How many raw points a 65 actually costs, exam by exam
A 65 on a Regents exam is not a fixed number of correct answers. New York sets a conversion chart after each sitting is marked, and the raw score that lands on 65 moves from one June to the next. This page takes one number out of every published chart — the lowest raw score that reaches 65 — and puts 9 exams’ worth of them on the same scale, so a family can see which exams have been asking for more of the paper and which have held still.
It is a planning figure, not a prediction: NYSED writes each chart after the exam, so next June’s is not knowable. What is knowable is the band an exam has stayed inside for a decade.
What the record shows, in three lines
- On its most recent sitting, Physical Setting: Chemistry asked for the largest share of its paper: 50 of 85 raw points for a 65, 58.8%. Algebra I asked for the least, 35.4%.
- Comparing each exam’s first three sittings with its last three, 2 of 9 now want a larger share of the paper for a 65 than they did at the start of their record — Geometry, Algebra II. 2 have moved the other way: Earth and Space Sciences, Life Science: Biology.
- The raw total itself is not fixed either. Algebra I and Geometry papers were cut from 86 marks to 82 and 80 during this period, which is why every comparison here is written as a share of the paper rather than as a count of points — a smaller raw requirement on a smaller paper can still be a harder exam.
The 9 exams
Ordered by how much of the paper a 65 costs today
The share is not a ranking of how hard the questions are — a science paper marked out of 50 will read high whatever it asks — but it does say which exams leave the least room for lost marks. Each row opens the full session-by-session series for that exam.
| Exam | Latest sitting | 65 costs | Share of paper | Band across the record | Shift | Sittings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physical Setting: Chemistrylast sitting June 2027 | August 2026 | 50 / 85 | 58.8% | 57.6–60% | −0.4 ptssteady | 302014–2026 |
| Physical Setting: Physicslast sitting June 2027 | June 2026 | 50 / 85 | 58.8% | 56.5–58.8% | +0.7 ptssteady | 102015–2026 |
| English Language Arts | August 2026 | 28 / 56 | 50% | 50–57.1% | 0 ptssteady | 332014–2026 |
| Living Environmentno longer administered | June 2026 | 40 / 85 | 47.1% | 47.1–48.2% | +0.3 ptssteady | 322014–2026 |
| Geometry | August 2026 | 35 / 80 | 43.8% | 36.3–45% | +5.4 ptsharder | 292015–2026 |
| Earth and Space Sciences | August 2026 | 21 / 50 | 42% | 42–48% | −1.3 ptseasier | 52025–2026 |
| Life Science: Biology | August 2026 | 20 / 48 | 41.7% | 40.8–46.7% | −2.7 ptseasier | 52025–2026 |
| Algebra II | August 2026 | 30 / 82 | 36.6% | 29.1–36.6% | +4.3 ptsharder | 262016–2026 |
| Algebra I | August 2026 | 29 / 82 | 35.4% | 30.2–36% | −0.3 ptssteady | 332014–2026 |
What is not here
4 exams are left out, and here is why
An exam missing from a table usually means nobody checked. These were checked and deliberately excluded, because publishing a single “raw score for a 65” for them would be publishing a wrong number.
Global History and Geography II
two-entry chart — the final score sits at the intersection of part i and part ii score and part iii essay score, so there is no single raw score that buys a 65, but one per essay score. A single-number series would be wrong for this exam.
United States History and Government
two-entry chart — the final score sits at the intersection of total part i, part ii, and part iiia score and total part iiib essay score, so there is no single raw score that buys a 65, but one per essay score. A single-number series would be wrong for this exam.
Physical Science: Chemistry
only 2 published administrations (June 2026 to August 2026) — a series needs at least 4 sittings before a line says anything. This exam will get a page once it has them.
Physical Science: Physics
only 1 published administration (June 2026) — a series needs at least 4 sittings before a line says anything. This exam will get a page once it has them.
Where these figures come from
Every figure is derived from the 206 official conversion charts published by the New York State Education Department (NYSED), Office of State Assessment since June 2014, one spreadsheet per administration. The only derivation is the one this page is about: for each chart, the lowest raw score whose published scale score reaches 65. Nothing is interpolated or projected; a sitting whose chart carries no 65 line is left out rather than estimated. Last verified September 7, 2026.
Need the conversion table rather than the trend? The Regents score calculator turns a raw score into a scale score on any of these exams, and the open data hub holds the other datasets we publish.
Take the next step
Knowing the band is the easy half
Tell us which Regents your child is sitting and where they stand today. We start with a diagnostic, so the plan is built on the distance that actually has to be covered.