Schist is often of silvery appearance, and it shows a tendency to split into sheets, although not nearly as well as the finer grained slate. It is rich in the silvery-white mineral mica, which is platy in shape itself. The micas are arranged roughly parallel to each other, which is why the rock shows this tendency to split, a phenomenon known as slatey cleavage in slates, and as schistosity in coarser grained rocks such as schist.

This rock type is very widespread in metamorphic regions, such as Scotland, Norway or the Alps.

Colour: greyish and sparkling, white grains of quartz may be visible.

Mineralogy: white mica (muscovite) and black mica (biotite) common, also quartz. It may contain other minerals as well, such as garnet, which form as the rock undergoes metamorphism.

Texture: umedium or coarse-grained, may contain new minerals of larger size then the matrix, known as porphyroblasts (e.g. garnet, kyanite). Characterized by schistosity, may show folding of layers.