In short: beginning fall 2026, the SHSAT becomes a computer-adaptive test, where the questions students see are influenced by their performance earlier in the exam. NYC STEM Club prepares students for it on its own adaptive practice platform, where answers are locked once students move on to the next question β€” built to reflect the real exam.

See how it feels β€” try a sample

Below is a short, free sample of the adaptive, on-screen format on our own platform β€” answer a few questions the way your child will on test day, committing to each answer and moving forward.

If you have a child in 7th grade, this is the most important SHSAT update you’ll read this year. Starting this fall, the SHSAT is changing, and it changes not only how students take the test, but how they need to prepare for it. Here is what you need to know.

The change, in two steps

The NYC DOE is making this change in two steps:

• Fall 2025 β€” the test went digital. Students took it on a computer rather than on paper. The overall structure and timing stayed the same, with some new interactive question types.
• Fall 2026 β€” the test becomes computer-adaptive. In broad terms, an adaptive test responds to how a student is performing as they go… we direct families to the , which we follow closely.

If your child is in 7th grade now, they are preparing for the fall 2026 adaptive test.

What this means for preparation

The content hasn’t changed β€” students still face the same mathematics and reading. The way they take the test has. And how a student prepares needs to match how they’ll actually test.

An adaptive, on-screen exam demands two things at once: real command of the material β€” deep enough that a student keeps their footing as the questions get harder β€” and the composure to perform on a screen, under time, with no traditional tools to lean on.

That second part is what most preparation misses. A student can know the material cold and still be thrown on test day by conditions they’ve never practiced in:

• Reading on a screen β€” long passages, no paper to mark up
• On-screen tools β€” navigating the interface instead of a pencil
• No going back β€” answers are locked once a student moves to the next question
• A test that adapts β€” each answer shaping what comes next

None of this can be learned in the abstract. Unless a student practices where the environment closely mirrors test day, they meet all of it for the first time when it counts most. That is what our platform is built to reproduce.

How we prepare students

Our preparation is a deliberate sequence, all on the platform we built ourselves β€” each stage adding what the one before it set up.

Master the fundamentals, then exceed them. We make the fundamentals solid, then push past grade level. Because we write our own tests, we hold students to a higher standard than the exam itself requires β€” so they train with margin to spare, rather than meeting their ceiling for the first time when it counts.

Onto the screen, in real conditions. Students move to full practice exams in the same on-screen format, with the same tools and the same answer-locking conditions they’ll face on test day. This is where the screen, the navigation, and the stamina stop being obstacles and become second nature.

Adaptive, done our way. Finally, the practice goes adaptive: as your child works through the test, the experience responds to how they’re doing β€” the same kind of experience the new SHSAT will give them. But we made one deliberate choice in how ours works. On an adaptive test, a few careless mistakes can send a student toward easier and easier questions β€” and then they spend the rest of the session on material that’s too simple to teach them anything. We don’t let that happen. Our practice adjusts to each student, but the questions stay hard. A bad ten minutes never turns into an easy afternoon.

Built beyond the test. Everything we do is, on its face, SHSAT preparation. But we deliberately build a student’s scholastic aptitude far past what this one test requires β€” to what ninth grade at a specialized school will actually ask of them. Strong reading, writing, and mathematical reasoning are what help students earn admission to schools like Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, but they are also the skills students will rely on once they get there. Our goal is not merely to prepare students for one exam, but also to help them develop the academic foundation needed to succeed in a demanding high school environment.

What to do right now

Begin with a diagnostic. A real, timed practice test shows where your child genuinely stands relative to the cutoff scores at their target schools β€” not where you assume they stand. It is the honest starting point for any serious preparation. (See our guide to 2026 cutoff scores.)

From there, we build the plan. We teach in small classes at our downtown Manhattan location, with our own teachers, our own materials, and the adaptive practice platform we built ourselves. It is why more than 90% of our students earn specialized high school offers, with nearly half placed at Stuyvesant.

Ready to begin? . Questions about the test itself? See our SHSAT FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

What is changing in 2026?
Beginning in fall 2026, the SHSAT moves to a computer-adaptive format, where the questions adjust to each student’s performance. For the precise details of the new format, we direct families to the , which we follow closely.

Does my child need to prepare differently than students did last year?
Yes. The material to master has not changed, but the experience of the test has β€” so preparation now has to build comfort with an adaptive, screen-based format, not only command of the content.

My child already practiced on the digital test. Is that enough?
It’s a real head start β€” comfort on a screen still counts. But the new format brings constraints that last year’s test didn’t have: answers are locked once your child moves to the next question, sections are worked one at a time β€” and the test adapts as they go. Committing to an answer under pressure and staying composed after a hard question are skills of their own, and they only come from practicing under those same constraints. That’s what our platform is built for.

Does your practice work exactly like the real adaptive test?
Not exactly β€” and the difference is deliberate. A test built to measure will ease off when a student stumbles. That’s fine for measuring β€” but it’s the wrong way to train, because it backs off just when a student most needs the push. Our practice gives your child the real experience β€” the secure setting, the pacing, answers locked once they move on β€” while keeping the questions hard the whole way through. A rough patch never turns into easier and easier questions. Talk to us β€” we’re happy to walk you through how we approach it and why it makes students train harder.

If the practice adapts to my child, will they still see difficult material?
Yes. The practice adjusts to each student, but the questions stay hard throughout. Your child won’t end up working through questions that are too simple to teach them anything, no matter how a session unfolds.

Where can my child practice for the adaptive SHSAT?
On our own adaptive practice platform, where answers lock once a student moves on β€” just as they will on test day. Students train on full digital exams in conditions that mirror the real test β€” building the rigor, the screen skills, and the composure the adaptive format asks for.

When should we start?
Earlier is better. Comfort with an adaptive, screen-based format is now part of readiness itself, and students build it through steady practice over time rather than a final push.

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