Chemistry Regents Curve: Raw Score for a 65
7 min read
Short answer: NYSED, New York's education department, doesn't grade the Chemistry Regents on a curve against other students. It publishes a conversion chart for each sitting: on the older exam, students needed 50 of 85 raw points for a passing 65 at every sitting since August 2024, and 21 of 50 at the new exam's first.
What students call the curve is that conversion chart, which NYSED posts after every sitting (each exam date) to turn raw points into a scale score. New York gives two chemistry Regents right now: the legacy Physical Setting/Chemistry exam, out of 85 points, whose last sitting is June 23, 2027, and the new Physical Science: Chemistry exam, out of about 50, whose first sitting was June 2026. Your teacher can tell you which one you'll take.
We read the cut (the lowest raw score a student needs for a 65, or for another key score) off all 58 charts NYSED has posted for the legacy exam, June 2004 through August 2026, and off the first two charts for the new exam, and collected them below.
Is there a curve on the Chemistry Regents?
Not one that depends on how other students did. NYSED does convert your raw points with a chart, and the scale score you get isn't your raw percentage. That chart is what students call the curve. On the June 2026 legacy chart, a student with 42 of 85 points (49%) got a 59, and a student with 50 points (59%) got a 65.
Here is why the other students can't move your score. In its 2024 technical report for the chemistry exam, NYSED says every Regents exam is "pre-equated, meaning that the parameters used to derive the relationship between the raw and scale scores are estimated prior to the construction and administration of the operational form." It builds that relationship from field tests: in an earlier year, a small group of students answers each question, and NYSED records how hard it was. By exam day, NYSED has already set the conversion, so students across the state can't move it by doing well or badly that day. Statisticians call this pre-equating.
The new exam is the exception: NYSED says it sets a new exam's first cuts at a meeting right after its first sitting, which we cover below.
How many raw points do you need to pass the Chemistry Regents?
On the legacy Physical Setting/Chemistry exam, students needed 50 of the 85 raw points (59%) for a 65 at every sitting from August 2024 through August 2026, and 75 (88%) for an 85, which NYSED calls passing with distinction. Fifty of the points are in the multiple-choice Parts A and B-1, and 35 in the written Parts B-2 and C.
So a 47 of 85 on a practice exam is three points short on recent charts: on the June 2026 chart, a 47 was a 63. Students who miss can retake the exam at a later sitting through the legacy exam's last, on June 23, 2027. And if you graduate in January 2028 or later, NYSED announced in September 2026 that you won't have to pass Regents exams to earn a diploma (more in the FAQ below).
NYSED has kept those numbers close for 22 years. Of the 58 charts we read, 34 have the 65 at exactly 50 points, and every chart since January 2010, 41 of them, has it between 49 and 51. The lowest cut was 47 points, in January 2007, and the highest was 52, in June 2005.
| Legacy sitting | Raw for 55 | Raw for 65 (pass) | Raw for 85 |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2023 | 36 | 51 | 75 |
| January 2024 | 36 | 51 | 75 |
| June 2024 | 36 | 51 | 76 |
| August 2024 | 36 | 50 | 75 |
| January 2025 | 36 | 50 | 75 |
| June 2025 | 36 | 50 | 75 |
| August 2025 | 36 | 50 | 75 |
| January 2026 | 36 | 50 | 75 |
| June 2026 | 36 | 50 | 75 |
| August 2026 | 36 | 50 | 75 |
All raw scores are out of 85. Students with disabilities can use the 55 column: under NYSED's Low Pass Safety Net, they can count a score from 55 to 64 toward a local diploma, which New York offers in place of a Regents diploma.
NYSED posted no chemistry charts from June 2020 to January 2022: it canceled the June 2020 and January 2022 sittings and didn't give the chemistry Regents in 2020–21.
Why is the raw score for a 65 different from one sitting to the next?
The Chemistry Regents raw cut isn't fixed, because NYSED builds every sitting from different questions. It keeps the scale-score cuts fixed at 55, 65 and 85 and moves the raw cuts instead. In its 2024 technical report, NYSED says it chooses questions "that would minimize changes in the raw scores corresponding to these scale scores," and explains that the raw cuts can still be a point or two apart from one sitting to the next, because the spread of question difficulty isn't the same in every set. Every chart since June 2011 has the same warning in its footnote: "scale scores corresponding to raw scores in the conversion chart change from one administration to another."
NYSED ties every later exam's scale back to one base exam, June 2004, so a 2026 scale score is worth the same as a 2004 one. After that base exam, NYSED fixed the raw scores for 55, 65 and 85 at a standard-setting meeting.
Does NYSED curve the Chemistry Regents down?
Near the top, yes, in the conversion-chart sense. On the legacy Chemistry Regents, the scale score is at or above the raw percentage for most of the chart and below it near the top. On the June 2026 chart, NYSED gave every raw score from 1 to 63 a scale score at or above its raw percentage (rounded to a whole number), and every raw score from 64 to 84 a scale score below it. A student with 68 of 85 points, 80%, got a 78; a student with 80 points, 94%, got a 91. On all 58 charts, only a perfect 85 was a 100, and an 84 was a 98 or 99. The first raw score with a scale score below its percentage was anywhere from 60 to 71 points, depending on the chart.
On the new exam's first two charts, NYSED converted no score down. On the June 2026 chart, a student with 25 of 50 points (50%) got a 70, and a student with 40 (80%) got an 87.
What raw score do you need for each new Chemistry Regents Performance Level?
On the new Physical Science: Chemistry exam, NYSED reports a Performance Level from 1 to 5 beside the scale score, and a student who reaches Level 3 passes. On its first two charts, NYSED started each level here:
| Level | Lowest scale score | June 2026 (lowest raw, of 50) | August 2026 (lowest raw, of 48) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 5 | 85 | 38 | 36 |
| Level 4 | 78 | 32 | 31 |
| Level 3 (pass) | 65 | 21 | 21 |
| Level 2 | 55 | 15 | 16 |
| Level 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
NYSED kept the scale boundaries and moved the raw ones. Students needed 21 points for Level 3 both times, and 38 for Level 5 in June against 36 in August, on an exam out of 48 points instead of 50.
June 2026 was the new exam's first sitting, and NYSED says it sets each level's minimum score at a standard-setting meeting it holds "immediately after the first administration of an examination where there are changes in the New York State Learning Standards." We wouldn't read the new exam's 42% cut beside the old one's 59% as a sign the new exam is easier: NYSED built the two from different kinds of questions and set each one's cuts at its own meeting. We cover the new format in The New Chemistry Regents (2026–27).
What percentage of students pass the Chemistry Regents?
About two in three students who took the legacy Chemistry Regents reached 65 in each of the last three school years. In NYSED's 2024–25 state report card, 57,990 of the 89,871 students who took Physical Setting/Chemistry (65%) scored 65 or higher, and 17,854 (20%) scored 85 or higher. NYSED counts each student's best score of the school year across the August, January and June sittings, so a student who scored 58 in January and 70 in June counts once, as a pass.
| School year | Tested | Scored 65 or higher | Scored 85 or higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | 106,052 | 76,624 (72%) | 20,203 (19%) |
| 2018–19 | 106,550 | 77,869 (73%) | 23,391 (22%) |
| 2021–22 | 89,996 | 54,363 (60%) | 17,961 (20%) |
| 2022–23 | 93,640 | 61,074 (65%) | 18,545 (20%) |
| 2023–24 | 90,336 | 59,090 (65%) | 17,827 (20%) |
| 2024–25 | 89,871 | 57,990 (65%) | 17,854 (20%) |
The report card has no chemistry results for 2019–20 or 2020–21. NYSED hasn't published statewide results for the new exam, whose first sitting was in the 2025–26 school year.
How do you score a practice Chemistry Regents?
To score a practice Chemistry Regents, use the conversion chart from the same sitting as the exam. NYSED has moved the raw score for a 65 between 49 and 51 points since 2010, so a student who scores a past exam on another sitting's chart can end up a point or two off. NYSED keeps every legacy chart at nysedregents.org/chemistry and every new-exam chart at nysedregents.org/ps-chemistry, beside the exam and its rating guide. Take it with the same edition of the reference tables, too: the 2011 edition for a legacy exam, the 2025 edition for a new one. We compare the two in Chemistry Regents Reference Tables 2011/2025.
A student right at the cut has no room to spare: on the June 2026 legacy chart, a student with 49 points got a 64. Step one of our study plan in How to Pass the Chemistry Regents in 2027 is fast recall of element symbols, ion charges and polyatomic ions. We cover acids, bases and pH in our free Regents module, and the Chemistry Regents hub has both exams' dates.
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FAQ
Where can I find the Chemistry Regents conversion chart?
NYSED posts each sitting's conversion chart after the exam and keeps it on nysedregents.org, beside the exam and its rating guide. Charts for the legacy Physical Setting/Chemistry exam are at nysedregents.org/chemistry, and charts for the new Physical Science: Chemistry exam are at nysedregents.org/ps-chemistry. NYSED marks each chart for use with its own sitting only.
What raw score is a 65 on the Chemistry Regents?
On the legacy Physical Setting/Chemistry exam, students needed 50 of 85 raw points for a 65 at every sitting from August 2024 through August 2026, and between 49 and 51 at every sitting since January 2010. On the new Physical Science: Chemistry exam, students needed 21 of 50 points for Level 3, whose lowest scale score is 65, in June 2026 and 21 of 48 in August 2026.
Can I work out my Chemistry Regents score before NYSED posts the chart?
Only roughly. NYSED sets the legacy exam's conversion before the exam but publishes the chart afterward, and it has moved the raw score for a 65 between 49 and 51 points since 2010. Your school converts your raw score with the chart for your own sitting. On the new exam, NYSED has put Level 3 at 21 points on both charts so far.
Do I still need a 65 on the Chemistry Regents to graduate?
It depends on when you graduate. In September 2026, NYSED announced that students graduating in January 2028 or later will not have to pass Regents exams to earn a diploma. If you graduate before then, you can count a 65 on the legacy exam or Level 3 on the new one toward your diploma.
Related
Sources
- NYSED. Regents Examination in Physical Setting/Chemistry conversion charts, June 2004 to August 2026 (58 sittings), and Regents Examination in Physical Science: Chemistry (NYSP12SLS) conversion charts, June and August 2026. nysedregents.org.
- NYSED. New York State Regents Examination in Chemistry 2024 Technical Report, prepared by Pearson, pp. 18–20.
- NYSED. Regents Examinations Technical Information and Reports.
- NYSED. New York State Report Card, statewide Annual Regents Examination results, Physical Setting/Chemistry, 2017–18 to 2024–25. data.nysed.gov.
- NYSED. Performance Level Score Ranges for Regents and Regents Common Core Exams for Annual and Accountability Reporting, updated June 30, 2025.
- NYSED. Appeals, Safety Nets, and Superintendent Determination.
- NYSED. Memo on the cancellation of the June 2020 Regents Examinations, April 7, 2020, and January 2022 Regents Examinations Cancelled Due to Ongoing Pandemic, December 21, 2021.
- NYSED. Announcement of the next phase of NY Inspires, September 2026, and the accompanying memo on diploma assessment requirements.