A simple Guide To The Regents ELA Exam

The Regents ELA Exam is a 3-hour examination requires students to read, analyze, and write about both literary and informational texts.

Part 1: Reading Comprehension
This part of the exam requires close reading of three texts and will contain a literature passage (prose), a poem, and an informational text, followed by a total of 24 multiple-choice questions.

Part 2: Writing From Sources: Argument
This part of the exam includes close reading of four or five informational texts. You will compose an essay of argument with a claim based on the sources.

Part 3: Text Analysis
You will do a close reading of one informational or literature text and write a two to three paragraph response that identifies a central idea in the text and analyzes how the author’s use of one writing strategy develops that central idea.

The NY State ELA Standards and the Reading and Writing We do in High School English Courses
Most middle school and high school students in NY State should be familiar with the guidelines for curriculum and instruction in their English courses. These guidelines include the following:

- Students will read both informational texts and literary texts in their English courses. Alignment with the NY State learning standards requires a balancing of the two.
- In all academic subjects, students will be expected to build their knowledge primarily through engaging directly with text.
- Throughout secondary school, students will read texts of increasing complexity and will be expected to develop skills in close reading in all academic subjects.
- Students will be expected to engage in rich and rigorous evidence-based conversations/class discussions about text.
- Student writing will emphasize use of evidence from sources to express their understanding and to form and develop an argument.
- Students will acquire the academic vocabulary they need to comprehend and respond to grade-level complex texts. This vocabulary is often relevant to more than one subject.

Terms to Help You Understand The English Language Arts Learning Standards and the Regents ELA Exam
These are the learning standards in ELA and math, developed and adopted by a consortium of over 40 states. New York State first adopted the CCLS in 2010 and implemented a revised set of standards in 2017. These revisions did not represent significant changes in the expectations for grades 11/12 expressed in the guidelines above.*

- CCR—The phrase “college and career ready” is widely used in discussion of the curriculum and assessments. This refers to the fundamental principle of the learning standards: to reflect the knowledge and skills that all students need for success in college and careers.
- ELA/Literacy—English Language Arts (ELA) refers to skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Courses and exams once identified as “English” may also be identified as ELA. Literacy refers to the ability to read and write and to use language proficiently. The term also identifies the quality of being knowledgeable in a particular subject or field. For example, we often refer to “digital” or “computer literacy.”
- Assessment—You may hear teachers and other educators using the term assessment instead of test or examination. An assessment is more than a simple test (in vocabulary, say) because it seeks to measure a number of skills at one time. Although we continue to refer to the English Regents as an exam or a test, its goal is to be a valid assessment of a broad range of the reading, thinking, language, and writing skills outlined in the Standards.
- Text—Broadly, the term text refers to any written material. The core curriculum uses the term to refer to the great variety of material students are expected to be able to read, understand, analyze, and write about. Texts may include literary works of fiction, drama, and poetry; and informational, or nonfiction, including essays, memoirs, speeches, and scientific and historical documents. The learning standards also emphasize the use of authentic texts; that is, students will read actual historical documents or scientific essays rather than articles about them. 
- Close Reading—Skill in close, analytic reading is fundamental to the CCLS and to the ELA Regents exam. The core curriculum focuses student attention on the text itself in order to understand not only what the text says and means, but also how that meaning is constructed and revealed. Close reading enables students to understand central ideas and key supporting details. It also enables students to reflect on the meanings of individual words and sentences, the order in which sentences unfold, and the development of ideas over the course of the text, which ultimately leads students to arrive at an understanding of the text as a whole.
- Argument—What is an argument? In academic writing, an argument is usually a central idea, often called a claim or thesis statement, which is backed up with evidence that supports the idea. Much of the writing high school students do in their English courses constitutes essays of argument, in contrast to personal essays, descriptive pieces, or works of imagination. 
- Source-Based/Evidence-Based—The ability to compose sound arguments using relevant and specific evidence from a given text is central to the expectations of the learning standards.
- Writing Strategy—This is the general term for a literary element, literary technique, or rhetorical device. Examples include: characterization, conflict, denotation/connotation, metaphor, simile, irony, language use, point-of-view, setting, structure, symbolism, theme, tone, etc.
 

How is the Regents ELA Exam Scored?

Weighting of Parts
Each of the three parts of the Regents Examination in English Language Arts has a number of raw score credits associated with the questions/tasks within that part. In order to ensure an appropriate distribution of credits across the test, each part is weighted.
For Part 1, each multiple-choice question is worth one point. The Part 2 essay is scored on a 6-point rubric then weighted × 4. The Part 3 Text Analysis is scored on a 4-point rubric and then weighted × 2.
As you can see, the Part 2 Argument Essay is the most heavily weighted section.
The table below shows the raw score credits, weighting factor, and weighted score credits for each part of the test.
 

A student’s final exam score is then determined in the conversion of the weighted score (of up to 56 points) on a scale of 0–100.

Here is an example from a recent ELA exam:

Scoring Rubrics for the Regents ELA Exam
Parts 2 and 3 of the Regents Examination in English Language Arts is scored using holistic rubrics. Part 2 is scored using a 6-credit rubric, and Part 3 is scored using a 4-credit rubric. Both rubrics reflect the demands called for by the Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy through the end of Grade 11.

Regents Examination in English Language Arts—January 2017
Chart for Converting Total Weighted Raw Scores to Final Exam Scores (Scale Scores) (Use for the January 2017 examination only.)
The conversion table is determined independently for each administration of the exam. You will find the conversion tables for each exam in the Answers Explained.