shsat tests and answers

SHSAT 2026 Fall Test - Information

Two big changes are happening in 2026:

  1. The test is now adaptive. If kids get a question right, they will get a question of similar difficulty, or one that is harder. If they get it wrong, the difficulty will not increase.

  2. Except for the passage-based questions, kids will NOT be able to return to questions once they answer them, and, in order to move on to the next question, they will need to answer questions at the time they are presented. That means they will NOT be able to skip difficult questions and return to them. This is important to know because leaving difficult questions blank and then returning to them used to be a common tip for pacing on the test. For passage-based questions, kids can move around within the passage, but once they answer all the questions for the passage, they will not be able to return to the passage again. In order to move on to the next passage, they will need to answer all the questions.

2026 digital practice tests - Since the test is digital, it is best for kids to take practice exams in that format. Access the digital tests here. Once you are on the page, click on “no text to speech” in the Grade 8 column. You will be taken to four official digital tests from the DOE.

NOTE: The pdfs made available by the DOE for the 2026 questions and answers are very confusing. Part of the passage is reprinted next to each question and the correct part of the passage is not always used. For example, question 5 in Form A English asks about lines 21 - 22 from the poem, but only line 1 to 14 appear next to the question, so your child needs to go hunting for the correct lines. Worse, the questions are not numbered in an immediately obvious way, so it is very hard to match the answer key to the questions. And the answer key for Form A is 144 pages (!) long. That is because the key reprints part of each passage next to each answer. To make things easier for you, we have reformatted the 2026 questions and answers so that they are numbered and appear in the same way they will appear on the student’s score report. The questions are in typical test format, with each passage appearing only once making it much easier to print out and review. Same with the answer explanations. They appear in a concise way, making it much easier for you to check each test. We are leaving the links to the DOE test questions since this show you what the test will appear digitally. For practical paper and pencil use, we recommend out pdfs.

SHSAT 2026 - Form A English Questions

SHSAT 2026 - Form A Math Questions

SHSAT2026 - Form A English Answers

SHSAT 2026 - Form A Math Answers

SHSAT 2026 - Form B English Questions

SHSAT 2026 - Form B Math Questions

SHSAT 2026 - Form B English Answers

SHSAT 2026 - Form B Math Answers

SHSAT 2026 - Form C English Questions

SHSAT 2026 - Form C Math Questions

SHSAT 2026 - FORM C English Answers

SHSAT 2026 - Form C Math Answers

SHSAT 2026 - Form D English Questions

SHSAT 2026 - Form D Math Questions

SHSAT 2026 - Form D English Answers

SHSAT 2026 - Form D Math Answers

THE MAJORITY OF THE QUESTIONS IN THE 2025 TESTS APPEAR IN THE 2026 TESTS; STEPS TUTORING RECOMMENDS SKIPPING THE 2025 TESTS.

SHSAT 2025 - Form A Questions.

All 50 Math questions appear in the 2026 Practice Test A. 28 of the 50 ELA questions appear in 2026 Practice Test A.

SHSAT 2025 - Form A Answers

SHSAT 2025 - Form B Questions

49 of the 50 math questions appear in 2026 Practice Test B, as do 38 of the English questions. Note: This test has two poems. “At Dusk” also appears in 2024 Form A; “A Letter from Brooklyn” is in 2023 Form A.) A word of warning: The questions for “A Letter From Brooklyn” are unusually difficult. Most kids (and parents!) have a hard time with them.

SHSAT 2025 - Form B Answers

SHSAT 2024 - 2025 Form A Questions

SHSAT 2024 - 2025 Form A Answers

SHSAT 2024 - 2025 Form B Questions

SHSAT 2024 - 2025 Form B Answers

SHSAT 2023 - 2024 Form A Questions A word of warning: The questions for the poem “A Letter From Brooklyn” are unusually difficult. Most kids (and parents!) have a hard time with them.

SHSAT 2023-2024 Form A Answers

SHSAT 2023 - 2024 Form B Questions

SHSAT 2023-2024 Form B Answers

SHSAT 2022 - 2023 Form A Questions

SHSAT 2022 - 2023 Form A Answers

SHSAT 2022 - 2023 Form B Questions

SHSAT 2022 - 2023 Form B Answers

Note: STEPS TUTORING recommends skipping the 2021 and 2020 tests since so much of their content duplicates other tests.