SHSAT FAQ + Myths, Debunked
Direct answers on eligibility, guessing penalties, good scores, and the misconceptions that cost families time.
Who Writes This & How We Fact-Check
Author credentials, our sourcing standards, and links to every primary NYC DOE document we cite.
One Myth We Hear Constantly
"You need a near-perfect score to get into any specialized high school."
The lowest published 2026 cutoff, at Brooklyn Latin School, was 495. Seven schools other than Stuyvesant admitted students well below what most families assume is required. See the full cutoff-by-school breakdown.
More misconceptions, addressed directly, in the full FAQ.
20 free seats in the self-paced course
Beta access to Bell Curves' SHSAT self-paced course: 5 updated tests, 9 months of access, no charge.
Want Help Executing the Plan?
Everything above is free and will stay that way. If you'd rather have a tutor build and run the diagnostic-driven plan described in our prep timeline, Bell Curves has been doing that for NYC families since 2003.
See Bell Curves' SHSAT Programs