High School is the last step in your child’s journey through the New York Public School system. After graduating both Elementary and Middle School, your child will begin High School in Grade 9, where they can expect to encounter four different types of exams: the second World Language exam, Regents exams, AP exams, and the SAT/ACT. While many are recommended, not all of these exams are mandatory. See below for which exams will be the right fit for your student.
World Language Comprehensive Exam
The World Language Comprehensive Exam, administered in either Grade 10, 11, or 12, tests the same abilities as the Checkpoint A Exam,* intended to measure students’ proficiency in a language other than English. Students who complete 3 years of high school coursework in a world language and pass the World Language Comprehensive Exam fulfill the language requirement for an Advanced Regents Diploma (see below). You can view the exam rubrics and practice speaking tasks published by NYSAWLA online for free. You can also review past Language Other Than English (LOTE) Regents exams which satisfy the World Language Comprehensive Exam requirement.
New York State High School Regents Exams
There are many different types of New York State Regents exams. Regents exams test students’ knowledge on core high school subjects, including but not limited to Algebra 1 & 2, Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Earth Science, ELA, Geometry, Global History, Physics, and U.S. History. Although they cover a broad range of fields, Regents exams generally follow the same format: a combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions, with the multiple-choice questions placed at the start of the exam and the open-ended questions placed at the end. The only variation is the nature of the questions—for example, the Geometry Regents might ask students to draw geometric shapes, whereas other math exams will only ask students to solve equations. All Regents exams are scored on a scale of 0-100, where 65 is considered passing.
Regents exams are typically taken in Grades 9-12. They are administered each year in June on specific dates, usually back-to-back, earning this period the nickname “Regents Week.” During Regents Week, if your student is not taking any of the exams administered on a specific day, they are not required to attend school for that day. Students only come in to take their assigned exams, and if they finish before the allotted three hours, they are permitted to leave early (as long as one hour has already passed).
Students were previously required to pass certain Regents exams in order to graduate High School with a Regents Diploma. However, in the future, students will have the option to choose whether they want to be assessed with a traditional Regents exam, or with a personalized final project in the core subjects.
If your student chooses to be assessed with Regents exams, here are the exams they will need to pass:
ELA
- Algebra 1, Geometry, or Algebra 2/Trigonometry
- Global History and Geography, or U.S. History and Government
- Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, or Physics
- Any additional Regents exam
There are more requirements for graduating with an Advanced Regents Diploma:
- ELA
- 3 math exams (Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2/Trigonometry)
- Global History and Geography or U.S. History and Government
- 2 science exams (Biology and either Chemistry, Earth Science, or Physics)
- Any additional Regents exam
- Any NYC World Language exam
Students can graduate with a Local Diploma if they have lower exam scores, or earn a Skills and Achievement credential instead of a diploma if they have severe disabilities.
All past Regents exam questions and answers are available for viewing on the New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of State Assessment website.
Other non-Regents options for students include Private Schools and Consortium Schools. Private Schools rely on their own assessments, which differ depending on the school. Consortium Schools are Public performance-based schools; they employ more “hands-on learning,” and use final projects to assess students rather than using traditional exams. Consortium schools are popular for students with learning disabilities, or students with exceptional test-taking challenges, such as testing anxiety.
AP Exams
Advanced Placement (AP) exams are optional exams which assess students who have taken advanced placement courses. AP classes are known for being more challenging than typical high school classes; their curriculums are modeled after college classes, and exams are strictly administered in May, making them both more rigorous and fast-paced.
Taking an AP course is free, but taking the exam at the course’s end is not. Currently, the fee is $99 per exam, but it increases each year. Additionally, students are required to pay an additional fee if they are signed up to take an exam in May and miss it. Students typically take AP exams in Grades 9-12.
AP exams vary depending on the class, but most are 2-3 hours long, with one section for multiple-choice questions and another for open-ended questions. The multiple-choice sections are graded by computers, while the open-ended sections are graded at the annual AP reading, where college professors and experienced AP teachers are summoned to grade at different schools. For this reason, students do not receive their AP scores until 2 months after taking them, in July.
Scores for AP exams range from 1-5, with 3 being the passing grade. Many colleges and universities accept course credit for scores of 3, 4, or 5, but it depends on the class and the college or university. If your student’s college or university accepts their AP score, they can opt out of an introductory course in that subject.
Your student can also choose to take an International Baccalaureate (IB) exam instead of an AP exam. Here are the ways in which IB exams differ from AP exams:
- IB exams usually follow two-year programs as opposed to year-long classes
- IB exams are scored on scales of 1-7
- IB exams are usually taken by students in countries other than the U.S.
- International colleges and universities are more likely to accept IB credits than AP credits
Both AP and IB exams charge a test-taking fee, and both feature universal accessibility features such as answer elimination, flag for review, highlighting, line reader, note-taking, and zoom, as well as Desmos calculators and formula reference sheets for math exams specifically.
All AP exams are designed and distributed by a nonprofit organization called CollegeBoard. Upon entering an AP class, students will be required to create an online CollegeBoard account, where they can access the following:
- Assignments from their teachers, including timed and untimed quizzes
- Daily instructional videos
- Practice materials, such as practice questions and even full-length practice exams with answer keys
These resources are free to your student but can only be accessed through the CollegeBoard student website.
SAT
Lastly, the SAT is a college entrance exam—an exam used to influence a student’s admission to certain colleges and universities—which focuses on the subjects ELA and Math. Some colleges and universities require students to take the SAT in order to apply, but many schools have gone test-optional since COVID-19. Unlike the SHSAT,** the SAT is not the only factor used to determine a student’s admission to a college or university. Additionally, colleges and universities do not require students to obtain specific SAT scores to be admitted. That being said, however, many do not accept students with lower scores than their average.
Students usually take the SAT for the first time in Grade 11, but they can retake it several times after if they choose. If your student has taken the SAT more than once, most colleges and universities will allow them to pick which scores they would like to send for their application, but some will require them to send all scores. Please be advised that there is a fee for taking the SAT, although most high schools will allow students to take it once for free on a designated SAT day. If your student decides to retake the SAT after this day, they will likely have to search for other testing sites.
Similar to the SHSAT, the SAT features sections for ELA and Math. Each of these sections consists of two sub-sections called modules, which feature the same number of questions but are allotted different times. Here is what the test will look like in its entirety:
ELA section:
- Module 1: 27 questions in 32 minutes
- Module 2: 27 questions in 32 minutes
10 minute break in between sections
Math section:
- Module 1: 27 questions in 35 minutes
- Module 2: 27 questions in 35 minutes
The ELA section consists strictly of multiple-choice questions, whereas the Math section contains both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The reason each section features 2 modules is because the SAT is a computer-adaptive test, meaning that it adjusts its content based on the student’s responses. For example, if the student answered most questions in the first module incorrectly, then the second module would automatically be adjusted to questions of a lower difficulty level in order to increase the student’s chances of answering correctly. SAT scores range from 400-1600, with 1600 being the highest possible score.
An alternative to the SAT is the ACT. The primary difference between the SAT and the ACT is that the ACT features a Science section, as well as the fact that the ACT splits up ELA into separate English and Reading sections. Here is what the ACT will look like in its entirety:
- English section: 50 questions in 35 minutes
- Math section: 45 questions in 50 minutes
- Reading section: 36 questions in 40 minutes
- Science section: 40 questions in 40 minutes
- Writing section (OPTIONAL): 1 essay question in 40 minutes
Alongside being more STEM-focused than the SAT, the ACT is also more fast-paced, containing more questions and less time to answer them. The ACT is recommended for students who work well under pressure and excel in the math and science fields, whereas the SAT is recommended for students who are skilled at reading intently and excel in the math and humanities fields. Lastly, unlike the SAT, The ACT is scored on a scale from 1-36, where 36 is the highest possible score.
Both the SAT and ACT feature universal accessibility features such as answer elimination, flag for review, highlighting, line reader, note-taking, and zoom, as well as calculators and formula reference sheets for math exams specifically.
Most colleges and universities will accept ACT scores in the place of SAT scores, and vice versa. Students should only take one of the two exams, not both.
The SAT is designed and distributed by CollegeBoard, the same organization that designs and distributes AP exams. Similar to AP exams, students taking the SAT will have access to practice SAT materials, including several full-length practice exams with answer keys. These resources are free to your student but can only be accessed through Bluebook, the testing app associated with CollegeBoard.
*For more information on the World Language Checkpoint A Exam, see the article Understanding Middle School Exams.
**For more information on the SHSAT, see the article Understanding Middle School Exams.
Source: Critics of the SAT Lost the Argument by The Chronicle
