by FARAH AKBAR
In Jackson Heights, the city’s high school entrance exam means high pressure for immigrant students, and business for private test-prep centers.
In six months Moontasin Rahman, a seventh-grader at I.S. 230, will take a test required for admission to one of New York City’s elite public high schools. It’s offered to the city’s eighth- and ninth-graders once a year in October. In addition to studying seven hours a week on her own for the test, she also attends a four-hour class once a week at a test-prep school in Jackson Heights, her Queens neighborhood.
Moontasin’s parents have taught her to believe that graduating from one of the city’s elite high schools will determine her fate as an adult. “If you get into one of these schools, you’re set for college, you’re set for life,” Moontasin says. She’s used to declining friends’ invitations to hang out, preferring instead her books and practice exams. “Forget your social life and just study for the test!” Moontasin’s parents say to her.
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The challenging test, known as the “Sci-Hi” exam for short, consists of a math and verbal sections. More than 27,000 kids took the test last fall. Only about one in five students wins admission to the specialized high schools. Asians and South Asians were 57 percent of the students who learned in February that they’ve been admitted to one of the eight competitive specialized high schools.
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(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)