For families in New York City
NYC Gifted and Talented admissions, explained
New York City public schools no longer use a test to choose children for Gifted and Talented (G&T) programs. Children entering kindergarten are nominated by their pre-K teacher or after an interview, and children entering Grades 1 to 4 qualify on their report card. Then seats are offered by the family's choices, the seats a program has and its priorities.
How it works now
Two ways in, and neither is a test
- Entering kindergartenChildren in their pre-K year
- Families list G&T programs on their child's kindergarten application. There is no separate G&T application.
- A child in a public pre-K program (a district school, a Pre-K Center, a community-based program or a charter) is evaluated by their own pre-K teacher.
- A child in a private or religious pre-K, or not in school yet, is invited to an interview with the DOE's Division of Early Childhood Education, and early childhood experts decide on the nomination.
- The teacher's form looks at curiosity, how the child approaches learning, and how they read social situations and direct themselves, measured against New York State's pre-K learning standards.
- Entering Grades 1 to 4Children in kindergarten to Grade 3
- A public school student is eligible with a 3 or 4 (or the equivalent) in math, reading and writing on their latest report card.
- They cannot have had a 1 in math, reading, writing, social studies or science in any marking period of the current school year.
- Charter, private and religious school families send their child's grades to the DOE, which converts them to its 4-point scale. Homeschooling families send what they have and may be asked about their child's learning.
- Eligible children are not ranked by their grades: every eligible applicant is treated the same.
After eligibility
How seats are offered
- Being eligible is not a seat. Offers follow the order of the family's choices, the seats each program has and the program's admissions priorities.
- Brothers and sisters of current students have priority at every G&T program. Some district programs give priority to children who live in that district, and some programs run Diversity in Admissions priorities.
- There are district programs and citywide programs. A child already in a district program can apply only to citywide programs.
- An eligible child can be put on a waitlist when a program is full, and a family can ask the DOE to review an eligibility decision.
What changed
From one test to no test
- Until 2020
Four-year-olds sat a test for kindergarten G&T seats, and a high score made a child eligible. In its last years the test combined part of the OLSAT with the NNAT.
- 2021
The city dropped the test. Pre-K teachers nominated children instead, children outside public pre-K were interviewed, and seats went by lottery among the eligible. That autumn the mayor announced a plan to end G&T and its single test altogether.
- 2022
The next administration kept G&T instead, and opened a third-grade entry point in every district, offered to the top students in each second-grade class by their grades.
- Since then
Kindergarten entry still runs on teacher nominations and interviews, and entry from Grade 1 to 4 on report card grades, as above. The DOE adjusts the details each year, so its own page is the one to trust.
Where tests still count
Hunter, private schools and the SHSAT
A New York child can go all through public school without sitting an admissions test. The tests come in at Hunter, at independent schools and at the specialized high schools.
- Hunter College High SchoolGrade 6, for entry to Grade 7
Hunter's schools are run by the City University of New York, not the DOE. They are public and free, and the high school admits new students in Grade 7 only, through its own entrance exam taken in Grade 6: a reading and writing booklet and a math booklet.
- ISEEIndependent schools, entry to Grades 2 to 12
Many independent (private) schools ask for an admission test, and the ISEE is one of the two most common. It has four levels by the grade a child is applying to, with verbal and quantitative reasoning, reading, math and an essay that is sent to schools unscored.
- SSATIndependent schools, entry to Grades 4 to 12
Some schools take the SSAT as well as or instead of the ISEE. It has three levels, and the youngest is for children in Grades 3 and 4. Each school's admissions page says which test it accepts.
- SHSATGrades 8 and 9, for the specialized high schools
Eight of the city's nine specialized high schools admit students by one test, the SHSAT, taken in Grade 8 (or Grade 9). The ninth, LaGuardia, admits by audition.
Before you start
Can my child practice for NYC G&T?
There is nothing to practice for NYC G&T itself: there is no test, and a pre-K teacher's nomination or a report card is not something a practice paper can change. What helps a young child most is what the teacher's form looks for: curiosity, questions, stories, puzzles and play.
Questions
What parents ask
- Is there still a NYC gifted and talented test?
- Not for DOE G&T programs. Kindergarten entry uses a pre-K teacher's nomination or a DOE interview, and entry to Grades 1 to 4 uses report card grades. Hunter College Elementary School, which is not part of the DOE, sets its own admissions.
- My child goes to a private pre-K. How are they evaluated?
- List G&T programs on the kindergarten application. The DOE's Division of Early Childhood Education then contacts you to arrange an interview, and its early childhood experts decide whether to nominate your child.
- Does a higher report card grade improve my child's chances?
- No. A child is either eligible or not, and eligible children are not ranked by their grades. After that, offers follow your choices, the seats and each program's priorities.
- Should my child sit the OLSAT or NNAT for NYC?
- Not for DOE G&T: neither is used any more. Both tests are still used by gifted programs in many other school districts, so families moving from another district may meet them there.
- Where are this year's dates?
- On the DOE's Gifted and Talented admissions page, linked below. Applications for kindergarten and for Grades 1 to 4 open at different times of the year, and the DOE changes the dates each cycle.
Gifted and Talented admissions are run by New York City Public Schools. Hunter College High School and Hunter College Elementary School are run by Hunter College, City University of New York. The ISEE is published by ERB and the SSAT by The Enrollment Management Association. None of them is affiliated with or endorses Scholar Tests, and our practice questions are written by us, not taken from any of these tests.