Hunter College High School Entrance Exam 101

Cover photo by Ajay Suresh

Hunter College High School offers an exceptional academic opportunity to New York City students. The tuition free school is partnered with City University of New York and run by Hunter College and provides a learning environment dedicated to academically advanced 7th-12th students.

Admission into Hunter College High School is only open to rising 7th graders. Students are not admitted in any other year. The admission process for eligible students includes an entrance exam. Students who perform well enough on this exam will be invited to attend their 7th-12th grade years at the prestigious school.

The Entrance Exam for Hunter College is only held once a year. The next one will be administered on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. There are no alternate dates or make-up exams.

What are the requirements for the Hunter College High School Entrance Exam?

To qualify to take the exam, students must meet the following criteria:

Candidates must be currently enrolled in 6th grade.
Candidates must have their primary residence in one of the five boroughs of New York City at the time of application submission. (Property ownership does not constitute residency.)
Candidates must have earned the minimum qualifying score from one of the approved standardized exams.

Exams and Scores:

Most students will provide the scores from the statewide 5th grade exams (NYS). To qualify, students must meet the minimum score in both English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics.

The minimum qualifying scores needed to apply to Hunter and sit for the HCHS January 2025 Entrance Exam are:

SP 24, ELA English Language Arts = 474
SP 24, STM State Math = 496

Visit the school’s website to learn what other exams can be provided in the event your student did not take the NYS exams.

Important note: There is often a misconception that students must be invited to apply. This is not true: rather, parents or guardians must check that their child’s test scores meet the criteria, or, in the absence of scores, follow the steps listed by the school for permission to take an approved standardized test.

All eligibility requirements can be found on the school’s website.

Hunter College High School Entrance Exam Registration Process

Families of students who attend a Department of Education (DOE) public school will be notified to apply for the Entrance exam if they are eligible. Families of students who attend parochial, private, or charter schools and believe they meet the eligibility requirements can initiate a verification process to apply for the entrance exam.

Families of eligible students must also complete the online application. When the application process is opened, this can be found on the Hunter College High School website.

Hunter College High School Exam Fee

There are no fees to apply or register for the test.

Hunter College High School Exam Structure

The Hunter College High School entrance exam has 3 sections: a multiple choice Critical Reading section, a written essay, and a multiple choice Math section.

Students have three hours to complete all three sections of the test.

Critical Reading

Students will be asked to read 5-6 passages from different styles and time periods. After each passage, students will answer questions assessing their ability to understand, interpret, and analyze the passage. This section of the test usually contains 50 multiple questions and each question usually has 5 possible answer choices (A, B, C, D, or E).

Writing

Students will be asked to compose a personal essay or a piece of creative writing in response to a prompt. Some years students are only given one prompt and other years students may be asked to choose from a selection of prompts. Students are provided space to jot notes and/or outline their response as well as 2 pages of space for their composition. Students will want to write a response that demonstrates original, effective, and creative writing.

Math

Students will be asked multiple choice questions to assess their mathematical problem-solving abilities. Most questions require multi-step solutions using a variety of concepts and skills, such as estimation, operations (with fractions, decimals, and integers), rate, ratio, averages, probability, time, geometry, and pattern recognition. This section of the test usually contains 30 multiple questions and each question usually has 5 possible answer choices (A, B, C, D, or E).

How Long is the Hunter College High School Test?

Students have 3 hours to complete the Hunter College High School Entrance Exam.

How Difficult is the Hunter College High School Entrance Test?

The Hunter College High School Entrance Exam is very challenging. Out of the few thousands of students who will take the test each year, less than 200 are accepted each year.

Hunter College High School Entrance Exam Scoring

To be admitted to the school, students must first score high enough on the multiple choice sections of the test. After the tests are computer-scored and hand-checked for accuracy, a cut-off score is determined. The cut-off score depends on how many students took the test that year and only allows a certain number of students to advance to the final step of the test scoring–the essay.

The essay is the final portion of the test to be evaluated. Essays are read “blind,” (student identities will never be known by the essay readers because names are replaced with ID numbers). The most impressive essays from those read will be selected and those students will receive admission to Hunter College High School.

Hunter College High School Exam Cut-off Scores 2022

Because Hunter College High School does not disclose scoring details, there is no official information about average test scores nor estimated cut-offs for admissions. Students and families will receive no report detailing performance on the entrance exam.

Hunter College High School Test Preparation Tips

Take a practice test. Although Hunter College High School does not publish or share any actual tests with the public, they do provide sample tests on their website. Ivy Tutors Network is happy to administer a diagnostic test, which is the best way for students to asess their strengths and weaknesses in order to creste a plan for furhter study. You can sign up for a diagnostic exam here.
Find materials. HCHS provides a small number of study aids on their website. We reccomend students work through those first. There are also test prep workbooks available from non-Hunter sources. HCHS had no partnership with any test prep company, but these can be a great option for students looking to further prepare for the test on their own.
Keep up in school. This is VERY important. As mentioned earlier in the article, HCHS has minimum academic requirements for students to even take the exam, so keeping up in school and performing well is essential for all students seeking to gain admission. It wil also indirectly help with the exam, which tests students on material they should already know for their grade level.
Work with a pro! Finally, Hunter College High School test prep workshops and private tutoring are great options for a structured and supportive studying program. Check out the great opportunities we have at Ivy Tutors Network for Hunter College High School entrance exam preparation!