Which Chemistry Regents do I take, the old one or the new one?

The one your course leads to. If your class is taught to the NYS P-12 Science Learning Standards, you take the new Physical Science: Chemistry exam; if it follows the older standards, you take Physical Setting/Chemistry while New York still gives it. Ask your teacher which standards your course follows.

Do I need to pass the Chemistry Regents to graduate?

Not chemistry in particular. If you graduate before January 2028, the current requirements apply: to earn a Regents diploma, you pass Regents exams, including at least one in science, and the Chemistry Regents can be that science exam. In September 2026, the New York State Education Department announced that students graduating in January 2028 or later will not have to pass Regents exams to earn a diploma, and it plans to bring the regulation changes to the Board of Regents by February 2027.

How long is the Chemistry Regents?

You get three hours for either version. On the new exam, you read a scenario and its data before each cluster’s first question, so make pacing part of your practice.

What is the best way to study for the Chemistry Regents?

Practice on real past exams under time, a little every week, and drill the fundamentals (element symbols, formulas, the Reference Tables) until they are automatic. Answer from memory instead of rereading your notes. In a study by Karpicke and Roediger (2007), college students who spent most of their turns recalling a word list remembered more of it a week later than students who spent most of their turns rereading it.

Chemistry Regents study guide

On the new Chemistry Regents in June and August 2026, New York put acids, bases, and pH in 10 of the 98 questions. You can learn them free on Periodic Mole.

Our pH module is free, from start to finish, with no account needed. If your class hasn’t reached acids yet, we start the first lesson with what an acid is, so you can get there before your class does. If you’ve had the unit, you can start with a short check on what you already know.

Start the free pH module →

See where you stand on the whole exam →

New York gives both versions of the next Chemistry Regents, the legacy Physical Setting/Chemistry exam and the new Physical Science: Chemistry exam, on Tuesday, January 26, 2027, and both again on Wednesday, June 23, 2027. You get ready for either one the same way: make the fundamentals automatic, practice on real exams of the version you’re taking, and get quick with its Reference Tables.

If you graduate before January 2028, the current diploma requirements still apply to you, and a Chemistry Regents you pass in 2027 counts. In September 2026, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) announced that students who graduate in January 2028 or later will not have to pass Regents exams to earn a diploma. NYSED says students who graduate later will keep taking Regents exams while the state uses them for federal accountability, and can count them toward diploma seals and endorsements. NYSED plans to bring the regulation changes to the Board of Regents by February 2027 (the announcement, the memo to schools, the timeline).

When are you taking the exam?

New York began replacing its chemistry exam in June 2026. On the new exam, every question sits in a cluster: you read a real scenario with its data, then answer four or five connected questions, and you write out about 40% of the answers. New York gives the legacy exam alongside it through June 2027, then retires it. Ask your teacher which one your course leads to. If you’re taking the legacy exam, its last sitting is on Wednesday, June 23, 2027. We explain the format change in full in the new Chemistry Regents, explained.

What NYSED puts on the new exam, by its published blueprint:
Domain	Share of the exam
Chemical Reactions	36–46%
Structures & Properties of Matter	30–40%
Energy	10–14%
Engineering, Technology & Applications	5–11%
Waves & Electromagnetic Radiation	5–7%
Matter & Energy in Organisms & Ecosystems	2–5%

Together, the top two rows are about three quarters of the exam. Between them they hold reactions, bonding, the periodic table, and the mole. NYSED files acids, bases, and pH under Chemical Reactions, the top row.

How to study for it

We read the popular Regents prep resources and checked their advice against published learning research. The first three habits below have the strongest support. We give a plan for the last two weeks, and a head-start plan for students who take chemistry next school year, in how to pass the Chemistry Regents. With more than two weeks to go, the habits below are your plan.

Practice on real past exams, under time. Every legacy paper is free at nysedregents.org. For the new exam, NYSED has released two papers, from June and August 2026, plus three sample clusters. Save some of them for the last weeks before the exam.
Retrieve more than you reread. Answering from memory beats reading your notes again. In one study, Karpicke and Roediger (2007) gave college students the same number of turns with a list of words. Some spent most of their turns recalling the list; others spent most of theirs reading it again. A week later, the students who had mostly recalled remembered 64% of the words, and the students who had mostly reread remembered 57%. Early in practice, the rereaders had been ahead, 40% to 30%.
Space it out. Short sessions across weeks beat one long one. Start from your exam date and plan backward.
Get fast with the Reference Tables. New York gives you the tables with the exam. Practice finding what you need in them and using it.
On written response, answer every part. You write the answer to about 40% of the new exam’s questions, and each one is worth one credit, with no partial credit. You earn the credit only when your answer has every part you’re asked for, so you earn nothing for a claim without its evidence.
Explain it out loud. Try teaching an idea to a friend without your notes. The place you get stuck is what to study tomorrow.

The night before the exam, you can quiz yourself on acids, bases, and pH with a page of questions, each answer hidden until you open it.

Where the games fit

Slow, correct work is the signature of missing fact fluency. When you stop to work out a symbol or a formula, you still reach the answer, but you spend attention you need for the rest of the question. Our games drill the recall and reasoning the exam is built on. In Bond Forge, you draw a bond by answering a chemistry question correctly, and it’s free to play with a starter set of elements, no account needed. If you play a few short games a week instead of one long session, you’re spacing your practice, the third habit above.

Play Bond Forge free →

When you finish the pH module, we send you to the first two missions of Acid Boy & Base Girl, which are free. You dissolve a limestone wall with an acid and neutralize the acid in a reactor with a base.

Already sure? Get full access, and start in Regents prep.

The free Regents resources we recommend

None of these is ours. We list each one for the job it does best:

nysedregents.org: every past exam with its scoring key, and for recent exams the rating guide NYSED gives its graders, all free. It’s the first place to practice.
ChemVideoTutor: a hundred short videos of about two minutes, one concept each. They follow the legacy exam’s format, and you can use them for the chemistry both exams share.
NYChemCoach: a video library made for the new exam, with walkthroughs of NYSED’s official practice clusters.
New York Science Teacher: for the new exam, a link to ExamClusters, which puts all 25 of NYSED’s released chemistry clusters online, free for students with no account (the site notes that some questions may have been modified). For the legacy exam, it has review books, “200 Ways to Pass the Chemistry Regents Examination,” and the Reference Tables scavenger hunt.

Quick answers

When is the next Chemistry Regents?: Tuesday, January 26, 2027, at 1:15 p.m. New York gives both versions that day, the legacy Physical Setting/Chemistry exam and the new Physical Science: Chemistry exam, and both again on Wednesday, June 23, 2027, the legacy exam’s last sitting.
Which Chemistry Regents do I take, the old one or the new one?: The one your course leads to. If your class is taught to the NYS P-12 Science Learning Standards, you take the new Physical Science: Chemistry exam; if it follows the older standards, you take Physical Setting/Chemistry while New York still gives it. Ask your teacher which standards your course follows.
Do I need to pass the Chemistry Regents to graduate?: Not chemistry in particular. If you graduate before January 2028, the current requirements apply: to earn a Regents diploma, you pass Regents exams, including at least one in science, and the Chemistry Regents can be that science exam. In September 2026, the New York State Education Department announced that students graduating in January 2028 or later will not have to pass Regents exams to earn a diploma, and it plans to bring the regulation changes to the Board of Regents by February 2027.
How long is the Chemistry Regents?: You get three hours for either version. On the new exam, you read a scenario and its data before each cluster’s first question, so make pacing part of your practice.
What is the best way to study for the Chemistry Regents?: Practice on real past exams under time, a little every week, and drill the fundamentals (element symbols, formulas, the Reference Tables) until they are automatic. Answer from memory instead of rereading your notes. In a study by Karpicke and Roediger (2007), college students who spent most of their turns recalling a word list remembered more of it a week later than students who spent most of their turns rereading it.

Start the free acids, bases, and pH module →

Going deeper: the study plan · the new exam, explained · the interactive periodic table