What New York 7th graders
learn this year

Seventh grade is proportions and percent, arithmetic with negative numbers, and two-step equations. Social studies becomes United States and New York history, from Native Americans to the Civil War.

Fall: September to November

• Math: Add and subtract positive and negative numbers; Find the distance between two numbers on a number line; Multiply and divide positive and negative numbers; Change fractions to decimals, including repeating decimals and 3 more
• Science: Living things are made of cells; How the parts of a cell work; Cells, tissues, organs and body systems; How the senses and brain respond to the world
• Social studies: Native Americans of North America and New York; European exploration and contact with Native Americans; The thirteen colonies and colonial New York

Winter: December to February

• Math: See what an expression means when it is rewritten; Solve multi-step problems with fractions, decimals and estimation; Solve two-step equations and word problems; Solve and graph two-step inequalities and 3 more
• Science: How cells release energy from food; Photosynthesis: how plants make food; How genes and the environment affect growth; Behaviors and plant parts that help organisms reproduce and 1 more
• Social studies: The growth of slavery in the colonies; Causes of the American Revolution; Fighting and winning the Revolutionary War

Early spring: March and April

• Math: Write an equation for a proportional relationship; Explain what a point on a proportional graph means; Solve percent problems: tax, tips, discounts, interest; Find percent increase, decrease and error and 4 more
• Science: How people change the traits of plants and animals; What the fossil record shows about life over time; Evidence of relationships among living things; Natural selection and how populations change
• Social studies: From the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution; How the Constitution works: federalism, branches, checks and amendments; Westward expansion and who gained or lost

Late spring: May and June

• Math: Find the area of shapes made of triangles and trapezoids; Name the shape made by slicing a prism or pyramid; Find surface area of prisms and pyramids, and volume of prisms; Read and interpret box plots (grade 7 does not construct box plots with outliers) and 3 more
• Science: How resources limit populations; Predators, competitors and partners in ecosystems; Food webs and the cycling of matter and energy; How changes to an ecosystem affect populations and 1 more
• Social studies: Reform movements: abolition, women's rights and others; Industrialization, slavery and the road to Civil War; The Civil War: its course and its effects

The four subjects in 7th grade

Math. Positive and negative numbers and unit rates first, then proportions, percent and expressions, then equations, inequalities and geometry, and probability last.

English. Stories, poems paired with articles, and arguments to judge, including spotting evidence that does not support the claim.

Science. Life science: cells and body systems, photosynthesis and energy, ecosystems and food webs, heredity and natural selection.

Social studies. United States and New York history from Native American nations and the colonies through the Revolution, the Constitution and westward expansion, to the Civil War.

Where 7th graders slip

Watch percent and negative numbers. Discounts, tax and temperature changes all rest on them, and seventh grade equations assume both.

Common questions

Why is seventh grade science all life science?

New York sets middle school science for grades 6 to 8 together. We put life science in seventh grade because many schools do; it is our choice, not the state's, and we say so.

Does seventh grade practice help with the SHSAT next year?

The SHSAT math section for eighth graders is based on New York's standards through seventh grade, so this year's math is what that section assumes. It is not SHSAT practice; our SHSAT exams are separate.