The grade 8 New York
State Test

The short version

Grade 8 is the end of the sequence and the busiest testing year a New York student has had. Alongside the four ELA and mathematics sessions, grade 8 students also sit the New York State Science Test in May, and many of them sat the SHSAT or the TACHS the previous autumn.

The grade 8 tests cover three tests. English Language Arts and mathematics are four sessions over four days, 94 questions worth 110 credits, of which 16 are written answers rather than multiple choice.

Session	Multiple choice	Written	Credits
ELA, session 1	26	2	30
ELA, session 2	14	4	24
Mathematics, session 1	32	0	32
Mathematics, session 2	6	10	24
Total	94 questions		110

Nobody is watching a clock

The tests are untimed. A grade 8 student who sat the SHSAT in October has just met a test with a hard clock. This one does not have one, and it is worth saying out loud. Schools communicate this poorly, because the published minute figures look exactly like time limits when they are average completion times used to plan the school day.

From spring 2026 every student in grades 3 to 8 takes these tests on a computer. By grade 8 the screen is not the problem. The Science test in May, on a separate schedule, is the thing that catches families out. It is worth one practice session on a screen rather than on paper.

What the result actually decides

By itself the grade 8 state test decides nothing about high school. The specialized high schools admit on the SHSAT alone. What the state test gives you is an honest read on where a child stands, delivered without an admissions decision attached to it, which by grade 8 is rarer than it sounds.

Levels, and why there is no percentage

Results come back as a performance level from 1 to 4 with a scale score beside it, and level 3 is the state's definition of proficient. There is no percentage anywhere on the report. No high school admission decision in New York City uses these levels. They are information for you and nobody else.

Of the 110 credits on the grade 8 test, 32 come from written answers. That is 29% of the whole result riding on questions where a child has to write something down, which is worth knowing before you buy a practice book made entirely of multiple choice.

The results arrive far too late to be a study plan

Here is the part that changes how you should treat these tests. The exams are sat in April and early May. Preliminary figures reach schools over the summer, and the full public release lands in the autumn, by which time your child has a new teacher, a new classroom and in some years a new school.

The grade 8 result is published after your child has started high school, which makes it the clearest case in the sequence of a number that arrives too late to act on. So the score is a historical record rather than a diagnosis you can act on. Anything you want to know in time to do something about it, you have to find out yourself during the year, which is the honest argument for a practice test and the only one we will make.

You are allowed to refuse

New York has no statute requiring a child to sit these tests, and it has among the highest refusal rates in the country. The state education department and the Board of Regents recognize that parents refuse; districts handle it as routine.

The mechanism is a letter to the building principal giving your child's name, grade and teacher, and saying which tests you are refusing. You are not required to meet anyone, attend anything, or explain your reasoning. A school that tells you otherwise is describing its preference, not the rules.

Refusal in grade 8 is less common than in grade 3, partly because families in an admissions year are reluctant to do anything unusual. If that is the reason, it is worth knowing that specialized high school admission cannot consider these scores at all.

We sell practice tests, so treat this as coming from an interested party: we think the test is worth sitting, because the information is worth having. But it is your decision and you should make it knowing it is genuinely yours.

The Science test nobody warned you about

Grade 8 is one of only two grades that also sit the New York State Science Test. It runs on its own schedule in May, after the ELA and mathematics windows have closed, and plenty of families first hear about it from a note that comes home in the spring.

We should be straight about this: we do not sell a Science practice test. Our grade 8 exams cover the four ELA and mathematics sessions and nothing else. If you want Science practice you will need it from somewhere else, and we would rather tell you that than let you buy from us on the assumption that it is included.

Who actually looks at this result

Nowhere that matters for high school. Applications are decided before the grade 8 results exist. The specialized high schools use the SHSAT alone; Catholic high schools use the TACHS or the HSPT; screened programs work from grade 7 data. A grade 8 state test result is, for admissions purposes, a document produced after the event.

What is worth doing at grade 8

A grade 8 student who has been drilling SHSAT multiple choice tends to under-write the state test's written answers, because months of practice have trained them to pick rather than explain. A correct idea stated in one sentence earns full credit, but it does have to be stated.

How a written answer is marked

Against the state's own rubric, on the content of the response alone. Spelling is not marked. Handwriting is not marked. Grammar is not marked. A correct idea in a child's own words earns full credit even when it is short, and copying a chunk of the passage without answering earns nothing at all.

Grade 8 students who have been drilling SHSAT multiple choice tend to under-write these answers, because months of practice trained them to pick rather than explain. This surprises parents in both directions: children who write beautifully and answer vaguely score worse than they look like they should, and children whose handwriting worries you may be scoring fine.

What we found when we tested our own exam

Grade 8 is the year a family is paying for SHSAT or TACHS preparation as well, and an unmeasured practice test is competing for attention with two admissions exams.

So we measure it. Across the 24 sections of our New York State Tests exams long enough to measure (658 questions, in sections of 20 or more), the best score any length-based strategy reaches is 36%, against the 25% that guessing alone should give. Four strategies are scored: pick the longest option, pick the shortest, cross off the longest and guess, cross off the shortest and guess.

By itself the grade 8 state test decides nothing about high school, so the only thing a practice test owes you is an honest number.

Both order and length are now checked on every section we sell. A perfectly balanced answer key can still run A, B, C, D straight through, which one of our own generators produced while every count-based check passed it, so the key order is now tested by shuffling it four thousand times and reporting only the genuinely remarkable.

Where to practice

Our grade 8 practice tests run all four sessions, one per sitting, the way the real week is structured, and they mark the written answers against the state's rubrics rather than skipping them. Every wrong answer carries its own explanation saying what a student who picked it was probably thinking, which is the part that turns a score into something you can act on. There is a free sample on the samples page if you want to see the format before paying for anything.

Our shorter grade 8 guides cover what is on each session and how the scoring works.

Common questions

How many questions are on the grade 8 New York State Test?

94 across four sessions, worth 110 credits. 78 are multiple choice and 16 are written answers.

Is the New York State Test timed?

No. The grades 3 to 8 tests are untimed. A child who needs longer takes longer, and finishing early earns nothing. The minutes you see published are average completion times used for planning.

Can I refuse the grade 8 state test for my child?

Yes. New York has no statute compelling participation, and the practical route is a letter to your child's principal naming your child, their grade and teacher, and the tests you are refusing. You do not have to meet anyone or justify the decision.

When do New York State Test results come back?

Not quickly. Preliminary data reaches schools and districts over the summer, and the full public release follows in the autumn, months after the test and well into the next school year.

Does the grade 8 result affect anything?

By itself the grade 8 state test decides nothing about high school.