Best SHSAT Teacher Resources Tutors Should Know

Recently, in an SHSAT subreddit, a student asked about their chances for admissions to Townsend Harris. 

Behind the simple-sounding query, the anxiety was palpable: “I’m soo nervous” said the title, while the body of the question mentions, “...which is terrible im cooked”. 

Which wasn’t surprising, because test anxiety is quite common.

Studies, like the one conducted by Urmia University of Medical Sciences scholars , have repeatedly confirmed that systematic study reduces study anxiety. ‘What book should I use?’ and ‘Is book X the right resource to improve my Math/ELA scores?’ are perhaps the two most common questions students ask. 

One of the most reliable ways to alleviate students’ anxiety is by directing them to the best SHSAT resources. For tutors, recommending resources is a double gift: it not only improves their students’ performance, but also raises the professional image of the tutor - someone who knows their stuff. 

Here, we discuss the best SHSAT resources you can recommend to your students. We cover:

• How students can best use the official SHSAT resources, including the DOE Handbook 
• Which third-party practice books tutors can trust  and recommend 
• What question-specific resources to consider
• What good diagnostic and assessment tools should achieve
• Which intelligent tool can tutors leverage to transform SHSAT test prep
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Official SHSAT resources every tutor must understand

The official SHSAT Handbook, published by the Department of Education (DOE), is likely underused by more tutors than you’d believe. In practice, it should be the first resource every SHSAT tutor should stress. 

This handbook is valuable and comprehensive (the 2025 edition was 289 pages), so be sure to exploit it thoroughly. 

The official SHSAT Handbook 2025 had two full-length practice tests, besides additional Math practice questions. We’ll discuss how to use those official SHSAT practice tests, but first we’ll look at the other important goals of using the handbook..

Establish complete familiarity

The first purpose of using the official handbook is to be completely familiar with even the smallest aspects of the SHSAT.

The SHSAT Handbook enables you to:

• Improve your familiarity with the entire SHSAT
• Confirm the typical distribution of topics
• Learn the nitty-gritty of every question type

Figure out the test maker’s priorities

Like many standardized tests, the SHSAT tests math and language skills. However, that’s a very wide definition. 

With the official handbook, you can understand the test maker’s priorities to: 

• Know how questions are structured and scored
• Spot what skills are emphasized 
• Align your tutoring to the way the test is designed

Show students how to read SHSAT questions

Not that the SHSAT questions are esoteric, but many of them assess skills that are not quite obvious. With the sample SHSAT questions, you can help students:

• Know what the test actually expects
• Devise elimination strategies
• Build logical patterns
• Avoid trap answer choices
• Structure reasoning patterns

Official practice tests: One of the best official SHSAT resources

Official SHSAT practice tests are more than score predictors. For tutors, they are diagnostic tools that reveal how a student thinks, where they lose points, and which skills need targeted work. The key is analyzing performance, not just marking answers right or wrong. Here is how to leverage strengths and spot weaknesses:

Identify skill-level strengths and weaknesses

Here’s how you can use the SHSAT practice test to prepare your students better:

1. Skill Areas: Measure accuracy by skill area to see where performance is consistently strong. 
2. Speed areas: Record which question types students solve quickly and confidently. This is what your students should never miss in the actual test.
3. Improved areas: Track improvement in specific skills across multiple practice tests. That will point you to the area where fewer efforts can produce more results.

Spot process and strategy gaps

It’s been repeated ad nauseam, but it’s so important we want to say this again: help your students spend more time studying their test mistakes, because that’s the fastest way to grow. 

1. Misreading: Identify errors caused by misreading, rushing, or second-guessing.
2. Skipped or guessed: Look for questions left unattempted or guessed incorrectly. 
3. Speed issues: Review pacing patterns to see how students go wrong when they slow down or speed up too much. Then you can steer them to specialized SHSAT pacing strategies that really work.

A word of caution

Although the official handbook is easily one of the best SHSAT resources for tutors, it’s important to steer clear of the pitfalls. Here are the things you, as a tutor, should be careful not to over-interpret:

• Patterns: Do not assume the test will follow the same pattern of questions. The SHSAT tests the same skills consistently, but doesn’t use identical questions. 
• Score conversion: The SHSAT raw-to-scale score conversion changes every year. Avoid using old conversion tables.
• Over-generalizing: One test doesn’t define a student’s capabilities. Do not let the student fall into despair just because they didn’t do well in one isolated test.
• Question value: Tutors should also avoid assuming that every difficult question is high value or that every easy miss signals a major gap. The score distribution is not identical across the entire test.
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Practice books: Which ones tutors actually trust

1. SHSAT book by The Tutorverse

The 2025 edition of this book is updated until June 2025. At the time of writing this, it includes 

• Strategies for the digital SHSAT ahead
• Complimentary access to a digital version (requires separate enrolment)
• 1,200+ high-quality practice questions in print
• One of the most highly rated books
• Price: US$24.99

Additional details:

• Full name: New York City SHSAT: 1,200+ Practice Questions
• Published by: The Tutorverse
• Format(s): Paperback edition
• Available on: Amazon

2. SHSAT Exam Prep: Written by Morgan Carlisle Greene

This book is important because, according to reviews like the below, its explanations help students actually learn from mistakes.

Here are some of the reasons why you might want to check out this book:

• Contains detailed explanations
• Targeted review for ‘high-yield’ topics
• Promises time-saving techniques
• Includes 6 full-length test simulations
• Price: Starts at US$9.90

Additional details:

• Full name: New York City SHSAT Exam Prep: 1,000+ Practice Questions & 6 Full-Length Simulations
• Publication details: Published independently 
• Format: Kindle as well as paperback edition
• Available on: Amazon

3. SHSAT Prep Book: Written by Andrew Marshall

Although the book has fewer reviews, it is rated slightly higher (4.7 vs 4.6) than the Tutorverse book we mentioned earlier. 

Some of the special features of the book that stood out are:

• Promises time management tips
• Contains detailed study plans for different levels
• Comes with 20 full-length SHSAT tests
• Has 3,600 questions
• Free online access for digital practice and score tracking
• Price: US$23.99

Additional details:

• Full name: New York City SHSAT Prep Book: The Ultimate Guide with 20 Full-Length Practice Tests
• Publication details: Published independently
• Format: Kindle as well as paperback edition
• Available on: Amazon

4. Four SHSAT Practice Tests by Test Prep Books

This is a book dedicated to offering students practice tests, along with strategies for smart improvements in scores. Working on the right set of practice tests can often decide whether your students will achieve the SHSAT cutoff scores and get into their dream schools, or whether they will be overtaken.

We believe the following are some of the key reasons why the book is popular:

• Detailed test-taking tips
• Promises prompt email support
• Questions closely resemble actual test-level rigor
• Includes access to 2 online tests
• Comprehensive review of each section of every test
• Price: US$28.99

Additional details:

• Full name: 4 Practice Tests and SHSAT Math and ELA, 8th Edition
• Written by: Lydia Morrison
• Publication details: Test Prep Books
• Format: Paperback
• Available on: Barnes and Noble (online as well as in stores)
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Question-type-specific resources for precision

1. SHSAT Reading Comprehension

Full title: How to Solve SHSAT Reading Comprehension Problems: Study Guide

Published by: Five Points Learning

Price: US$19.99

Available on: Amazon (paperback only)

Among others, a Master Tutor from The Princeton Review has rated this book highly. In particular, reviews mention the detailed explanations provided for each and every question. Each practice test has five passages like the actual SHSAT, giving it an extra ‘real-test’ feel.

2. SHSAT Math for Beginners

Full title: SHSAT Math for Beginners: The Ultimate Step by Step Guide to Preparing for the SHSAT Math Test

Written by: Reza Nazari

Published by: Effortless Math Education

Price: US$19.99

Available on: Barnes and Noble (online as well as in stores)

We have included this book in our list of the best SHSAT resources for tutors mainly because it is a reliable resource for beginners struggling with Math. The foundation-level study guide will suit and guide students at all levels.

Although the cover page says 2025, its blurb says it’s tuned for the 2023 SHSAT. Also, the publication date mentioned is 2020. Hence, while it’s a good book for beginners, you want to exercise caution while using this book because it could contain some outdated material.

3. Poetry Guide for ELA

Full title: SHSAT Poetry Guide: Special Edition for Kweller Prep

Written by: Kenny Tan

Published by: Independently published

Price: US$49.99

Available on: Amazon (paperback version)

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Interpreting poetry under the stress of a timed test is no easy task. That’s exactly why a book focusing on the poetry-based questions for the ELA section of the SHSAT is relevant.

This is a book for a very specialized niche, but reviews suggest it is quite effective.

4. Special Mentions

Here are three additional books we can recommend. Not all of them are of the same quality as the books above, but they are certainly good for additional references. 

1. 

Title: Master the SHSAT: English Language Arts: 400 Pages of Material to Build Student Mastery by Daniel Lutsker (Independently published) 

Available on: Amazon

Price: US$ 29.99

Format: Paperback and Kindle

2.  

Title: SHSAT Grammar & Punctuation by K Jonathan (Independently published) 

Available on: Amazon

Price: US$ 19.00

Format: Paperback and Kindle

3. 

Title: SHSAT Math Exercise Book: A Comprehensive Workbook + SHSAT Math Practice Tests by Reza Nazari (Effortless Math Education publications)

Available on: Amazon

Price: US$ 17.99

Format: Paperback only
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Diagnostic & assessment tools tutors should rely on

They don’t use the “throw-and-see-what-sticks” approach while using or recommending resources. At the same time, they are always keen to adopt technology and tools that will improve their students’ test prep efficiency and raise their scores.

A good SHSAT diagnostic shows performance by reading skills, logical reasoning, and specific math domains, helping tutors see where strengths and gaps truly lie. They also reveal whether mistakes come from content gaps, strategy errors, lack of understanding of SHSAT-style questions, or pacing challenges. It shows if a student struggles with multi-step reasoning, inference, or problem translation, which are core SHSAT demands.

Sadly, many diagnostics overemphasize difficulty. Some tests are unrealistically hard, which creates at least two problems. On the one hand, it leads tutors to underestimate students and misjudge starting levels. On the other other hand, they require students to cover excessive gaps, which means the study plan becomes unrealistic and the student ends up not achieving what they deserve.

Tutors should treat diagnostics as a starting map for instruction, not a forecast of final SHSAT performance. Also, a “decent” overall score may mask serious weaknesses in one section that needs closer attention.
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How tutors use EdisonOS for SHSAT test prep

The SHSAT is going digital and EdisonOS makes sure tutors give a distinct technology advantage to their students. Starting in fall 2026, the SHSAT will become adaptive - something that EdisonOS has deep experience with. Many tutors expose their students to adaptive tests by using our mock digital adaptive SAT.

Our SHSAT test prep platform empowers tutors to build their own tests and track their students’ performance through insightful, actionable analytics. Our hybrid offline-to-online assessment mode enables tutors to assign paper-based tests with an OMR bubble sheet. This system combines the familiarity of paper with the power of instant, detailed reporting.

EdisonOS also leverages AI to save considerable time for tutors. For instance, a tutor may upload a PDF of test questions and EdisonOS will do the rest. Our AI will scan the file, identify and extract questions, and reformat it into a ready-to-use digital assessment. 

With EdisonOS, tutors can also build practice gigs for students, based on the student’s performance  - check out this video to see how.

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