This New York State Regents examination is the culmination of one year of the study of secondary-level high school Earth Science.
To receive a NYS Regents Diploma, a student must pass one Science Regents exam.
Students sitting for this exam must demonstrate completion of 1200 minutes of hands-on laboratory experience with completed lab reports on file. This is done in a student’s classroom.
The exam tends to be structured as follows:
- Part A: 35 multiple-choice questions from all units covered over the course of the school year. Use of Earth Science Reference Tables (ESRT) may be necessary.
Total points: 35 - Part B-1: 15 multiple-choice questions, with a mix of short answer and multiple-choice. Questions focus on the Reference Tables, graphing, and laboratory experiments.
Total points: 15 - Part B-2: 15 multiple-choice and short answer questions.
Total points: 15 - Part C: 20 short answer questions. Considerable data analysis and map reading is necessary. Questions are drawn from all Earth Science units, and may require students to write brief paragraphs, use equations and reference tables, or draw graphs and diagrams.
Total points: 20 - Part D – Performance Test Score: This is an in-class exam consisting of six tasks done before the Regents exam. Tasks are based on: rock and mineral identification, density, sun angle, and deposition.
Students taking the exam should come with a scientific calculator (not a graphing calculator), pen, and pencil. Reference Tables will be provided.
Total points available (raw score) is based on the performance in Parts A, B-1, B-2 and C (85 points total), integrated with the result in Part D (16 points maximum).
Recent (January 2016) raw-to-scaled score conversions are shown in the following link: http://www.nysedregents.org/EarthScience/116/esci12016-cc.pdf.
Required Units for the Earth Science Regents
Unit 1 – Observations and Measurements
Unit 2 – Changes and Graphing
Unit 3 – Measuring Earth
Unit 4 – Energy and Heat
Unit 5 – Astronomy
Unit 6 – Celestial Motions
Unit 7 – Weather
Unit 8 – Climate
Unit 9 – Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition
Unit 10 – Rocks and Minerals
Unit 11 – Dynamic Crust
Unit 12 – Geologic History
Unit 13 – Landscapes