After graduating from Elementary School, your child will move on to the next phase of their New York Public Education, and with it, the next phase of testing. Your child will enter Middle School with the start of Grade 6 and resume taking exams in the Spring of that same year. The New York State exams* your child took in Elementary School (ELA, Math, and Science) will continue to be administered in Middle School as well. On top of those, however, your child will be required to take a World Language Exam, and will have the option to take a high school placement exam.
World Language Exam(s)
There are two World Language exams your child will take: the Checkpoint A Exam, which is administered in either Grade 7 or 8; and the World Language Comprehensive Exam, which is administered in Grade 10, 11, or 12.
The Checkpoint A Exam tests your student’s proficiency in a language other than English based on the New York State Department’s learning standards, which include the student’s ability to:
- Have conversations in the chosen language
- Listen to the language being spoken and answer multiple-choice or matching questions
- Read a text in the chosen language and answer multiple-choice or matching questions
- Respond to writing prompts in the chosen language
The World Language Comprehensive Exam tests the same abilities as the Checkpoint A Exam, just with increased difficulty. Both are scored using a scale of 0-100, with 65 being the passing grade. You can view the exam rubrics and practice speaking tasks published by NYSAWLA online for free.
Specialized High School Admissions Test
The Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) is an optional test used to determine a student’s placement into a specialized high school. Specialized high schools include:
- Bronx High School of Science
- Brooklyn Latin School
- Brooklyn Technical High School
- Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
- High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College
- High School of American Studies at Lehman College
- Queens High School for Sciences at York College
- Staten Island Technical High School
- Stuyvesant High School
Specialized high schools are intended for advanced students who demonstrate exceptional grades and test scores. The SHSAT is the sole factor used to determine admission into these schools, with the only exception being Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, which utilizes an audition process as well.
The SHSAT tests the student’s knowledge of ELA and Math, consisting of separate sections for both:
- ELA: 50 questions about revising and editing, and reading comprehension. In this section the student will be able to return to questions they have already answered and alter their responses.
- Math: 50 questions about equations, geometry, inequalities, number systems and expressions, ratios and proportional relationships, and statistics and probability. In this section the student will not be able to return to questions they have already answered.
Both sections feature both multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. The student may choose which section they begin with, though for both, they must respond to each question before they can move on to the next; they do not have the option of skipping questions. Both sections combine to around 180 minutes of test-taking time.
The test is administered in the Fall the year before the student would begin high school classes. Students typically take the SHSAT in the Fall of Grade 8, but they can also retake it in the Fall of Grade 9 if they wish to transfer to a specialized school for Grade 10. Please be advised that since the SHSAT is an optional test, not all Middle Schools administer it; if your child decides to take the test and their Middle School does not offer it, you must seek a separate testing site near your house.
One of the SHSAT’s newer features came with the switch to digital testing: the SHSAT is a computer-adaptive test, meaning that it adjusts its content based on the student’s responses. For example, if the student answered a question incorrectly, the next question would automatically be adjusted to a lower difficulty level in order to increase the student’s chances of answering correctly.
Additionally, there is no alternative to the SHSAT, but the test itself does offer several accommodations.
Accommodations for English Language Learners:
- Extended testing time (360 minutes, twice the standard testing time)
- 2 breaks of 15 minutes after the first 180 minutes
- Translated directions available in French
- Access to state-approved bilingual glossaries (including in French)
Accommodations for students with an IEP:
- Students who have approved testing accommodations listed in an IEP or 504 Plan will receive those accommodations on the exam (ex. Additional breaks, screen magnification, tests read aloud, etc)
- Paper versions of the exam are available, but only to students eligible for them
All students regardless of learning difficulties will be able to use universal accessibility features, including answer elimination, flag for review, highlighting, line reader, note-taking, and zoom.
Each student will receive their score 3-4 months after taking the exam, with composite scores ranging from 0-800, where 800 is the highest possible score. (Composite scores take into account both the raw score of the student as well as the test difficulty.) You can view and take free practice exams online (with access to answer keys) through The Exam Coach, Honors Prep, The Princeton Review, ScoreSmart, SHSATLab, and SHSATPractice. To find personal tutoring programs please search for SHSAT tutoring near your place of residence.
New York State High School Regents Exams
Some Middle Schools offer students the choice of taking Regents exams** in Grade 8. Regents exams are typically taken in Grades 9-12, so taking a Regents exam in Grade 8 is only recommended for academically advanced students; usually, Middle Schools will offer the Regents exams to students taking accelerated classes, which follow High School curriculums and are thus more fast-paced. All past Regents exam questions and answers are available for viewing on the New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of State Assessment website.
*For more information about the New York State Exams, please refer to the article Understanding Elementary School Exams.
**For more information about the New York State Regents Exams, please refer to the article Understanding High School Exams.
