Hunter College High School (HCHS) Entrance Exam (NYC)

Timing

The HCHS Entrance Exam is administered once per year only, with no make-up dates. Typically the test is given in January of each year with an alternate snow date. Applications typically open in September and close at the end February.

Test Structure

 

Typically, the HCHS Entrance Exam contains three sections: 50 multiple-choice English Language Arts questions, a Writing Assignment, and 30 multiple-choice Mathematics questions (sample exam #1 contains 35 math questions). Each multiple-choice question is followed by five possible answers: A, B, C, D, or E. You must choose the best answer for each question. Students are given a total of three hours to complete the examination, including the Writing Assignment.

 

Content

In the Critical Reading portion, your reading comprehension is assessed. You will answer questions about specific reading passages to show your ability to understand, interpret, and analyze a number of types of writing. You will read five or six passages of varying lengths. Each is followed by multiple choice questions about it. Every fifth line of each passage is numbered so that you can find the part the question refers to.  You are asked to read the passage and answer the questions based on the content of the passage.

The passages in the Critical Reading section reflects a range of writing styles from different time periods. In this sample exam, all of the reading passages are older, allowing us to print them without costly special permissions. Each year, we secure limited permission to reprint more contemporary selections. In an actual exam you would read and answer questions about passages from a wider range of writing styles.

In the Writing Assignment section, students are asked to write either an essay or a creative piece (up to two pages) to demonstrate the originality, effectiveness, and use of detail in your writing. There is scrap paper in the test booklet where you can jot down, outline thoughts, or compose a draft before writing the full assignment. Some years you are given a choice of topics; other years, there is only one topic. 

The Mathematics section tests your problem-solving ability. Students solve a variety of problems, including multi-step ones involving: estimation; computations with fractions, decimals, percents, and integers (including negative numbers); rules of divisibility; simple probability; rate; average; ratio; time; money; area of shaded regions; perimeter; counting; visual and numerical pattern recognition; and three dimensional figures. The Math sample test contains more items than the actual test will contain. 

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The passages in the Critical Reading section usually reflect a range of writing styles from different time periods. In an actual exam you would read and answer questions about passages from a wider range of writing styles.

In the Writing Assignment section, students will write either an essay or a creative piece (up to two pages) to demonstrate the originality, effectiveness, and use of detail in your writing. Some years there are choices of topics; other years, there is only one topic. 

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The Mathematics section tests problem-solving ability. Students solve a variety of problems, including multi-step ones involving: estimation; computations with fractions, decimals, percents, and integers (including negative numbers); rules of divisibility; simple probability; rate; average; ratio; time; money; area of shaded regions; perimeter; counting; visual and numerical pattern recognition; and three dimensional figures. 

Scoring 

The multiple-choice sections are computer-scored and hand-checked for accuracy. At the end of the scoring process, a cut off score is established - based on the number of test takers, the cut off score varies from year to year. Once established, the cut off score will allow the top (approximately) 500 scorers to have their essays read by a panel of HCHS English faculty. Essays are read “blind;”at all times, students are identified solely by their HCHS Identification numbers. Readers do not know the students’ identities at any point in the assessment process. The students who write the top approximately 170 essays are selected for admission to HCHS. HCHS also creates a 20/30 student waitlist in case they can't fill the class.