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SHSAT dates & registration for fall 2026

Updated September 7, 2026 · By Christopher Lara, Stuyvesant ’00 — the DOE has now set the school-day test date; weekend and 9th-grade dates are still to come

The fall 2026 SHSAT school-day test is Wednesday, November 18, 2026, and registration runs Tuesday, October 6 through Friday, October 30, 2026. Both are official, from the DOE. The November 18 date covers NYC public school 8th graders, who test at their own schools; the DOE has said the weekend dates and sites — for charter, private and home-schooled 8th graders — will be announced later this fall, and the 9th-grade date is still unposted too. Below is the official calendar so far, the pattern from recent cycles for what's still missing, and everything about registration you can do ahead of time.

The fall 2026 timeline

Last cycle's actual dates (fall 2025 test, for fall 2026 admission) shown as reference, from the DOE's testing calendar. Bold dates are officially confirmed by the DOE for this cycle; everything else is the pattern from recent cycles, not a promise.

Milestone	Last cycle	This cycle (fall 2026)
Registration opens (MySchools)	Tuesday, Oct 7, 2025	Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026
Registration closes	Friday, Oct 31, 2025	Friday, Oct 30, 2026
Test tickets in MySchools	Monday, Nov 10, 2025	Not announced (~1–2 wks after close)
8th graders — school day testing	Wednesday, Nov 12, 2025	Wednesday, Nov 18, 2026
8th graders — private/charter/home	Sat–Sun, Nov 15–16, 2025	Not announced (DOE says later this fall)
9th graders	Sat–Sun, Nov 22–23, 2025	Not announced (expect a Nov–Dec weekend)
HS & LaGuardia applications close	Early December	Friday, Dec 4, 2026
Results & offers	Spring, with HS offers	Wednesday, Mar 3, 2027 (after 3pm)

The school-day date is set; the weekend dates are not. The DOE's Specialized High Schools page now states that "the SHSAT School Day is scheduled for November 18, 2026, for all NYCPS students in middle schools terminating in the eighth grade," and says weekend sites and dates for charter, private and home-schooled students will be announced later this fall — along with a new SHSAT Digital Readiness Activity for public middle schoolers. Registration, the application deadline, and offer release are confirmed on the DOE's Fall 2027 High School Admissions Timeline. Rows still marked "not announced" are the pattern from recent cycles, not promises. The DOE notes its dates are subject to change and that changes are communicated directly to families. When the rest of the calendar posts, this page gets updated the same week.

How registration works

Set up MySchools now. Registration happens through myschools.nyc. If your family doesn't have an account yet, your school counselor can help create one — don't wait for October to discover a login problem.
Register between Oct 6 and Oct 30, 2026. That's the full window — it opens Tuesday, October 6 and closes Friday, October 30. Public school students can also register through their counselor. Don't leave it to the last week: a MySchools login problem discovered on October 29 is a genuine emergency.
Get the test ticket. After registration closes, a ticket with your child's assigned test date and site appears in MySchools. Print it or save it — it's the admission document for test day.
Rank schools thoughtfully. Your child lists the specialized high schools in preference order. Order matters: offers go to the highest-listed school with seats left when their score comes up. A school you don't list can't make an offer, no matter the score — our cutoff guide explains the mechanics.

Don't confuse the two deadlines. SHSAT registration closes Friday, October 30, 2026. The regular high school application — the one where your child ranks non-specialized programs — stays open until Friday, December 4, 2026. They open the same day, October 6, and families who register for the SHSAT sometimes assume they're done. The SHSAT is not a substitute for the high school application, and almost every student should submit both.

Who's eligible

Any NYC resident 8th grader — public, charter, private, or home school — can test for 9th-grade admission the following September. Current 9th graders can test for the small number of 10th-grade seats. The test is free, and it's offered once per year per student: there are no retakes within a cycle, which is a big part of why families prepare seriously.

One more date that matters: the format

Fall 2026 is the first year the SHSAT is computer-adaptive — question difficulty adjusts to your child as they answer. If your rising 8th grader has been practicing on paper, the single most valuable scheduling decision you can make this month is building in time for on-screen, timed practice before test day.

Counting down to test day? SHSAT Prep: Practice Tests asks two questions — which test, and when — and builds a day-by-day plan to your test date. A 30-minute diagnostic finds the gaps; 1,232 human-reviewed questions with worked explanations close them, and a full-length Adaptive Practice Test rehearses the format itself. No accounts, no ads, nothing leaves the device.

Frequently asked questions

When is the SHSAT this year?

Wednesday, November 18, 2026 for NYC public school 8th graders, who test at their own schools during the school day — that date is official from the DOE. The weekend dates for charter, private and home-schooled 8th graders, and the 9th-grade date, have not been posted yet; the DOE says they are coming later this fall.

When do private, charter and home-schooled students take the SHSAT?

On a weekend, at an assigned testing site rather than at their own school. The DOE has not announced the fall 2026 weekend dates or sites yet. Last cycle those students tested Saturday and Sunday, November 15 and 16, 2025.

When does SHSAT registration close?

Friday, October 30, 2026. That is a hard deadline, and it comes more than a month before the December 4 high school application deadline.

Does the SHSAT cost anything?

No. Registration and the test are free.

What if we miss the registration window?

Talk to your school counselor immediately. Late registration options have historically been very limited, and missing the window generally means waiting a full year.

When do results come out?

Wednesday, March 3, 2027, after 3pm, in MySchools — the same moment high school offers are released.

Can my child take it more than once?

Once per year. An 8th grader who doesn't get an offer can test again in 9th grade for the much smaller pool of 10th-grade seats.