@Happy1, ok. I googled but could not find anything on NYS public high schools which don’t offer an advanced regents diploma…
I know all too well the history of regents and though I went to a private school none of my friends in the public high school took regents exams - only the kids who were planning on going to a state school because, iirc, they got a regents scholarship. Regents classes were always (and still are) the easiest classes.
I am not a believer in standardized testing of any kind which was one of the reasons (but not the only one) we chose private school for our kid.
@emilybee all of your friends who went to public HS in NYS didn’t take the regents exams, doesn’t sound right. My D, who took all AP classes thru HS still had to take the regents exams, although they were a joke compared to the AP exams, AP exams typically taken in mid May and Regents at the end of the school year. Regents exam scores are listed on her Transcript…My younger D who is a Freshman is taking two regents exams this year, Geometry and Earth Science.
Regents grades appear on transcripts at our public HS on Long Island. And yeah, Regents are sometimes given after AP classes - my D is taking the English Regents after AP Lang/Comp and US History after APUSH this year. Next year she’ll have the Physics Regents after AP Physics 1 (which will be her 4th science Regents) so it’s not necessarily tied to the class (or difficulty of said class), but the subject matter and at what point in the curriculum the corresponding Regents exam is called for.
@fm0101, back in the early 70’s when I was in high school, regents were not required at all. Hardly anyone who wasn’t planning on going to a state school took the regents then.
Kids who are in the honors track/AP in my district still have to take the regents exams necessary to graduate in NY, but as far as I know they don’t have to take those necessary to get the advanced diploma unless they want to. No idea what most of the kids do now since all my friends’ kids graduated 5+ years ago.
It’s not a typo. It wasn’t required to graduate in NYS when I went to school. None of my friends took regents exams and none of them went to state schools.
The answer is probably that it depends on the policy of each individual school. NYS seems to give schools a degree of leeway. When I was in HS in Long Island, my school required that students take Regents if they were in any class that was Regents level or above. The Regents counted as the final exam in the course. As noted above, the policy is different in my kid’s HS.
Since the physics regents is not required, it should not be averaged in.
If she has at least an 85 on the 3 math regents and the other 3 science regents (living environment, earth science and chem), she should get an advanced regents with Mastery in mathematics and science in addition to honors.
It wasn’t until 1999 that all NYS students were required to take the English regents and all five by 2003.
There was a huge uproar in my district (and many others) that the classes would be dumbed down as a result.
Did some kids take regents exams before that - obviously yes - but most kids didn’t and as I said, only those planning on going to state school took them because there was a scholarship attached to it way back when I was in high school.
“The tests at issue have caused an uproar among educators and parents this year, the first in which public high school seniors will be required to pass the Regents English exam in order to graduate.”
“The private schools are one of three groups seeking to gain exemptions from new state rules that by 2003 will require all students to pass Regents examinations in five subjects – math, science, global studies, American history and English – in order to graduate from high school.”
Universities might ask what type of diploma a student earned but there is no NY diploma that suggests a lot of rigor. I think the distinction is worthless. As noted by others, what is more important is to take classes that are valuable and rigorous. And, as noted by others, that will generally go way beyond any of the special designation diplomas offered by NY. But, I 'd not take courses just for the sake of the designated diploma because it is meaningless. So, I’d encourage a student to take the courses that make sense for him/her self even if that means the student won’t get that special designation. For example a student may end up not getting a special designation if he/she does not earn credit in a language other than English. If I had a STEM interested kid who already spoke a 2nd language fluently and who wanted to double up in science or math instead of learning another new language, I’d urge the student to do that even if it means that he/she might not end up with a special designation diploma.
IMO there is no necessity to dumb down classes if students take regents. If material is taught at a higher level then the regents exam will be easy. That has and continues to be the philosophy in my local public HS.
@happy1, I agree also, but there were parents in all those districts - including Scarsdale (and I know this first hand as my sister’s kids -class of '00 and '02 - were both in high school there at the time) who were very unhappy Regents exams was being required at all. And yes, they thought at the time classes would be dumbed down because of it. It was also the reason private schools fought for the exemption as they felt it would force them to dumb down their curriculum and teach to the test. The private schools got the exemption but none of the public schools who wanted it did.
In the early years I know in my district they took a week or so to go over the material that would be on the regents exams - don’t know if they bother with that anymore.
“Amazing so your 9th grader already knows where he is going to be applying, and to such a wide range of schools like Brown to BU…LOL, here’s a thought come back in 2 years and see if your little snowflake is still on the same path…SMH”
That was unnecessarily snotty. My “little snowflake” is one more normal very smart kid. I don’t know exactly where he’s applying, so I went for a range from very, very reach to possible safety, trying to be slightly amusing with the alliteration. Brown to BU wasn’t meant to represent his actual application list, it was meant to represent a range of admissions competitiveness that will likely be relevant.
I’m not worried about the rigor of the program he’ll take. That topic is covered. But I feel that between the 5 regents required for graduation, the PSAT, the SAT, a couple of SAT subject tests and the bunch of AP tests he’ll take, that is plenty of standardized tests, so my question was really concerned with whether there was any good reason for him to take even more of these tests. There’s too much testing and I see no reason for him to take more than 5 regents exams unless he’s really going to get something for it.
I will definitely talk to the guidance counselor, but I was curious about the cc take on the topic.
Some if you have been kind enough to offer some useful insight, which I appreciate. My son’s course guide describes the regents requirements for graduation, but doesn’t even mention the Advanced Regents. I also just took a look at the finals schedule, which includes the regents. We only offer 1 math regent (algebra) and don’t offer any in a foreign language, so I’m guessing that our kids don’t routinely pursue the advanced regent diploma. While the school does very poorly in the HYPS stratosphere, kids routinely go off to other Ivies and similar schools, so between that and happy1’s info (thank you), it looks like there’s no particular need to worry about the advanced regents diploma.
I grew up in Massachusetts. I remember getting to college in 1980, meeting kids who went to public school on NYS and hearing about regents for the first time. I thought they were stupid and annoying then and I think they’re stupid and annoying now.
@millie210 the Regents exams are not hard for kids who are taking advanced classes. My daughter got 100’s on her Regents exams and she began taking them in 8th grade. I say this not to boast about my daughter- I say this to help you understand that although your son may spend some time reviewing for the Regents, if he is on track for competitive schools then the Regents exams will not be stressful and will actually be easy. Additionally, these tests are sometimes used as a final exam in classes so he may have no choice but to take them ( ask the school).
Regents exams can be annoying. My daughter took the English Regents in 10th grade instead of 11th. Then in 11th grade the school told her and 2 more kids that they had to take a " fake" Regents ( meaning an old Regents) because most of the kids in their AP class were taking the Regents. My daughter " fought" with the principal and reminded him that she already took the Regents and it was not necessary to take it again for absolutely no reason. He agreed - she won that argument. She attends a very well regarded public HS.
In 11th grade my daughter took AP physics. The teacher told them that the Regents is not like the class. He told them that after taking his AP class, there is no way they could walk into the Regents " cold." He was right. He gave them 3-4 practice Regents exams during the year and when she reviewed for the first one she flipped out because it was nothing like AP. Different way of thinking. It worked out fine once she reviewed a little and figured out the differences.
Junior year is stressful because of driving, AP exams, and the ACT/SAT. For students who are on the level of your son, there is no reason to worry about Regents exams. He may study for them, but he will do well and the only thing he will be giving up is 3 hours on a Tuesday morning. And like I said, by taking advanced classes he will automatically get the diploma without even thinking about it. We live in NY and I never even looked at my D’s HS diploma ( oy that makes me a bad mother lol) and she applied to selective schools.
Our district probably has about 3,200 HS students with different ability levels. Some are taking Regents level classes, and for these kids, the exams may ( or may not) be tricky. Many take review classes given at school and at local colleges. Your son does not sound like he fits into that group. Don’t stress.
I agree. My kids considered the Regents exams so easy it was practically shameful to get less than a 90 on them. My younger son I think got something in the 80s in Latin, but he was a dunce in Latin.
Easy does not make them pleasant or fun. If the student wants to avoid some and is able to do so, then why not. Of course your kid is likely to freak out a lot of the peers and their parents. Why? Because there are entire schools in areas of NY where parents are all and only about gaming tests and making sure their little Johnny is doing everything anyone else is doing to be deemed “best” and “top” (intellectual curiosity? What’s that??). Their antenna is always exquisitely tuned into what everyone else is doing so they are sure to be the first to hear about anything that could possibly impact negatively on their little Johnny and reduce little Johnny’s class rank. And what will they do with news that your kid is doing something different–oh no! They will probably follow thinking you have heard something they haven’t about getting ahead. Would be pretty funny to hear about.
I never really cared one way or another about the Regents exams. It never really occurred to me that she should “opt out” of taking them- it was just something she took without really thinking about it. Other than “fighting” with the principal to get out of taking an old Regents exam while the rest of her class took the real one, there was not much discussion going on about this test. As I mentioned earlier, I have no clue what kind of diploma she got- I never even looked at it and I never asked. I assume she got the “top” diploma that is earned given her class rank and course selection.
@lostaccount does a great job of describing many areas of NY.
@lostaccount, oh yes, there’s definitely a lot of that around here. I just roll my eyes.
I’m annoyed about the regents because my son is taking honors Chem next year. The teacher writes a final because the regents exam doesn’t cover all the material. Fine. The course guide says that the class will prepare the students for the SAT subject test in chemistry and my son will likely take it.* Fine. AND the course guide says that they have to take the regent. Not fine. There isn’t a single solitary reason that he should. It serves no purpose that I can see.** There is entirely too much standardized testing and I don’t care how easy the test is or how well prepared for it he’ll be from studying for the other tests, he has better things to do with the time.
*Right now, he wants to major in CS and will likely apply to some engineering programs, which tend to want subject tests in Math 2 and a hard science, so the Chem subject test makes sense.
**What purpose could it serve? It’s not the final; the teacher writes one. He doesn’t need it for his science regent; he’s taking the bio regent this year. Even if he wanted it for his fifth regent (or towards an advanced diploma, which his school doesn’t seem to offer anyway) the subject test is an approved alternative assessment.
