Special Music School: SHSAT testers and specialized high school offers, 2022-2025
District 3 · Manhattan · DBN 03M859
- 8th graders, 2025
- 16
- Sat the SHSAT
- 8
- Took the test
- 50%
- Offers
- 5 or fewer (not published)
In 2025 admissions, 8 of the 16 eighth graders at Special Music School who applied to high school sat the SHSAT: 50%, more than half the grade. That is close to the 50% rate across District 3. Citywide, among public middle schools that published both counts, 37% of eighth graders sat the test. It ranks 6th of 14 in District 3 on that measure. Its eighth grade is smaller than most in District 3: 18th of 19, against a median of 58.
The number of its students who received an offer to a specialized high school was 5 or fewer. The DOE does not publish counts that small, so it could be any number from zero to five; this page does not guess. That is the case at 13 of the 19 schools listed in District 3 for 2025.
The number of testers has held steady: 8 in 2024 admissions, 8 in 2025. The eighth grade itself grew from 12 to 16 over the same years, so part of that movement is the size of the class, not the share sitting the test. In 2022 and 2023 and 2025, the offer count was 5 or fewer and was not published; 2024 is the only year it cleared that line, at 6.
In District 3, the most offers in 2025 admissions went to students from J.H.S. 054 Booker T. Washington (88), out of 183 published for the district as a whole.
Year by year
| Admissions year | 8th graders | Sat the SHSAT | Took the test | Offers | Discovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 12 | 5 or fewer (not published) | n/a | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2023 | 13 | 5 or fewer (not published) | n/a | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2024 | 13 | 8 | 62% | 6 | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| 2025 | 16 | 8 | 50% | 5 or fewer (not published) | 5 or fewer (not published) |
| District 3, 2025 | 1,245 | 561 | 50% | at least 183 | |
| New York City, 2025 | 25,933 | 4,023 |
“2025 admissions” means students who sat the SHSAT as eighth graders in the 2024-25 school year and received offers for fall 2025, as in the DOE’s admissions outcomes report. “8th graders” counts the school’s eighth graders who applied to high school; “took the test” divides testers by that count when both are published. The district row adds the published counts of its schools, so its offers are a floor; the city row is the DOE’s own total. “Not listed” means the school is absent from that year’s file.
Schools in District 3 with a similar share of testers
The schools just above and below Special Music School when District 3’s schools are ordered by the share of eighth graders who sat the SHSAT in 2025 admissions.
- J.H.S. 054 Booker T. Washington79% of 218 sat the test · 88 offers
- Lafayette Academy60% of 75 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- M.S. 245 The Computer School58% of 124 sat the test · 17 offers
- Mott Hall II36% of 135 sat the test · 10 offers
- P.S. 333 Manhattan School for Children36% of 59 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
- M.S. M247 Dual Language Middle School30% of 67 sat the test · offers: 5 or fewer (not published)
What to do with these numbers
Your child is in 8th grade now
Registration closes October 30. Test day: November 18.
November 18 is the SHSAT School Day; the weekend sittings are November 14/15 and November 21. Whatever the count at Special Music School, the decision to sit the test is yours, and a scored official practice test tells you more about your own child than any school figure.
- How to register for the SHSAT, step by step
- Score an official SHSAT practice test, free
- Book an SHSAT session
Dates read on schools.nyc.gov on October 3, 2026.
Your child is in 5th grade
Middle school applications: October 14 to December 11.
The middle school you choose now is where the SHSAT years happen. These counts show how many eighth graders sit the test at each school and how many get an offer; they do not say why. Ask the schools on your list how many of their students sit the SHSAT and how they prepare them, and plan the preparation for 6th and 7th grade, not for the October of 8th.
Dates for fall 2027 entry read on schools.nyc.gov on October 3, 2026.
Figures from Specialized High Schools Admissions Tests Results (school counts) and Specialized High Schools Admissions Overall Summary (city totals), New York City Department of Education, as listed for DBN 03M859. Rebuilt 2026-10-03. Method and caveats are set out on the index page. Back to all 721 middle schools.