For a discussion about some pragmatic aspects of SHSAT scoring click here

Below find recent information as regards NYC SHS cutoff scores. These are official DOE cutoff scores, not guesses. Note that SHSAT 9 scores are sometimes a few dozen points higher than the SHSAT 8 scores. Of course, the SHSAT 9 is harder with different dynamics so these numbers really have no strict relationship to each other. Furthermore, the same can and should also be said of historical SHSAT 8 scores year after year. These also can and will fluctuate. Therefore, don't add meaning to any of these numbers that is not there.

Get the above table in PDF format or JPG format.

How Do SHSAT Cutoff Scores Come About along with general info regarding SHS offers:

Once tests are taken they are scored. Once scored they are put in sorted order. The student who scores highest is looked at first. While it is your turn, you are fully processed. The process does not return to you at any point. No other student is processed while you're being processed nor interrupts your being processed, nor can you interrupt the processing of another student. Fully processed is either when a seat is available for one of your SHS (specialized high school) choices and you obtain the seat, or you don't get a seat in any SHS.

When it is your turn, it will run through your SHS preference order list. Upon each, it looks to see if that SHS still has a seat available. If a seat is still available at said respective SHS, you get the seat (and your score becomes the "current cutoff" for that SHS (this cutoff concept does not matter when checking your preference list as there are no pre-determined cutoffs for SHS, and no score is checked once it's your turn nor during your turn)). If there is no seat available at the current preference SHS you requested, it looks at your next preference, and so on. If there are no seats in any of your preference list requests, you won't obtain a seat, and as such it'll be finished with processing you and move on to the next highest scoring student.

When multiple students have the same score, and conditions are such that a seat can be offered to each at a specific SHS, they either all get the seat or none get the seat. Nobody trumps anybody else. Remember nobody can interrupt your turn nor can you interrupt somebody else's turn.

When there are no seats left to provide anybody, there is no longer a reason to process any additional students. When there are no seats left to provide, the so-called cutoff scores we tend to dwell on way too much is the score of the last student to obtain a seat for a respective SHS.

Do no confuse any of this process with a preconceived notion of your priority lists or how priority lists work and/or are processed. Processing is as described here. There is nothing additional, and be clear that there are no rounds comparing first choices with second choices, etc., across students. As you pick the SHS schools in your SHS priority list, and rank them, you are indicating to the DOE how you want your SHS priority list to be processed during the selection algorithm.

Very roughly there are about 4000 SHS seats. As everybody does not accept their offer, the DOE makes additional offers from the get-go. Therefore, note that there are no waitlists for SHS seats. Furthermore, some 20% of seats are initially taken off the top due to the requirements of the Discovery Program, meaning that there are roughly 3200 non-Discovery seats and 800 Discovery seats.

Don't hesitate to email us if you have any questions or concerns about SHSAT admissions or prep! Have fun and enjoy!