The real reason the cutoff scores were higher this year is because Mayor De Blasio expanded the number of seats for the Discovery Program. This reduced the number of seats available through regular admission. With fewer seats available, the minimum admitted score was higher. Please keep in mind that the SHSAT is an academic competition between the approximate 28,000 8th grade students who sit for the exam in October to November of the child’s 8th grade year. Students with IEP’s and 504’s are given extended time to achieve success on the exam AND the DOE has selected a few middle schools to host the SHSAT on site removing a travel barrier to students.