If you are a freshman, sophomore, or senior, you might be wondering why you had a two-hour delay on Tuesday, January 21st, but juniors did not. How come? Instead of sleeping in, 11th grade students arrived at the usual 8:00 AM to take the New York State English Language Arts regents exam. This meant the 140s wing of classrooms was closed for most of the day to accommodate students who were testing.
Unlike most other regents exams, Rhinebeck High School administers the ELA regents in January, as opposed to June. This is a step administration takes to lessen the heavy exam burden for juniors when other regents come at the end of the year. The English department agrees that almost all 11th grade students are ready to take the regents exam by January, so it makes sense for them to take it then rather than during the end of the year when they have a number of exams to study for and college applications on the horizon. As opposed to social studies, science, or math regents, the ELA regents isn’t a typical test of knowledge. Rather, students are tested on reading comprehension skills, as well as their ability to construct an argumentative essay and rhetorical analysis. All two and a half years of ELA curriculum leading up to January of 11th grade focus on honing these skills, and another two quarters doesn’t make a huge difference for most exam-takers.
However, if students do feel like they were unprepared or they are unhappy with their scores, they can always challenge the test in June. This simply means they can retake the exam on the normal date in June, with more ELA class time and practice under their belt.
Though it may seem strange to take a regents exam in January, it’s actually perfectly normal. Any regents exam can be administered in January, June, or August, to accommodate students who have extenuating circumstances or fail an exam their school might require to graduate. In the days following the ELA regents, some classrooms may be closed for individual students to retake regents exams they might’ve missed or done poorly on last summer. If your class is moved to another part of the school, this is the reason why.
