Although only needing five Regents to graduate, senior Leann Maldonado took ten exams since her freshman year with the hopes of receiving an Advanced Regents Diploma.”I ended up retaking  the Algebra Regent over four times because the state requires an 80 on it,” said Maldonado. This annoyed her because although she passed the test every time,she would miss the 80 mark by one point. This seems to be very common problem  for a lot of students who have to retake multiple Regents.

Senior Lester Ellis faced similar problems,having to retake the English Regent five times. “It was frustrating because I missed the score standards by just two points,but I finally got the 75 on my fifth try,” said Ellis.

The Regents exams are one of the most important tests high school students will ever take. Not only are they very difficult to pass,but they are required in order to graduate. By New York State law, in order to receive a Regents Diploma all high school students must pass the English, Global and U.S History,one math and one science regents. “An 80 must be achieved on the Algebra Regents and 75 on the English in order for the student to be considered college ready. CUNY schools will not accept students into bachelors programs unless these standards are met,” said Mr.Crowdell, assistant principal of mathematics and business.

To get an advanced diploma students must pass three math and one more science Regents. According to students the subjects that seem to be most difficult are the trigonometry and physics Regents.”The passing rate for these exams are low but in recent years have gone up,” said Crowdell.

Really wanting the Advanced Regents Diploma, senior Alexus Williams decided to retake the Trigonometry Regent over. I had taken it four times prior and passed it on the fifth try,” said Williams. She was extremely happy and felt successful finally passing this exam.

Another population that often has to take the Regents more than once are English Language Learners. Since English is a second language, it creates a bigger challenge for them in to pass Regents that have more writing. “Their English writing and comprehension skills are not as strong as other students since they’re not native speakers,” said Mr.Deconzo, assistant principal of  English .”However we have ESL support classes that helps these kids to pass those tests. Over the last couple of Regents,the passing rate has been good and on par with students that English is a first language to,” continued DeConzo.