SHSAT 2026: Test Dates, the Oct 30 Registration Deadline, and What to Bring

SHSAT 2026 test dates: who tests where, and when

NYC Public Schools splits SHSAT testing by grade and school type. If your 8th grader attends a public middle school that ends in 8th grade, they take the test at their own school during the regular school day. If your 8th grader is at a 6-12 or K-12 school, a charter, private, parochial or independent school, or is homeschooled, they test at a central NYCPS site on a weekend. Every 9th grader tests at a central site on a Saturday, and a 9th grader who cannot test on Saturday is given an alternate date. The exact date and location for your child appear on their SHSAT test ticket, which becomes available after the registration deadline.

The October 30 registration deadline: what to do this week

Registration runs through MySchools and opened on October 6. It closes on Friday, October 30, 2026. Plan as if that date is final and register early in the week rather than on the last evening. To register, your child must be a New York City resident and either a current 8th grader or a first-time 9th grader (not repeating 9th grade). The SHSAT is the only admissions criterion for the eight test-based Specialized High Schools, so there is no portfolio or interview to prepare. LaGuardia is the exception among the Specialized High Schools: it admits by audition and has its own separate process. If your child has an IEP or 504 Plan with testing accommodations, or is an English Language Learner, check the testing accommodations and ELL pages before the deadline. Eligible ELLs and students with an extended-time accommodation get 360 minutes instead of 180, and students who need an assistive aid listed in their IEP or 504 Plan must bring it themselves, because test sites do not provide it.

What grade takes the SHSAT, and how long is it?

The SHSAT is taken in 8th grade, or in 9th grade for students applying to enter as 10th graders the following fall. Standard testing time is 180 minutes, or three hours, and students must stay for all 180 minutes apart from bathroom breaks. There are two sections, English Language Arts and Math, with 50 questions each, mixing multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank. Each subject includes 10 field-test questions that are not scored. Your child chooses which section to start with and can divide the time between sections however they like. The big change this year is that, beginning in fall 2026, the SHSAT is computer-adaptive: the questions a student sees adjust based on their answers so far, and every student still answers the same number of questions. A student must answer each question before moving on. In reading comprehension and revising and editing, they can go back to questions within a passage set until they leave that set, and once they move past questions they cannot return to them. Testing is on a computer provided at the site, with no paper option.

For how those adaptive section scores become a composite, read how the SHSAT is scored and our explainer on the computer-adaptive SHSAT in 2026. For the scores that earned offers last year, see SHSAT cutoff scores for 2026.

What to bring to the SHSAT (and what to leave at home)

The official NYC Guide to the SHSAT for 2027 Admissions lists exactly what is allowed. The only required item is assistive technology, if it is listed on your child's IEP and test ticket. Everything else on the allowed list is optional, including the test ticket itself, though bringing a printed ticket is an easy way to have the date, site and arrival time in hand. Calculators are not allowed, and neither are smart watches, so a plain, silent watch is the way to track time. Phones may come into the building but must be turned off and stored as the site directs; having one with you during the test, even switched off, can get a test invalidated. For weekend sites, the time on the ticket is an arrival time, not a start time, and the guide notes the test may begin an hour or more after it. That is a good reason to have breakfast first and pack the allowed quiet snack and water.

The 3 weeks before the test: a calm plan

Three weeks is enough time to get comfortable with the format and shore up a few weak spots, and not enough time to learn everything, so aim for steady and specific rather than cramming. The free official practice tests on the NYC SHSAT Portal are the anchor: there are four of them, they run in a web browser, and the guide encourages at least one full test under timed conditions. Around them, short topic practice does the rest.