HCHS

Hunter College High School Entrance Exam

Earn your seat at one of America’s most prestigious high schools!

Hunter College High School Entrance Exam

Earn your seat at one of America’s most prestigious high schools!

Hunter College High School (HCHS) is known for its rigorous academic standards and selective admissions process. Each year, graduates from Hunter are sent to Ivy League schools and top universities across the country. Will your student be taking the HCHS Entrance Exam in January? Read up on the test to help your student study with ease and confidence! 

About the HCHS Entrance Exam

The HCHS Entrance Exam is an in-house admissions test given to 6th grade students applying for 7th grade admissions to Hunter College High School. The exam consists of two multiple-choice sections that cover Reading Comprehension and Math, along with a writing assignment. 

Students are only permitted to take the HCHS once, which means it’s vital for them to ace it on their first attempt. Our tutors have the expertise and experience to help your child reach their potential and be best prepared for the big day.

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Testing Date & Eligibility

The registration and test-administration for the HCHS entrance exam is handled by Hunter College High School. Students must reside in New York City and meet the qualifying scores on their 5th grade NYS English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics Tests to be eligible to sit for the exam. The qualifying scores change year-to-year. For the 2024 HCHS Entrance Exam, the scores were as follows:

  • NYS English Language Arts = 479 or above
  • NYS Mathematics = 492 or above

If your child did not take the NYS exams, alternate qualifying criteria can be found here. Students that meet the qualification criteria will receive a letter from the DOE that they are eligible to sit for the exam, which will direct them to the HCHS admissions application form. The HCHS entrance exam is typically held in January of 6th grade with offers of admission emailed out in late May.

Test Format & Content

The HCHS is a 3 hour exam containing 3 sections: Critical Reading, which contains 50 Reading Comprehension multiple-choice questions, Mathematics, which contains 30 Mathematics multiple-choice questions, and the Writing Assignment, which asks students to write an essay or produce a creative work based on a prompt provided during the exam.

Private HCHS Exam Tutoring

The HCHS Entrance Exam is a long, competitive, and challenging exam that takes a lot of preparation and practice. In the Critical Reading section, students are required to demonstrate their ability to understand, interpret, and analyze a series of texts. For Mathematics, students must accurately and carefully execute complex math problems in a limited time.

Every student tests differently. Having a trusted company such as The Tutorverse to guide your student through their individual process is invaluable!

Evaluate

The key to beginning your test prep journey is deciding on goals; what target score do you need to reach to get into HCHS? What areas are your strongest? What areas do you need to work on?

Plan

Once you've got an idea of where you're aiming, work with your tutor to develop a detailed and consistent plan of study. You've got your goals; how are you going to reach them?

Practice

This is the fun part—time to start studying! Work through your plan with a tutor and trusted adult, and when you're ready, take a practice test! See how you do and begin the process again. With this structure, the sky's the limit for your HCHS score!

Evaluate

The key to beginning your test prep journey is deciding on goals; what target score do you need to reach to get into HCHS? What areas are your strongest? What areas do you need to work on?

Plan

Once you've got an idea of where you're aiming, work with your tutor to develop a detailed and consistent plan of study. You've got your goals; how are you going to reach them?

Practice

This is the fun part—time to start studying! Work through your plan with a tutor and trusted adult, and when you're ready, take a practice test! See how you do and begin the process again. With this structure, the sky's the limit for your HCHS score!

With the HCHS Exam, some students may have already had some experience in the form of practice tests; most, though, have not. Taking a test without any initial instruction can be disheartening for students. Instead, we recommend that students have a few meetings with a tutor before taking a diagnostic. This allows families to more meaningfully decide a course of action tailored towards students’ specific skills, knowledge, and abilities before the student begins testing.

We have experienced tutors, teachers, mentors, and consultants who can evaluate your student’s needs to execute a plan that’ll make the best use of the limited time available before your student’s test date. Let us help your student navigate this daunting path forward and emerge victorious!

Pacing & Strategy on the HCHS Entrance Exam

Students have 3 hours to work through the exam in any order. Through proper preparation, each student will develop and hone their unique test-taking strategy.

 

However, there are a few key strategies for all students to keep in mind:

Practice active reading habits

Read with your pencil out! As you read questions, feel free to make notes in your test booklet. 

Some students are reluctant to annotate because they think it takes too long. However, the time it saves you from having to return to the text is worth it in the end. Besides: by the time you finish reading a question, your notes may already contain the answer!

Don’t get stuck on any one question

On average, students can only really spend between one minute twenty seconds and one minute fifty seconds per question (allotting at least thirty minutes for the Writing Assignment).

Practice strategies to manage time. One such strategy is to skip questions and come back to them later, if you struggle to answer them! Within the same module, skipping a question won’t affect the difficulty of subsequent questions; just make sure you return to them before time runs out!

Fill in an answer for every question

There is no penalty for incorrectly answered questions. So, when your time for the test is up, you should leave no questions unanswered; save time to guess, if you have to!

If you can narrow down multiple choice questions to two answer choices, you’ll have a 50-50 chance at a earning a point!

Use all of the allotted time

Think you’re done early? No way! It’s extremely difficult for students to answer every question on the HCHS Exam correctly!

Use any extra time to check your work. Or, revisit those really tricky questions. Practice strategies to organize your scratch paper to help you with this. Learn how to double check your arithmetic!

Scoring and Student Selection

The Reading Comprehension and Mathematics multiple-choice sections will be scored first. Soon after, a cut-off score will be established by the school which is based on the overall performance of all the applicants. The cut-off score varies each year and is not shared by HCHS. The unofficial cut-off for the exam is assumed to be between 65% to 70%. Only students that meet the cut-off score will have their essays read by the graders. A percentage of students with stronger essays will be offered a seat for 7th-grade admissions to HCHS.

Interested in Learning More?

Every year, The Tutorverse helps students earn seats in prestigious schools like Hunter.
 Contact us for more information on how your student can best prepare for this test and others like it!

Swati Khandelwal
Swati Khandelwal
28 March 2024
We liked the workbooks. Tutors are friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. Nice facilities. Prompt and efficient communication with staff.
Sruthi P
Sruthi P
28 March 2024
Rebecca Comella is an exceptional tutor! My 7th-grader had the privilege of working with her to prepare for the SHSAT and ISEE tests, and the results were outstanding. Rebecca has a remarkable ability to make learning fun and engaging, which kept Arya motivated and eager to learn. One of the things that stood out about Rebecca was her flexibility. Despite Arya's holiday travels, Rebecca was always accommodating, scheduling classes to ensure he stayed on track with his studies. This level of dedication and adaptability truly sets her apart. Thanks to Rebecca's guidance and support, Arya excelled in both tests and secured admission to one of the top NYC specialized schools. Beyond just exam preparation, Arya gained a deep understanding of math concepts that have proven invaluable in his regular school curriculum. I cannot recommend Rebecca highly enough. Her expertise, passion for teaching, and commitment to her students make her an outstanding tutor. If you're looking for someone who goes above and beyond to help students succeed, Rebecca is the perfect choice. Thank you, Rebecca, for everything you've done for Arya!
Jairo Chung
Jairo Chung
24 March 2024
My daughter took the prep class for SHSAT with Tutorverse and had a very successful outcome. She benefited from the material prep class which worked as a foundation for the actual test prep. She received thorough feedback on the practice tests to learn how to improve her scores throughout her test prep. Highly recommend!
Christopher Riedl
Christopher Riedl
20 March 2024
Rebecca with Tutorverse was of tremendous help to our son in getting the scores he needed to get match with his first choice Brooklyn Tech! She really know spot on where he was trailing, what he needed to focus on and how to prepare in general. Over the months, together they morphed into the perfect study machine 🙂 I did not know how important it is to have the right tutor until we met her!
Jennifer Teitler
Jennifer Teitler
16 March 2024
My son had a terrific experience with Tutorverse. The classes provided a great grounding on the SHSAT test and helped him prepare leading up to it. Eric was very helpful and attentive. I highly recommend their services.
JACKY LEE
JACKY LEE
15 March 2024
I was recommended by my neighbor to try Tutorverse which I’m glad that I signed it up in the last minute. They provided practice test every weekend that help my son brushed up his test skills and also helped him to keep up his time. Practice makes perfect. At the end my son scored 627 which we are very happy about it.
Deirdre Dastous
Deirdre Dastous
15 March 2024
We highly recommend both The Tutorverse SHSAT group prep classes and individual tutoring. Our son started with Tutorverse in the winter of 7th grade and had a great experience. When we realized he would also take the HSPT, The Tutorverse found Eric Sepe for individual weekend tutoring sessions to help him prepare for that and solidify a few of his weaker areas for the SHSAT. Fast-forward and our son was offered a place at his top choice specialized high school, as well as a merit scholarship and invitation to the honors program at a top Catholic school. The Tutorverse is a great organization which cares about the students. Eric is phenomenal; an incredibly smart but also really nice guy whom my son looked forward to working with every week and gave him the confidence to ace his exams. - Deirdre Littlewood
Ali Iannuzzo
Ali Iannuzzo
15 March 2024
We met our son’s tutor, John Chismody, through Tutorverse. I cannot say enough good things about John! We looked forward to his weekly visits. He is smart, friendly, patient and dedicated. He explains concepts in a way that are digestible and so that the student understands the principles. It’s not just about getting to the answers for the sake of the test. My son walked away a smarter and better student, all around, after working with John. I have recommended John to friends, colleagues, and hope to have my daughter work with him as she prepares for her high school exams. I know folks like to see results. Learning alongside John, my son got into a specialized high school and honors programs at Catholic schools.
Steve Miller
Steve Miller
14 March 2024
Tutorverse was a great resource for our daughter. Their coursework is thorough and the scheduling is very organized which is helpful for a class bridging the spring of 7th grade, independent summer work, and the fall of 8th grade. There is also ample opportunity to review practice test performance for overall improvement. Best of all our daughter nailed the official test and got her first choice SHS. Thank you!
Michael Cruz
Michael Cruz
14 March 2024
Rebecca is an excellent tutor. She was friendly, engaging, and truly helped our child not just improve scores but understand complex concepts. Highly recommended!