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<p>For what was the non-regents HS diploma when I attended HS, yes. However, if one wanted a regents diploma one had to take a 3 year science sequence of biology, chemistry, and physics WITH LAB to fulfill the minimum science requirements. The specialized HSs required another year of science on top of that along with some other science/tech related courses*.</p>
<p>Due to that experience and being around students who opted for the regents diploma as even the regents requirements of the '90**s were considered a joke by many HS classmates and some students attending regular NYC HSs, I didn’t know anyone who only took 2 years of science in HS until I went off to college. </p>
<p>One who only took two years of science to graduate attended a respectable mid-Atlantic boarding school…and they were “rocks for jocks” type courses without a lab component. Something which ended causing him some problems when he had to take what I considered to be an easy CS for non-majors course which did have lab and he didn’t have a clue as to how to compose and complete a lab report. </p>
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<li>E.g. Drafting(sophomore rite of passage when I attended), computer/technology electives, and 1 year’s worth of science electives. On the last, I opted for meteorology and pharmacology. Latter was an odd choice on my part as vast majority of those electing it were aspiring pre-meds and pre-pharma students and I was neither.<br></li>
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<p>** Which added to the puzzlement over the regents cheating scandal of 2012 as several old teachers still teaching HS along with HS classmates who are NYC public HS teachers have stated the current regents curriculum/exams are considerably watered down compared to the ones we remembered from the early-mid '90s. </p>