As students have been getting used to the increasing reliance on online classes to compensate for the loss of class time, there have been worries that there will be an effect on how finals and exams will play out at the end of the academic year. These worries have heightened  since the closure of New York state schools has been extended until April 29th.

With these worries came the announcement made by the New York State Board of Regents on Monday that the June regents examinations are going to be canceled due to the global pandemic. These exams are a culmination of what students have learned throughout the year and are used as an evaluation of how well the students know the course materials.

Students that needed to take these exams were looking to use them in order to fulfill their graduation requirement of successfully passing the exam in the given subjects needed. On Tuesday, there was an announcement made that students that were expecting to take these exams are exempt from the June exams as long as they pass the course they were planning to take the exam for. 

The exemption eligibility requirements made by the State department are the following: any student enrolled in a course that culminates in a Regents exam and would have earned credit in the course by the end of the 2019-20 school year, any student in 7th grade that is enrolled in a course that culminates in a Regents exam and would have passed the course by the end of the 2019-20 school year, any student enrolled in a course that culminates in a Regents exam that has failed to earn credit at the end of that academic year and that wanted to make up for the failed course and earn the credit and is granted diploma credit in August 2020, and any student that was in a course that culminates in a Regents exam that achieved credit for the course but failed the Regents exam for it and intended to take it in June in order to pass. 

With the graduation requirement of taking the Regents exams out of student’s minds, they are now able to focus on the class and doing well enough to pass the class.