I teach 9th grade math in New York and my passing rate on the Algebra Regents has been frustrating me. Last year 61% of my students passed which is technically fine but I know several of them could have done better with different prep strategies.
The polynomial and function transformation questions seem to be where most students lose points. I see them understand the concepts in class but then freeze on the exam format. It's the multi-step application problems that get them, not the basic skill questions.
I've been building my own practice test bank but it takes forever and the quality is inconsistent. Has anyone found a good supplementary resource specifically for Algebra Regents that students can work through independently? Preferably something that mirrors the actual exam format.
Also curious if other teachers are seeing improvement from the new curriculum alignment or if it's making prep harder to target.
My passing rate jumped from 64% to 79% when I started doing one full timed practice exam per month starting in October. Students need to experience the exam conditions, not just the content. Format familiarity matters as much as math knowledge.
The new curriculum alignment has made some things easier but harder in others because there's less time to spiral review. I've been supplementing with targeted spiral quizzes every 2 weeks to compensate.
The multi-step application problems are always the differentiator. I spend an extra week specifically on problem decomposition — teaching students to identify what each part of the question is asking before solving. That alone moved my scores noticeably.
Jmap.org has a solid free Regents archive with answer keys. Not fancy but it's actual past exams which is exactly what students need. I assign specific past exams as homework and review the wrong answers in class the next day.
Just wanted to share a quick update since I've been lurking on this thread. I scored a 74 on my last practice run, which honestly surprised me because I was bombing the function transformation stuff a week ago. I've been using the regents algebra core concepts fundamentals practice test and it really helped me figure out where I was losing points.
I'm sitting the real exam in August so I still have some time but I didn't want to wait until the last minute like I did with my other tests. The polynomial questions aren't as bad once you slow down and check your work. Good luck to everyone else prepping right now!
Honestly the wrong answer thing was a game changer for me. I used to just drill practice problems and move on when I got something right, but I wasn't learning anything about why the other choices were traps. My tutor had me go through regents algebra core concepts fundamentals and actually write out why each wrong answer was wrong, not just circle the right one. It felt slow at first but my score jumped 12 points between my practice test and the real thing.
The function transformation questions especially — those wrong answers are designed to catch people who memorized rules without understanding them. If you can explain why a distractor is wrong, you've actually learned the concept. I'd try having students defend their wrong answers out loud before correcting them, it's uncomfortable but it works.
Small update from the student side of this. I've been prepping for the June retake after just missing it last time, and I finally broke through on the polynomial stuff you mentioned. I took a full timed practice exam last weekend and scored a 72, which honestly felt huge because I was stuck in the low 60s for weeks. The function transformation questions still trip me up sometimes, but they're not automatic wrong answers anymore.
What changed for me wasn't more practice tests, it was slowing down and redoing the ones I got wrong until I could explain why. Sounds obvious but nobody ever made me do that in class. I'm sitting the real exam in June and honestly for the first time I'm not dreading it. If your students are hovering right around passing, that review-your-mistakes thing might be worth pushing on them.
I just passed mine last month and honestly the thing that clicked for me was drilling linear equations way more than I expected to need to. I kept skipping over them thinking they were too basic, but the test hits them from weird angles. These regents algebra/questions/linear equations functions 2 practice questions specifically were what got me comfortable with the function transformation stuff you're talking about.
It's not that the material is hard, it's that students (me included) don't practice the interpretation part enough. Like reading what the graph is actually telling you, not just solving for x. Once I slowed down on that piece my scores jumped pretty fast. Your 61% could definitely go up if kids spend more time on those connection questions instead of just computation drills.