How many raw points a 65 costs on the Earth and Space Sciences Regents
In August 2026, a 65 on the Earth and Space Sciences Regents cost 21 of 50 raw points — 42%. Over 5 administrations, 2025–2026: 1.3 points less of the paper than at the start of the record.
- 65 in August 2026
- 21/50
- 42% of the paper
- Hardest sitting
- 48%
- January 2026
- Most forgiving
- 42%
- August 2025
- Shift, first three to last three
- −1.3 pts
- of the paper, easier
The movement
Earth and Space Sciences has been asking for less of the paper
The Earth and Space Sciences line has walked downward. The first three sittings on record charged 45.3% of the paper for a 65; the last three charge 44%. Peak: January 2026, 24/50 (48%). Trough: August 2025, 21/50 (42%) — 6 points apart. Identical raw marks in those two years would have produced two different verdicts. The peak is recent, so an older figure understates what is being asked now.
The paper has been worth 50 raw points at every sitting, 2025 through 2026, so the raw column below compares directly across the whole record.
Sat in January, June, August: 1 in January, 2 in June, 2 in August. In August 2026 the 65 line sat at 21 and the 85 line at 36: 15 marks apart, 30 points of the paper — the stretch an Advanced Regents average is won on. Sharpest single move: August 2025 to January 2026, 6 points in one step, against the student. 2 of the last 5 sat above the 42% median.
Preparation without a back catalogue
Earth and Space Sciences is one of the new science exams, and its whole published record fits on one screen. That shortage is the fact worth planning around: there is no long archive of past papers to drill, and a tutor who says otherwise is handing your child papers from the exam this one replaced. The one thing the short record does give is a stable frame — the paper has been marked out of the same total at every sitting so far, so the raw figures in the table below can be compared directly against each other without converting anything. Treat the band those few sittings define as provisional; it will widen or narrow as more charts are published, and this page will follow them.
The short record also changes what a diagnostic is for on this subject. On an exam with a decade of papers behind it, a diagnostic measures a student against a known standard. Here it mostly measures them against the course, because the standard is still being established sitting by sitting. That is not a reason to skip one — it is a reason to treat the result as a map of what the student knows rather than as a predicted grade, and to be sceptical of anyone offering a predicted grade on five charts.
One structural fact does carry over from the exam this one replaces, and it is the reason this subject is chosen at all in many schools: it is the science Regents most often taken by students who are not heading for a science-heavy programme, which means the cohort sitting it is broad. A broad cohort does not make the chart kinder, but it does mean a student comparing themselves to classmates is comparing themselves to a wider range of preparation than they would be in a physics room.
Earth and Space Sciences Regents — what a 65 and an 85 cost, as a share of the paper
One point per published administration, June 2025 to August 2026, as a share of that sitting's 50-point total. Cancelled administrations break the line rather than being joined across.
The same record in raw points
The paper has been worth 50 raw points throughout, so this line and the one above tell the same story.
Every sitting
The 5 Earth and Space Sciences administrations on record
One row per published chart, newest first, with the NYSED file behind each one. Every published sitting carries a 65 line, so none has been dropped.
| Administration | Raw total | Raw Score for 65 | Share of paper | Change | For an 85 | NYSED file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | 50 | 21 | 42% | 0 pts | 36 (72%) | chart |
| June 2026 | 50 | 21 | 42% | −6 pts | 37 (74%) | chart |
| January 2026hardest | 50 | 24 | 48% | +6 pts | 39 (78%) | chart |
| August 2025most forgiving | 50 | 21 | 42% | −4 pts | 36 (72%) | chart |
| June 2025 | 50 | 23 | 46% | — | 39 (78%) | chart |
Want the conversion table itself — every raw score against its scale score for Earth and Space Sciences? That is a different question and it has its own page: the Earth and Space Sciences score calculator converts a raw score you already have. This page answers the one you ask before the exam.
What to do with it
Setting a Earth and Space Sciences target for the year ahead
Earth and Space Sciences sits 6th of 9 by how much of the paper a 65 costs. The exam has been giving ground; the most forgiving sitting would over-trust it. Recent average 44%, about 22 of 50. That is a diploma floor, not a goal: 36 marks bought an 85 in August 2026 (72%), and that is the line a transcript is read on.
It is a band, not a forecast: across 5 sittings the 65 line on Earth and Space Sciences has never left 42–48% of the paper, and aiming at the top of that band survives a hard year instead of being surprised by one.
Earth and Space Sciences against the other exams
42% places Earth and Space Sciences 6 of 9. Its immediate neighbours on that scale:
Where these figures come from
Derived from the 5 official Earth and Space Sciences conversion charts published by the New York State Education Department (NYSED), Office of State Assessment, one spreadsheet per administration. Conversion charts published by NYSED. Figures reproduced as published; consult the linked NYSED file for the authoritative version. Nothing is interpolated or projected. Last verified September 7, 2026.
Take the next step
A band on a chart is not a study plan
Tell us where your child stands on Earth and Space Sciences today and which sitting they are aiming at. We start with a diagnostic, so the work is built on the distance that actually has to be covered.