How do I prepare students for the New York Regents exams?
How do I prepare students for the New York Regents exams?
Resources that fit
Units that build the skills Regents questions test
History and civics units with document work, source analysis and short written responses; tap any cover for the full preview, contents and price.
Germany’s Basic Law – Teaching Democracy, Human Rights & Government | Social Studies Resource | Grades 5–9
Germany’s Party System – Comparative Government & Elections | Civics Resource | GRADE 5–9
“I Have a Dream” Speech – Rhetoric, Civil Rights & Equality | Martin Luther King Jr. Analysis Workbook | GRADE 5–9
The First Day of School in 1930 – Historical Insight into Weimar Germany
XXL Medieval History Bundle – Black Death, Feudalism & Society
Step by step
How to build Regents readiness into the year
- Start with the rating guideRead the official scoring criteria before you teach the essay, then put that same language in front of students.
- Teach the question types monthlySet one constructed response or document set with every unit so the format has stopped being new by June.
- Use a released exam to diagnoseScore one section, sort the errors into content gaps and format gaps, and reteach only what the data shows.
- Plan the last six weeks backwardsMap review onto the standards your students miss most, and rehearse full timing under exam conditions at least twice.
What's covered
What each download contains
A complete lesson with the reading, the questions and the answers already prepared.
- Primary source document sets
- Four levels of differentiated worksheets
- Editable PowerPoint slide deck
- Full answer keys
- Lesson plan with timings
Make it work for everyone
Differentiation and tracking readiness
Regents cohorts are rarely uniform, and one class can hold students reading three grade levels apart. Handing out the same document at different scaffold levels keeps the discussion whole. Score short responses against a simplified version of the official credit criteria, log the results, and you will see who needs targeted review well before the June administration.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Are these official Regents practice materials?
No. They are not produced, reviewed or endorsed by the New York State Education Department. They are written to the concepts and skills the Regents exams sample, so they line up with the Next Generation Learning Standards content you already teach. NYSED publishes past exams and rating guides at no cost, and those remain the best format practice.
When should exam-style practice actually start?
From the first unit, in small doses. One constructed response a month costs twenty minutes and removes most of the format anxiety. Save full-length timed papers for the last six weeks, when students have enough content for the score to mean something and you still have time to act on what it tells you.
What should a January or August retake class look like?
Diagnose before you reteach. Pull the student's part-level scores and work out whether points were lost on content or on the written sections. A retake group usually needs writing structure more than fresh content, so weekly short responses with real feedback beat another pass through the textbook.
Plan the Regents year, not the Regents month
Start with one unit that puts document work and written responses in front of students.
Browse units that build these skills →