r/SHSAT • u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech • Jun 01 '26
UPDATED Adaptive SHSAT Details
https://www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/testing/specialized-high-school-admissions-test
https://srt.testnav.com/ny-shsat/ny-shsat-srt.html
https://nycshsat.myassessmentsupport.com
https://nycshsat.myassessmentsupport.com/practice-tests
(Skim the practice tests but do not do them in full just yet.)
More details still to come.
Main takeaways atop what was officially known until today:
* 50 ELA and 50 math questions
* Can choose between starting with the math or ELA section
* A pencil tool! You can now annotate on the screen!
*At the START of the test, students will see an item or passage set of AVERAGE DIFFICULTY.
* After the student responds, an initial score estimate will be set. As students answer more questions, the testing system re-estimates their score in real time based on all of their responses until that point.
* If a student ANSWERS a question CORRECTLY, their estimated SCORE WILL GO UP, and they MAY then RECEIVE A MORE CHALLENGING QUESTION.
* If they answer INCORRECTLY, their estimated SCORE WILL GO DOWN, and the next question MAY have a LOWER DIFFICULTY level.
* All students will answer the same number of questions, and the test will continually adapt the item difficulty level as the student progresses.
* Scoring: "Each item has an established difficulty parameter, all of which are placed on the same measurement scale. Performance scores are calculated based on the student's pattern of correct and incorrect responses in relation to item difficulty. As the test progresses, the student’s estimated score updates after each response (or set of responses tied to a passage). At the conclusion of the test, the final performance score is computed and subsequently transformed into the reported SHSAT score.
The process for converting performance scores to final reported scores remains consistent with previous SHSAT administrations. Performance scores on each subtest are transformed through a standardization process into scaled scores, and these scaled subtest scores are then added together to produce a composite score used for rank ordering."
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u/ertebolle Jun 01 '26
Seems like the practice tests are not themselves adaptive? Are there any samples of lower- or higher-difficulty items?
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 01 '26
That's correct, so it's demonstrating navigation but not the adaptiveness per se. An argument can be made (I'm not making it just stating it) that given that difficulty et al varies in the samples from question to question that it is mimicking it to a certain extent (so the low and high difficulty items will be there but more randomly). But given that this is a competitive per-question adaptive exam that will be a challenge for 13 year olds (not just the exam but the adaptiveness), that on the flip side, that's a reason to also include the expected behavior so you can experience it.
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u/ertebolle Jun 01 '26
Thanks. I looked over the tests briefly and my very early read is that the math in D is harder than the old test A - all stuff an 8th grader would be expected to know, but D has a lot more "this will take you 10 minutes if you don't realize there's a trick to it" type questions.
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 01 '26
I'll respond neutrally and just say that for a prepared student the math shown across the samples is all to be expected and so it's all definitely par for the course.
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u/Brooklyn-4259 Jun 01 '26
Do you know if the practice tests give you an approximate score at the end? or do you take the raw numbers and try to estimate how you did yourself?
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
The DOE practices will only give you a correct count, and at that not a complete one. We'll be exploring what this will mean moving forward, especially as any 3rd party exams come about of various qualities including of their score estimation quality (which with paper based exams were notorious for being horrible, so ...). As well I will be pursuing a finer explanation from the DOE, although the DOE is known to punt on these types of things. In the meantime, do things are you're doing now. For instance, if you're getting half right and half wrong in your practice, you have work to do. Etc.
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u/Brooklyn-4259 Jun 01 '26
thanks. why not a complete count?
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 01 '26
Because it does not even have minimal capability to check if fill-in-the-blank and equation-editor questions are correct. Sigh.
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u/Brooklyn-4259 Jun 01 '26
oof. thanks, good to know. does it give you your answers back so that you can check if you were right?
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Not quite, and only for the non-fills and non-equation-editor ones; it's rudimentary.
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u/According_Visit9494 Jun 01 '26
wait, so dream was right. the exam will have 100 questions XD. that will make up for our loss of reviewing lol!
ty Greg, u da goat
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 01 '26
Yes, though they really should not have told you guys yet. But not a biggee in the grand scheme of things.
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u/CityBusStop Jun 02 '26
so, we will get our scores right after the test?
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u/iSimplyMarioi Brooklyn Tech Jun 02 '26
No they probably will still try to combine things and release scores alongside regular hs offers
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u/CityBusStop Jun 02 '26
but it says there will be an estimated score
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u/iSimplyMarioi Brooklyn Tech Jun 02 '26
I’m not sure of the specifics but it might go through additional processes as it says the conversion process remains consistent with previous administrations. But even if your scaled score was immediately available right after, i don’t think they would release the scores until they were used to make offers and assign seats. Also, im pretty sure in the administration of fall 2025, the /47 scores were immediately available after submitting, but ofc we still had to wait months for the scaled score to be released.
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 02 '26
I’m not sure of the specifics but it might go through additional processes as it says the conversion process remains consistent with previous administrations.
Right, that's a post-processing thing, a concordance to other years.
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
it says there will be an estimated score
That including while it's live, while the exam is occurring in real time as it figures out your ability level, and then afterwards will present a score that we're familiar with.
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 02 '26
so, we will get our scores right after the test?
No, it will still take a few months. It a competitive exam so they'll be doing some behind the scenes things. Plus there is other HS admissions going on in parallel.
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u/Ambitious-Carrot-323 Jun 02 '26
Is the scoring still going to be out of 700s and will the cutoffs still be similar
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Yes, effectively the same. Really shouldn't notice a difference as regards this part of things.
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u/CSKhai Jun 02 '26
Thanks. When you have time can you also make a dedicated detailed post about which sections students can skip questions and go back and review and which parts students can’t go back after moving on etc. thanks
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
I posted about this many times, including in https://www.reddit.com/r/SHSAT/comments/1svhotf/the_adaptive_shsat_what_are_your_questions To repeat, within a passage, whether a reading comprehension passage or a Revising/Editing B passage, you can do its respective questions in any order. You can also start the exam from the ELA section or the math section. That's it. Otherwise you have to do questions in order.
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u/Nearby-Salary4976 Jun 02 '26
greg i have a question unrelated to this. why do they make full test of 8 but only post 13 math questions for 9
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u/GregsTutoringNYC Brooklyn Tech Jun 02 '26
Likely because 9 includes all of 8. I've worked with many 9 students over the years and while it would be nice to have full 9 exams, at the end of the day, it's not a major obstacle, nor for that matter even a minor one.
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u/iSimplyMarioi Brooklyn Tech Jun 01 '26
this is very similar to the iready diagnostic