SHSAT Practice Test
This free SHSAT practice test has 15 questions written by the StudyPDF team in the style of New York City's Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. Four cover reading comprehension, four cover revising and editing, and seven cover math. Answer all 15, then check your score and read the explanation for every question.
Read the passage: Roman engineers built their roads in layers. At the bottom was a bed of large stones, then a layer of gravel and sand, and on top a surface of tightly fitted paving stones. The surface was raised slightly in the center so that rainwater ran off into ditches on either side. Because water is the great enemy of any road, this drainage did as much to keep the roads in use for centuries as the stones did. Which statement best expresses the central idea of the passage?
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All 15 questions at a glance
Prefer to read before you play? Every question in the sampler is listed below. Answers and explanations stay collapsed until you open them.
1. Read the passage: Roman engineers built their roads in layers. At the bottom was a bed of large stones, then a layer of gravel and sand, and on top a surface of tightly fitted paving stones. The surface was raised slightly in the center so that rainwater ran off into ditches on either side. Because water is the great enemy of any road, this drainage did as much to keep the roads in use for centuries as the stones did. Which statement best expresses the central idea of the passage?
- A. Roman roads were made of stone because stone was cheap.
- B. The paving stones were the most important layer of a Roman road.
- C. Roman roads lasted because of how they were layered and how they shed water.
- D. Roman engineers built roads mainly to protect the army from rain.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Roman roads lasted because of how they were layered and how they shed water.
A central idea has to cover the whole passage: the layers and the drainage, and why both mattered. The paving stone option ignores the last sentence, which says drainage did as much as the stones. Cost and the army are never mentioned.
2. Read the passage: Glaciers move slowly, but not steadily. A glacier may creep forward only a few inches in a day, then surge ahead dozens of feet after a season of heavy snowfall. This uneven movement makes it hard to predict where the ice will be in ten years. As used in the passage, surge most nearly means
- A. move forward suddenly
- B. slowly melt away
- C. split into pieces
- D. stop completely
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. move forward suddenly
The sentence sets surge against creep, a few inches in a day, so it must mean the opposite: a fast, sudden advance of dozens of feet. The last sentence confirms it by calling the movement uneven and hard to predict.
3. Read the passage: Ines had rehearsed the speech on the bus, in the shower and twice for the cat. But now that the gym was full, the page in her hand seemed to belong to a stranger. She looked at the first line, then at the back wall, then at her brother, who was holding up a crooked sign that said GO INES in marker. Her shoulders loosened. She cleared her throat and began with the one sentence she had not written down. Which inference about Ines is best supported by the passage?
- A. She was unprepared because she had never practiced out loud.
- B. Her brother wrote the speech she is about to give.
- C. She is angry that the gym is so crowded.
- D. Seeing her brother steadies her, and she begins in her own words.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Seeing her brother steadies her, and she begins in her own words.
Her shoulders loosen right after she sees the sign, and she then starts with a sentence she did not write down, so she is calmer and speaks for herself. The passage lists several places she rehearsed, and nothing says who wrote the speech or that she is angry.
4. Read the passage: Each autumn, monarch butterflies in eastern North America fly south to spend the winter in the mountains of central Mexico. The trip can cover more than a thousand miles. The butterflies that head north again in spring, however, are not the ones that made the trip south. The journey north takes several generations, and each one lays eggs and dies along the way. Which statements are supported by the passage? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. Eastern monarchs spend the winter in the mountains of central Mexico.
- B. A single monarch flies the whole round trip each year.
- C. The trip back north takes more than one generation of butterflies.
- D. Monarchs fly south because food runs out in Mexico.
- E. The trip south can be more than a thousand miles long.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Eastern monarchs spend the winter in the mountains of central Mexico., C. The trip back north takes more than one generation of butterflies., E. The trip south can be more than a thousand miles long.
Three statements appear in the passage almost word for word. The round trip claim is contradicted, because the butterflies heading north are not the ones that went south, and the passage never gives a reason for the migration. Check every choice against the text, not against what you already know.
5. Read the sentence: The garden is tended by a different grade each week, the cafeteria serves the vegetables in its salad bar. Which version is punctuated correctly?
- A. The garden is tended by a different grade each week, the cafeteria serves the vegetables in its salad bar.
- B. The garden is tended by a different grade each week; the cafeteria serves the vegetables in its salad bar.
- C. The garden is tended by a different grade each week the cafeteria serves the vegetables in its salad bar.
- D. The garden is tended by a different grade each week, then the cafeteria serves the vegetables in its salad bar.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The garden is tended by a different grade each week; the cafeteria serves the vegetables in its salad bar.
The sentence is two complete thoughts, and a comma cannot join them, which is a comma splice. A semicolon can. Using no punctuation makes a run-on, and adding then after the comma still leaves two complete sentences joined by a comma alone.
6. Read the paragraph: (1) Last spring, students at Harbor Middle School planted a garden behind the gym. (2) Within months it had grown to eight raised beds, a compost bin and a rain barrel. (3) The principal's favorite food is pizza. (4) Students now sell extra vegetables at a stand every Friday. (5) The money pays for new seeds and tools. Which sentence should be deleted to keep the paragraph focused?
- A. Sentence 1
- B. Sentence 2
- C. Sentence 3
- D. Sentence 4
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Sentence 3
Every other sentence is about the garden: where it started, how it grew, what happens to the vegetables and where the money goes. The principal's favorite food has nothing to do with the garden, so it breaks the focus.
7. Complete the sentence so the verb tenses stay consistent.
Students plant the seeds in spring and _____ the vegetables in fall, and the cafeteria _____ them in its salad bar.
Options for blank 1: harvest, harvested, harvesting, to harvest
Options for blank 2: serve, serves, served, serving
Show answer and explanation
Answer: harvest, serves
The sentence is in the present tense, so the verb joined to plant must be harvest. The second blank needs a verb that agrees with the singular subject cafeteria, which is serves. The past tense would break the pattern, and an -ing form cannot stand alone as the verb.
8. Read the sentences: (1) The students planted a garden behind the gym. (2) They started with one raised bed. Which choice best combines them into one sentence?
- A. The students planted a garden behind the gym, starting with one raised bed.
- B. The students planted a garden behind the gym, they started with one raised bed.
- C. The students planted a garden behind the gym, but starting with one raised bed.
- D. Starting with one raised bed, a garden behind the gym was planted by the students.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The students planted a garden behind the gym, starting with one raised bed.
The first choice keeps the meaning and puts the describing phrase right next to the students it describes. The second is a comma splice, the third adds a but that makes no sense here, and in the fourth the opening phrase seems to describe the garden, not the students.
9. A recipe uses 3 cups of flour for every 2 cups of sugar. Which amounts keep the same ratio of flour to sugar? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. 6 cups of flour and 4 cups of sugar
- B. 4.5 cups of flour and 3 cups of sugar
- C. 9 cups of flour and 5 cups of sugar
- D. 5 cups of flour and 4 cups of sugar
- E. 1.5 cups of flour and 1 cup of sugar
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. 6 cups of flour and 4 cups of sugar, B. 4.5 cups of flour and 3 cups of sugar, E. 1.5 cups of flour and 1 cup of sugar
Multiply or divide both amounts by the same number. Doubling gives 6 and 4, multiplying by 1.5 gives 4.5 and 3, and halving gives 1.5 and 1. For 9 cups of flour you would need 6 cups of sugar, not 5, and 5 to 4 is a different ratio from 3 to 2.
10. A cyclist rides 18 miles in 1.5 hours at a steady speed. At this rate, how many minutes will it take to ride 30 miles?
- A. 120
- B. 150
- C. 180
- D. 250
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. 150
The speed is 18 divided by 1.5, which is 12 miles per hour. Then 30 miles takes 30 divided by 12, or 2.5 hours, and 2.5 hours is 150 minutes. The answer 250 comes from reading 2.5 hours as 250 minutes, and 120 and 180 are just whole numbers of hours.
11. Complete the solution.
A rectangle's length is 3 more than twice its width, and its perimeter is 36 units. Its width is _____ units.
Options for blank 1: 4, 5, 6, 7
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 5
Call the width w, so the length is 2w + 3. The perimeter is 2 times the sum of the sides: 2(w + 2w + 3) = 36, so 6w + 6 = 36 and w = 5. Check: the length is 13, and 2 times 5 plus 2 times 13 is 36.
12. Complete the sentence.
Mina has $40. A notebook costs $9 and each pen costs $2.50. After buying the notebook, she can buy at most _____ pens.
Options for blank 1: 10, 11, 12, 13
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 12
After the notebook she has 40 - 9 = $31. The inequality 2.50p ≤ 31 gives p ≤ 12.4, and she cannot buy part of a pen, so the most is 12. Rounding up to 13 would cost $32.50, which is more than she has.
13. A set of six numbers is 2, 3, 3, 5, 7 and 16. Which statements are true? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. The mean is 6.
- B. The median is 4.
- C. The mode is 5.
- D. The range is 14.
- E. The median is greater than the mean.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The mean is 6., B. The median is 4., D. The range is 14.
The numbers add up to 36, and 36 divided by 6 is 6. With six numbers the median is the average of the third and fourth, 3 and 5, which is 4. The range is 16 - 2 = 14. The mode is the most common value, 3, and the median of 4 is less than the mean of 6 because 16 pulls the mean up.
14. A fair number cube with faces 1 to 6 is rolled twice. What is the probability that the first roll is even and the second roll is greater than 4?
- A. 1/12
- B. 5/6
- C. 1/5
- D. 1/6
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. 1/6
The rolls do not affect each other, so multiply. An even first roll has probability 3/6, or 1/2, and a second roll of 5 or 6 has probability 2/6, or 1/3. Then 1/2 times 1/3 is 1/6. Adding 1/2 and 1/3 gives 5/6, which is the mistake of adding when the question asks for both.
15. A circular pool has a diameter of 12 feet. A walkway 2 feet wide goes all the way around the pool. What is the area of the walkway?
- A. 28π square feet
- B. 4π square feet
- C. 64π square feet
- D. 112π square feet
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. 28π square feet
The pool has a radius of 6 feet and the pool plus walkway has a radius of 8 feet. The walkway is the difference of the two circles: π times 64 minus π times 36, which is 28π. The 64π option is the whole outer circle, 4π squares only the width, and 112π uses diameters in place of radii.
What the SHSAT is and who takes it
The Specialized High Schools Admissions Test, or SHSAT, is the exam New York City uses to decide admission to its specialized high schools. NYC Public Schools calls it the sole factor, with one exception: LaGuardia High School admits by audition. Any current New York City resident in 8th grade, or in 9th grade for the first time, who wants to apply to one of the other schools has to take it, whether the student goes to a public, private or parochial school. It is given in the fall for admission the following September.
The test has two sections. English language arts (ELA) covers revising and editing, which means fixing and improving short pieces of writing, and reading comprehension. Math covers ratios and proportional relationships, the number system and expressions, equations, inequalities, statistics and probability, and geometry. NYC says questions come as multiple choice, fill in the blank and technology-enhanced items, and that students choose which section to start with.
The format is changing. NYC gives the test on computers, and its page describes a computer adaptive test from fall 2026, where the questions adjust to your answers. Because older prep material may not match, this page does not print a question count, a time limit or a score. The NYC Public Schools SHSAT page at schools.nyc.gov lists the current ones, along with where and when the test is given.
How to use this sampler
The 15 questions follow the published content areas in miniature. Questions 1 to 4 are reading comprehension: a central idea, a word in context, an inference and the details a passage supports. Questions 5 to 8 are revising and editing: a comma splice, a sentence that does not belong, verb tense and combining two sentences. Questions 9 to 15 are math: ratios, a rate, an equation, an inequality, statistics, probability and the area of a ring.
The select all that apply and fill in the blank formats here are practice formats that make you check every option instead of stopping at the first one that looks right. The real test mixes its own item types, so use NYC's Student Readiness Tool and official online practice tests to get used to the screen and the tools, and use a sampler like this one for extra questions on the skills.
Take it in one sitting and work the math on paper before you look at the choices. Then read every explanation, including for the questions you got right. A cluster of misses is more useful than a single one: if the ratio and rate questions both went wrong, that points to proportional reasoning as the skill to practice.
An honest note: the StudyPDF team wrote every question here to the content areas NYC publishes. None of them are real SHSAT items, none come from the NYC Guide to the SHSAT, the official practice tests or a prep company's book, and StudyPDF is not affiliated with NYC Public Schools or any of the schools.
How to build more practice tests from your own materials
Fifteen questions can show you whether reading, editing or math needs the most attention. They cannot get you ready on their own, especially when your class or prep book spends more time on one area than another.
StudyPDF works from your material instead. Upload your prep book, your class notes or the worksheets your teacher handed out. Then press New material, pick a practice test, choose those files as the sources and set how long it should be. You get a test written from those exact pages, and every explanation cites where the answer comes from.
Bo is the tutor for the rest. Ask him why an answer is right and he explains it from your own pages, with a hint first if you want one.
You do not have to upload anything to start. Name a topic instead, for example ratios or comma splices, and you get practice questions on it. Starting is free.
Written by the StudyPDF team. Last updated 2026-08-19.