Physical Science: Chemistry tutoring — and how to tell it from the exam it is replacing
New York is setting two different chemistry Regents at the moment, and their raw score ranges overlap almost completely. A raw score of 30 is a legitimate score on both papers — and it converts to 77 on one and 50 on the other. Nothing in the number itself says which.
Same subject, same June, two papers
Which chemistry Regents is it?
The two exams are told apart by the total on the paper, not by the word chemistry. Everything below is read from the conversion charts the State published for the most recent sitting of each.
| Physical Science: Chemistry | Physical Setting: Chemistry | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | The incoming exam | Last administration June 2027 |
| First / latest chart | June 2026 — August 2026 | June 2014 — August 2026 |
| Charts published | 2 | 30 |
| Paper marked out of | 50 / 48 | 85 |
| Raw score for a 65 | 21 (latest chart) | 50 (latest chart) |
| That as a share of the paper | 43.8% | 58.8% |
| A raw score of 30 converts to | 77 | 50 |
The last line is the one that costs families something. Every raw score from 0 to 48 exists on both papers, so a practice mark copied from a tutor’s sheet, a sibling’s memory or a generic online calculator lands on whichever chart happens to load. The gap at 30 raw points is 27 scale points — the difference between comfortably through and not through at all.
The final administration date is the State’s, from its implementation schedule for the new Regents examinations, not an inference from a missing file. The conversions above are read from the two official charts, not interpolated.
A shorter paper punishes the same mistake harder
The arithmetic of a 48-point paper is not the arithmetic of an 85-point one. On the old exam a bad question cost roughly a percent of the paper; here it costs twice that. A student who loses four marks to unit conversion on a short paper has lost something that cannot be recovered by knowing more chemistry.
So the first thing a diagnostic looks for in chemistry is not gaps in content, it is the recurring mechanical leak: moles set up the wrong way round, significant figures, a reference table opened at the wrong page, a graph read to the nearest gridline. These are cheap to fix and they are where most of a chemistry grade sits.
The second is the written response, which on a short paper carries a larger share of the total than most students assume. We work against the official scoring key rather than against an opinion, for the same reason we do it in every other subject: the key is the only referee whose view counts on the day.
Free, no sign-up
The Physical Science: Chemistry tools we built, before you talk to anyone
Select the sitting before reading a raw score — this exam's paper total has already changed once, and its range overlaps the outgoing exam's entirely. We hold 2 published Physical Science: Chemistry charts, June 2026 to August 2026, read exactly as NYSED printed them — the August 2026 table included.
Straight answers about the two chemistry exams
How do I know which chemistry Regents my child is taking?
Look at the raw total on the paper or the answer sheet, and at the exam title. Physical Science: Chemistry has been marked out of 50 and 48 raw points; Physical Setting/Chemistry is marked out of 85. If the total is under 60 it is the new exam. If you cannot see the paper, ask the school which course the class is following — the school enters students, and it enters them for the exam it taught.
Does it matter if I read a raw score against the wrong chart?
It changes the result entirely. A raw score of 30 is valid on both papers, because their ranges overlap. On the August 2026 Physical Science: Chemistry chart it converts to 77. On the August 2026 Physical Setting/Chemistry chart it converts to 50. One of those is a pass with room to spare and the other is a fail, and nothing in a bare raw score tells you which exam it came from.
Can my child still take the old Physical Setting chemistry exam?
For now, yes. NYSED's implementation schedule sets June 2027 as the final administration of Physical Setting/Chemistry, with the new exam running alongside it until then. Which one a student is entered for is decided by the course their school teaches, not by preference.
Is the new chemistry Regents easier?
Its conversion chart asks for a smaller share of the paper: a 65 took 43.8% of the August 2026 Physical Science: Chemistry paper against 58.8% of the outgoing one. That is a measured difference in what the chart demands, and it is not a statement about the questions. Two published charts are not enough to call anything a trend, and we do not project them forward.
How many raw points does a 65 take on this exam?
21 of 50 on the June 2026 chart, 21 of 48 on the August 2026 chart. Because the paper's total has already changed between sittings, we set targets as a share of the paper and convert to questions only once the sitting is known.
What does chemistry tutoring cost?
A $150 diagnostic, then $125 per one-on-one session, at 928 Broadway in the Flatiron or online. Pay per session — no packages, no contracts, no minimum.
If the paper is marked out of 85, the page you want is Physical Setting: Chemistry. The same overlap exists in physics, and biology has already finished its changeover with Life Science: Biology. What the new charts demand against the old is measured on the changeover page, and everything else is on the Regents tutoring page.
Take the next step
Tell us the grade and the course name
The course name settles which of the two chemistry papers is ahead, and therefore which chart every practice score should be read against. We will say so straight if the answer is that no tutoring is needed yet.