How many raw points a 65 costs on the Life Science: Biology Regents
In August 2026, a 65 on the Life Science: Biology Regents cost 20 of 48 raw points — 41.7%. Over 5 administrations, 2025–2026: 2.7 points less of the paper than at the start of the record.
- 65 in August 2026
- 20/48
- 41.7% of the paper
- Hardest sitting
- 46.7%
- August 2025
- Most forgiving
- 40.8%
- June 2026
- Shift, first three to last three
- −2.7 pts
- of the paper, easier
The movement
Life Science: Biology has been asking for less of the paper
The Life Science: Biology line has walked downward. The first three sittings on record charged 45% of the paper for a 65; the last three charge 42.3%. Peak: August 2025, 21/45 (46.7%). Trough: June 2026, 20/49 (40.8%) — 5.9 points apart. Narrow enough that a raw-mark target holds better here than a percentage one. The peak is recent, so an older figure understates what is being asked now.
Read the raw column with the total beside it: Life Science: Biology has been marked out of 48, then 45, then 49, then 48 raw points, changing at August 2025 (48 → 45), June 2026 (45 → 49), August 2026 (49 → 48). Quoting a raw figure across one of those breaks can reverse the direction of the finding, which is why this page works in shares.
Sat in January, June, August: 1 in January, 2 in June, 2 in August. In August 2026 the 65 line sat at 20 and the 85 line at 36: 16 marks apart, 33.3 points of the paper — the stretch an Advanced Regents average is won on. Sharpest single move: January 2026 to June 2026, 3.6 points in one step, in the student’s favour. 2 of the last 5 sat above the 43.8% median.
A new exam, and a back catalogue that does not apply
Life Science: Biology is the exam that replaces Living Environment, written to the New York State Science Learning Standards, and it has only been given a handful of times. Two things follow for anyone preparing for it. First, past papers from the old biology exam are practice in the subject but not in the exam, and an old raw target read across is simply a number from a different paper. Second, the total itself has not settled — the marks available have already moved between sittings, which is why every figure on this page is given as a share of that sitting’s paper rather than as a count. Read the line here as a first bearing, not as a decade of evidence: it does not have a decade behind it yet.
The moving total is the detail most likely to cause a mistake in a family's own arithmetic. Across the handful of sittings published so far the marks available on the paper have not been the same twice in a row, so a raw target written down after one sitting can be wrong for the next one in a way that has nothing to do with difficulty. This is exactly the situation the share-of-paper column exists for: carry the percentage forward, then read it back into marks once the chart for the sitting in question is published.
It is also worth being honest about what this page cannot yet do. A trend needs enough sittings for one bad paper not to be the trend, and this exam does not have them. Everything below is a record of what has happened, presented without a line drawn through it and without a forecast attached. The useful reading today is the band, not the direction, and the band will move as the exam settles.
Life Science: Biology 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 raw total, which changed over the period. Cancelled administrations break the line rather than being joined across.
The same record in raw points
The paper moved from 48 to 45 to 49 to 48 raw points, so a drop in this line is not necessarily an easier exam.
Every sitting
The 5 Life Science: Biology 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 | 48total changed | 20 | 41.7% | +0.9 pts | 36 (75%) | chart |
| June 2026most forgiving | 49total changed | 20 | 40.8% | −3.6 pts | 35 (71.4%) | chart |
| January 2026 | 45 | 20 | 44.4% | −2.2 pts | 35 (77.8%) | chart |
| August 2025hardest | 45total changed | 21 | 46.7% | +2.9 pts | 34 (75.6%) | chart |
| June 2025 | 48 | 21 | 43.8% | — | 38 (79.2%) | chart |
Want the conversion table itself — every raw score against its scale score for Life Science: Biology? That is a different question and it has its own page: the Life Science: Biology 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 Life Science: Biology target for the year ahead
Life Science: Biology sits 7th 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 42.3%, about 21 of 48. That is a diploma floor, not a goal: 36 marks bought an 85 in August 2026 (75%), and that is the line a transcript is read on.
It is a band, not a forecast: across 5 sittings the 65 line on Life Science: Biology has never left 40.8–46.7% of the paper, and aiming at the top of that band survives a hard year instead of being surprised by one.
Life Science: Biology against the other exams
41.7% places Life Science: Biology 7 of 9. Its immediate neighbours on that scale:
Where these figures come from
Derived from the 5 official Life Science: Biology 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 Life Science: Biology 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.