Tests / SHSAT / Cutoff scores

SHSAT cutoff scores for every school, 2022 to 2026

An SHSAT cutoff score is the lowest score that got a 9th grade offer at a school in a given year. NYC Public Schools calls it the lowest qualifying score. For students who started high school in fall 2026, the cutoffs ran from 495 at Brooklyn Latin to 561 at Stuyvesant. No one sets them ahead of time.

Numbers checked October 11, 2026 against the NYC Public Schools pages and files listed at the bottom. Prepwick is not affiliated with NYC Public Schools.

2026 SHSAT cutoff scores, all eight schools

These are the scores for students who took the SHSAT in fall 2025 and started 9th grade in fall 2026. Offers and school size are shown beside each cutoff, because a school with few seats fills fast.

SHSAT cutoff score, offers and enrollment for each specialized high school, fall 2026 entry
SchoolCutoff, 2026Offers madeStudents at the school
Stuyvesant5617773,288
HSMSE at City College539144579
Queens Science531139512
Bronx Science5257262,964
Staten Island Tech5172941,393
American Studies at Lehman507134376
Brooklyn Tech5061,3935,659
Brooklyn Latin495416769

Cutoff: lowest score with a 9th grade offer. Offers made: 9th grade offers for fall 2026. Students at the school: all grades, 2025-26 school year.

SHSAT cutoff scores by year, 2022 to 2026

Each column is the fall a student started 9th grade. NYC Public Schools shows only the newest table on its page, so 2022 to 2025 come from copies of that same page saved by the Internet Archive. Its page showed no table in 2021, so this page stops at 2022.

SHSAT cutoff scores for each specialized high school by year of entry
School20222023202420252026
Stuyvesant563561561556561
HSMSE at City College532518542526539
Queens Science523527524518531
Bronx Science524521526518525
Staten Island Tech527521519527517
American Studies at Lehman516510514504507
Brooklyn Tech506503507505506
Brooklyn Latin497493492496495

How far each cutoff has moved

The bar runs from each school's lowest cutoff to its highest, 2022 to 2026. The dot is 2026.

  • Stuyvesant556 to 563 (7 points)
  • HSMSE at City College518 to 542 (24 points)
  • Queens Science518 to 531 (13 points)
  • Bronx Science518 to 526 (8 points)
  • Staten Island Tech517 to 527 (10 points)
  • American Studies at Lehman504 to 516 (12 points)
  • Brooklyn Tech503 to 507 (4 points)
  • Brooklyn Latin492 to 497 (5 points)

How does a cutoff score get made?

  • Offers go out in score order. The student with the top SHSAT score gets a seat at the first school on their list. Then the next student, and so on down.
  • When a student's first choice is full, they are looked at for their second choice, then their third. This goes on until every seat at all eight schools is filled.
  • The cutoff is simply the score of the last student who got a seat at that school. It is a result, not a rule set before the test.
  • The SHSAT score is the only thing used at the eight testing schools. NYC Public Schools says no other criteria count.
  • A student gets at most one offer, and the specialized high schools have no waitlists.

Is your child testing in fall 2026? Read this first

  • Students testing in November 2026 take the first computer-adaptive SHSAT. Every cutoff on this page came from the older test, which did not change its questions based on a student's answers.
  • NYC Public Schools says the way it turns test performance into the reported score stays the same as in past years: each section is scaled, and the two are added into one composite.
  • There is no cutoff from an adaptive SHSAT yet. The first ones will exist only after offers for fall 2027 go out, which NYC Public Schools lists for March 3, 2027.
  • When NYC Public Schools posted these tables in 2022, 2023 and 2024, it said the lowest qualifying score changes each year with students' scores and choices, and that students testing for a different year should not use it to judge their chances.

How many offers does each school make?

About 26,000 students take the SHSAT each year and about 4,000 get an offer. The offer counts below are by school, for 9th grade entry, from the summary file NYC Public Schools posts each year.

9th grade SHSAT offers for each specialized high school by year of entry
School2023202420252026
Stuyvesant762744781777
HSMSE at City College174142182144
Queens Science116139148139
Bronx Science731712738726
Staten Island Tech287294289294
American Studies at Lehman115111132134
Brooklyn Tech1,4211,4221,4031,393
Brooklyn Latin388508350416
All eight schools3,9944,0724,0234,023
Students who took the test25,95925,67825,93326,123
Invited to Discovery767792785795

Why is there no score calculator here?

Prepwick has no SHSAT score calculator, on purpose. NYC Public Schools scores the test from the pattern of right and wrong answers set against how hard each question was. Two students with the same number right can get different scores, so a count of right answers on a practice test does not turn into a number you can hold up against this table.

Cutoff questions parents ask

What SHSAT score do you need for Stuyvesant?

The lowest score that got a 9th grade offer to Stuyvesant was 561 for fall 2026 entry. From 2022 to 2026 it ran from 556 to 563. That is what it took in those years. The number for the next class is not known until offers go out.

What SHSAT score do you need for Brooklyn Tech?

Brooklyn Tech's cutoff was 506 for fall 2026 entry. From 2022 to 2026 it stayed between 503 and 507, the narrowest band of the eight schools. Brooklyn Tech also makes the most offers, 1,393 for fall 2026.

What SHSAT score do you need for Bronx Science?

Bronx Science's cutoff was 525 for fall 2026 entry. From 2022 to 2026 it ran from 518 to 526.

What SHSAT score do you need for Staten Island Tech?

Staten Island Tech's cutoff was 517 for fall 2026 entry, down from 527 the year before. From 2022 to 2026 it ran from 517 to 527.

What is the lowest SHSAT cutoff score?

For fall 2026 entry the lowest cutoff was 495, at Brooklyn Latin. Across 2022 to 2026 the lowest was 492, also at Brooklyn Latin, for fall 2024 entry.

Do SHSAT cutoff scores change every year?

Yes. From fall 2025 to fall 2026 entry, six cutoffs went up and two went down. HSMSE and Queens Science each rose 13 points, and Staten Island Tech fell 10. The three smallest schools had the three widest swings from 2022 to 2026. HSMSE went from 518 to 542 in a single year.

Does the order I list schools in change my child's chances?

It changes which school they get, not whether their score is enough. When a student's turn comes, they get the first school on their list that still has seats. A school left off the list is never considered.

Can I turn practice test results into an SHSAT score?

No. NYC Public Schools scores the SHSAT from the pattern of right and wrong answers and how hard each question was, then scales each section. Its SHSAT page gives no table that turns a count of right answers into a score. Because difficulty counts, two students with the same count can score differently.

What happens if my child scores just below the cutoff?

There are no waitlists. NYC Public Schools runs Discovery, a summer program for rising 9th graders from low-income backgrounds and schools who scored below the cutoff. Students who finish it can enroll in a specialized high school in September. NYC contacts the students who qualify. 795 students were invited for fall 2026.

Is there an SHSAT cutoff for 10th grade?

Yes. First-time 9th graders can take the SHSAT for a 10th grade seat, and NYC Public Schools posts a separate table of 10th grade scores on the same page. This page covers 9th grade entry only.

Sources

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