The SHSAT gives students two scores, the raw score and the scaled score. The scaled score varies from 200 to 700 points and is not released publicly. However, you can get a conversion chart online to help you calculate your score. The Department of Education converts raw scores to scaled scores. The result is an overall score of 800 points.
Stuyvesant High School
In terms of academics, Stuyvesant High School is one of the most selective specialized high schools in the city. To gain admission, applicants must score at least 557 on the SHSAT, the standardized test. Students can take the SHSAT as early as eighth grade to determine whether they qualify to take the exam. The school has a limited number of seats, and only about three percent of eighth graders are accepted. The school is also considered one of the most selective schools in the country, with fewer black students accepted than other schools.
Stuyvesant has strict graduation requirements for its students. In addition to four years of core courses, students must also take 3 years of world language, two years of technology education, and one year of music or the fine arts. Stuyvesant also requires students to complete one semester of health education.
New York City’s specialized public schools
The city’s specialized public schools are notoriously competitive and require a high SHSAT score to be accepted into a program. The number of students accepted into the specialized high schools is now over 250, compared to 58 in 2014. The number of students admitted into the specialized high schools did not change racial diversity, but Asian students did benefit more than white and black students.
Students interested in attending specialized high schools in New York City should speak with their guidance counselors during their 8th grade year and begin the application process at that time. Students should note that they are not required to apply to all eight Specialized Public Schools, but ranking more schools increases the likelihood of getting accepted.
The city’s specialized public schools serve students from low-income and minority backgrounds. Approximately 80% to 90% of the students are black or Hispanic and similar percentages are from low-income families. Nearly 20 percent of the students have special needs. Group 5 also serves students living in temporary housing. The average SHSAT score for these schools is higher than the citywide average, but not by much.
Math section
The SHSAT math section is composed of numerous computations and requires the application of New York State Core Curriculum principles. The highest SHSAT scores are achieved by students who can demonstrate mastery of algebraic concepts. In addition, students must be familiar with the order of operations and the properties of addition and subtraction.
The math section consists of 47 questions. Each question is worth 1 raw score point. The remaining 10 questions are field test items and do not contribute to the composite score. The final score is the sum of all the scores for each section. The highest score is 800. The score is calculated by multiplying the total number of correct answers and the difficulty level of the questions.
The exam has three sections. The ELA and the Math sections contain two types of questions. The ELA section includes 9-11 revision & editing questions, six reading passages, and 6-10 questions. The Math section contains 52 multiple choice questions and five grid questions.
Reading comprehension section
The SHSAT exam has 114 questions. Fifty-seven of them are in the English language arts (ELA) section, while twenty-seven are in the math section. The total score is calculated by adding the raw and scaled scores from each section. Once the scores are totaled, students are ranked according to their composite score. This score is then used to determine their placement in school.
In the Reading Comprehension section, students need to understand the meaning of sentences and paragraphs. For this, they must understand the grammatical rules and conventions of the English language. The question types are generally divided into two categories: “copy” edits and “content” edits. In general, each question relates to a small portion of material.
The SHSAT is divided into two sections: English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics (MAT). The English Language Arts section has six multiple-choice questions that measure reading comprehension and verbal reasoning. The Math section is made up of computational problems and word problems, and some of them use fractions and decimals.
