Physical Setting/Earth Science and Earth and Space Sciences
The new Regents Examination in Earth and Space Sciences was first given in June 2025. Physical Setting/Earth Science was given for the last time in June 2026, so the 2027 schedules list only Earth and Space Sciences.
First Earth and Space Sciences exam
June 2025
Last Physical Setting/Earth Science exam
June 2026
Standards
New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards
Before the exam
Three required Investigations
What the new exam looks like
45 to 55 one-credit questions in 9 to 11 clusters, each built on a phenomenon.
About 60% multiple choice and 40% constructed response.
Six topics, from Space Systems to Engineering, Technology, and the Applications of Science.
What carries over
Much of the Earth science is familiar: plates, rocks and minerals, weather, the Sun, Earth and Moon. The new exam asks you to use it, reading data, building models and supporting claims, in clusters around one phenomenon.
Try 2 questions
Question 1
In a model of a coastline, storm waves wear back the edge of a sandy cliff at 0.30 m per year. A house stands 18 m from the cliff edge. The model predicts that 20 years from now a sandbar will finish building up offshore and break the waves, slowing the retreat to 0.05 m per year from then on. How many years from now will the cliff edge reach the house?
Question 2
Results for three bead sizes
Bead size
Porosity (%)
Drain time (s)
Capillary rise (cm)
Small (1 mm)
38
95
9
Medium (3 mm)
39
30
4
Large (6 mm)
38
8
1.5
Students fill three identical tubes with 300 mL of uniform glass beads, one bead size per tube, and test each tube the same way (table). Porosity is the percent of the sample that is pore space; drain time is the time for 100 mL of water to pass through; capillary rise is how high water climbs into the beads from a dish below. Which conclusion do the results support?