How to answer Regents Earth and Space Sciences constructed-response questions
About 40% of the questions ask you to write your own answer. Each is worth 1 credit: answer exactly what is asked, and use the cluster's data or places to show it.
Share of the test
About 40% of the questions
Credit
1 per question
Often on
A passage, a data table, a graph, a map or a model
Here
Written answers read against the creditable answers, with your next step
Write to the question
Find the task word first: identify, describe, explain, predict, calculate, use data to support a claim.
Answer in one or two sentences, and name the place, the variable or the number you used.
When a question asks for a calculation, show the values with units and the answer with its unit.
Use the cluster
Each question builds on the cluster's storyline. An answer that ignores the passage or the data is rarely the one that earns the credit.
Try 2 questions
Question 1
Model data by decade (invented for this question)
Decade
Solar energy at top of atmosphere (watts per square meter)
Temperature anomaly (degrees Celsius)
Decade 1
1361.2
0.2
Decade 2
1361.1
0.4
Decade 3
1361
0.6
Decade 4
1360.9
0.8
A class compares two model data sets for four decades: the average solar energy reaching the top of the atmosphere and the global average surface temperature anomaly (table). Which conclusion is best supported?
Question 2
Frost-free days in the valley
Decade
Mean frost-free days per year
1960s
148
1980s
154
2000s
161
2020s
167
A valley farm cooperative records the mean number of frost-free days each growing season, averaged by decade (table). Which change in the valley's farming is best supported by these records?