My kid recently surprised me by landing an offer from the best high school* in the best city† by performing well enough on the SHSAT test, for which I take half the credit.
TL;DR: sign the petition to revert libraries budget cuts, promote Math Kangaroo in your school.
SHSAT is a wonderful system that is designed to consider just two factors: Math and ELA, completely disregarding leadership skills, presentation, socioeconomic background, etc. The Internet is flooded with debates around SHSAT and the best strategies to take, so I’m adding my five cents here.
Even though there are just eight SHSAT schools there is a whole industry around SHSAT prep, with countless book titles, courses and tutors. When I tried to research our options, I got quickly connected with a tutor charging $300/hr asking for 10-20 lessons with no guarantees.
With SHSAT being such a crucial factor for high school admissions in NYC, many parents tend to turn to expensive test prep programs. However, I believe there are effective and affordable ways to prepare your child for success.
I decided to rely on a combination of my own tutoring, the power of fundamental education, and of course the power of God. So, the two keys to success in SHSAT from my perspective are:
1. Reading a lot, starting early on. Kids can read a $15 book in a day or two, and it’s crucial to use libraries. I live close to a big one and frequented it until I got a Kobo reader which is similar to Kindle but provides seamless access to the local library inventory.
Telling from the history of borrowed books I can estimate the savings above $3000 since we started using it in the middle school.
Unfortunately due to current political and economic situation our local government is trying to redirect our taxes from libraries to other causes, which is going to restrict access to education for young New Yorkers that can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on books and will further lower the educational level of the city population.
Action item: sign the petition to revert libraries budget cuts.
2. Doing math a lot, starting early on. I was lucky to learn about Math Kangaroo back when my kid was in the elementary school. It is an amazing way to introduce a child to math and – most importantly – to timed tests, in playful and engaging form. It’s extremely popular in California, Silicon Valley in particular, which is not surprising as it’s well-known for it’s leading edge in the number of PhDs per square mile.
Unfortunately NYC schools my kid went to not only had zero involvement in Kangaroo, but successfully fought off my modest attempts to introduce this practice.
Action item: promote Math Kangaroo in your school.
In conclusion, the SHSAT system is sometimes considered controversial, as it can be cracked by spending X amount of money in N amount of months on courses, tutors and books. But my experience shows that it still serves its original purpose.
* the school with consistently highest SHSAT cut-off score
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