English Language Arts Regents conversion chart — raw score to scale score, session by session
On the August 2026 English Language Arts exam it took 28 weighted raw points out of 56 to reach a 65, and 44 to reach an 85. Every administration has its own chart and they do not agree with one another — across the 33 published sittings we hold, the 65 line has sat anywhere between 28 and 32 weighted raw points. Pick the exact sitting below; nothing here applies to an exam that has not been given.
English Language Arts — raw to scale
Convert an English Language Arts weighted raw score
The exam is already selected. Choose the administration your child actually sat — the list holds the 33 sittings NYSED has published a chart for, most recent first — then enter the weighted raw score.
This chart is indexed on the weighted raw score, not on points earned. NYSED weights the parts of this exam before converting, so the number the chart expects is not the sum of the credits your child earned. On the August 2026 exam the 24 multiple-choice questions count 1 each, the Part 2 essay is scored out of 6 and multiplied by 4, and the Part 3 text-analysis response is scored out of 4 and multiplied by 2 — 24 + 24 + 8 = 56, which is the top of the chart. A student who adds up 24 + 6 + 4 = 34 and enters that will be reading the wrong row. The weights for each administration are printed in the NYSED scoring key for that sitting: NYSED scoring keys, English Language Arts. If you only have the credits earned, a teacher or the school's score report can give you the weighted raw score.
Loading the published charts for this exam…
There is no chart for an exam that has not been given yet. NYSED publishes the raw-to-scale conversion for an administration only after that administration has been scored, and the numbers genuinely move between sittings: the Algebra I raw total dropped from 86 points to 82 in June 2024, Algebra II did the same in June 2026, and the Level 3 range in Algebra I ran 65–73 in August 2015 and 65–79 in June 2016. So this tool reads published charts and nothing else. Anyone telling a student what raw score will earn a 65 at a future sitting is making it up.
The most recent chart
English Language Arts, August 2026 — every row
This is the whole chart NYSED published for the August 2026 administration: 57 rows, weighted raw score 0 to 56, with the performance level as printed. Earlier administrations are in the selector above, each with its own source file.
| Weighted Raw Score | Scale score | Performance level |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | Level 1 |
| 1 | 6 | Level 1 |
| 2 | 12 | Level 1 |
| 3 | 16 | Level 1 |
| 4 | 21 | Level 1 |
| 5 | 24 | Level 1 |
| 6 | 28 | Level 1 |
| 7 | 31 | Level 1 |
| 8 | 34 | Level 1 |
| 9 | 37 | Level 1 |
| 10 | 39 | Level 1 |
| 11 | 42 | Level 1 |
| 12 | 44 | Level 1 |
| 13 | 46 | Level 1 |
| 14 | 48 | Level 1 |
| 15 | 49 | Level 1 |
| 16 | 51 | Level 1 |
| 17 | 52 | Level 1 |
| 18 | 54 | Level 1 |
| 19 | 55 | Level 2 |
| 20 | 56 | Level 2 |
| 21 | 58 | Level 2 |
| 22 | 59 | Level 2 |
| 23 | 60 | Level 2 |
| 24 | 61 | Level 2 |
| 25 | 62 | Level 2 |
| 26 | 63 | Level 2 |
| 27 | 64 | Level 2 |
| 28 | 65 | Level 3 |
| 29 | 66 | Level 3 |
| 30 | 67 | Level 3 |
| 31 | 69 | Level 3 |
| 32 | 70 | Level 3 |
| 33 | 71 | Level 3 |
| 34 | 72 | Level 3 |
| 35 | 73 | Level 3 |
| 36 | 75 | Level 4 |
| 37 | 76 | Level 4 |
| 38 | 77 | Level 4 |
| 39 | 78 | Level 4 |
| 40 | 79 | Level 4 |
| 41 | 81 | Level 4 |
| 42 | 82 | Level 4 |
| 43 | 83 | Level 4 |
| 44 | 85 | Level 5 |
| 45 | 86 | Level 5 |
| 46 | 87 | Level 5 |
| 47 | 89 | Level 5 |
| 48 | 90 | Level 5 |
| 49 | 91 | Level 5 |
| 50 | 93 | Level 5 |
| 51 | 94 | Level 5 |
| 52 | 95 | Level 5 |
| 53 | 97 | Level 5 |
| 54 | 98 | Level 5 |
| 55 | 99 | Level 5 |
| 56 | 100 | Level 5 |
Scores at or above 65 are shown in red — 65 is the passing score in New York, and 85 is what the State calls passing with distinction. This chart applies to the August 2026 administration only.
Source: NYSED conversion chart, English Language Arts, August 2026 (XLSX) · the same chart as PDF
The record, in three numbers
What 33 published English Language Arts charts show
28 / 56
Weighted raw points for a 65, August 2026
Read from the chart for that administration. Not a target for any other sitting.
44 / 56
Weighted raw points for an 85, August 2026
Passing with distinction, in New York’s own wording, on the same exam.
28–32
Range of the 65 line across every published sitting
From June 2014 to August 2026. This spread is the reason a chart from one year cannot read a score from another.
The full session-by-session record — raw total, raw points for a 65, raw points for an 85, and the 65 line as a share of the exam — is further down this page, with the NYSED file for each sitting.
And if the question is the other one — whether English Language Arts has been getting more demanding — what a 65 has cost at every English Language Arts sitting charts that one number across the whole record, as a share of the paper rather than a raw count.
And if the comparison is between exams rather than within one — a child choosing which science to sit, or a family wondering where English Language Arts stands next to the rest — how hard each Regents exam is, and what a 65 costs on each one puts all of them on the same scale: the share of the paper a 65 takes, from 2014 to 2026.
Curve history
English Language Arts Regents curve history — what a 65 cost at every sitting
Across 33 published English Language Arts administrations, the raw score needed for a 65 has run from 28 points (August 2014) to 32 points (August 2018) — 50.0% to 57.1% of the paper. Every figure below is read from the NYSED chart for that sitting, and each row links to the file it came from. Nothing here is smoothed, averaged, or carried forward to a sitting that has not happened.
English Language Arts — raw points needed for a 65 and an 85
One point per published administration, June 2014 to August 2026. Where a sitting is missing from the record — cancelled, or simply never given a published chart — the line breaks rather than being joined across it.
English Language Arts — the same requirement as a share of the paper
Normalised by each session's raw total, so a change in the size of the exam cannot be mistaken for a change in difficulty.
Every published English Language Arts administration
Most recent first. The last column links to the NYSED file that each row was read from, so nothing here has to be taken on trust.
| Administration | Raw total | Raw for 65 | = % of paper | Raw for 85 | NYSED file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | 56 | 28 | 50.0% | 44 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2026 | 56 | 29 | 51.8% | 45 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2026 | 56 | 30 | 53.6% | 41 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2025 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 40 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2025 | 56 | 30 | 53.6% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2025 | 56 | 30 | 53.6% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2024 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 43 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2024 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 43 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2024 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 43 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2023 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2023 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2023 | 56 | 32 | 57.1% | 43 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2022 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2022 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2021special administration | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2020 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 41 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2019 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 43 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2019 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2019 | 56 | 32 | 57.1% | 42 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2018 | 56 | 32 | 57.1% | 41 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2018 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 41 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2018 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 41 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2017 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 41 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2017 | 56 | 31 | 55.4% | 41 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2017 | 56 | 30 | 53.6% | 40 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2016 | 56 | 30 | 53.6% | 40 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2016 | 56 | 29 | 51.8% | 40 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2016 | 56 | 29 | 51.8% | 40 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2015 | 56 | 29 | 51.8% | 40 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2015 | 56 | 30 | 53.6% | 40 | PDF · XLSX |
| January 2015 | 56 | 30 | 53.6% | 41 | PDF · XLSX |
| August 2014 | 56 | 28 | 50.0% | 43 | PDF · XLSX |
| June 2014 | 56 | 29 | 51.8% | 43 | PDF · XLSX |
What is deliberately absent from this table
June 2020, August 2020, January 2021, August 2021, January 2022 — cancelled administrations, so there is no row and no line segment across them; the curve above breaks there instead of stepping over. Administrations before June 2014 exist only as PDFs on the NYSED site and are not covered. And there is no row for a future sitting: NYSED publishes a chart after an administration is scored, never before.
Take the numbers
The table above is one exam's slice of a dataset covering 11 exams and 206 administrations. Free to use with attribution.
Questions
English Language Arts scoring, answered
What raw score do you need to pass the English Language Arts Regents?
On the August 2026 administration it took 28 weighted raw points out of 56 to reach a scale score of 65. That number belongs to that sitting and to no other: across the 33 published English Language Arts charts we hold, the weighted raw points needed for a 65 have ranged from 28 to 32. Use the calculator above with the exact administration your child sat. One caution specific to English Language Arts: NYSED indexes this chart on the weighted raw score, which is not the number of points your child earned — see the note under the calculator.
Does this work for the next English Language Arts Regents?
No. NYSED publishes a conversion chart only after an administration has been scored, so no chart exists for a sitting that has not happened. The charts here run from June 2014 to August 2026. If you want to know how much the requirement has moved between sittings, the curve history further down this page shows the raw points needed for a 65 at every published administration — which is the honest version of that question.
Does the English Language Arts chart show a performance level?
Yes, where NYSED prints the column — and the tool reports it exactly as printed rather than working it out from the scale score. Inside one chart the levels never overlap: a given scale score belongs to exactly one level. What moves is the chart. Across the 33 English Language Arts charts that carry the column, the top of the Level 3 band has sat at 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 depending on the administration — so on English Language Arts the same scale score can be a Level 3 at one sitting and a Level 4 at another: a 75 has been both. That is why a level worked out from a generic table, or from the scale score alone, would be wrong for most sittings. The level is read from the row your raw score falls on, or it is not shown.
Which English Language Arts administrations are covered?
33 of them, from June 2014 to August 2026. Sessions earlier than June 2014 exist only as PDFs on the NYSED site and are not covered here. The administrations cancelled around the pandemic — June 2020, August 2020, January 2021, August 2021, January 2022 — are absent because they were never held, and the special June 2021 administration, where it applies, is labelled as such rather than folded in with the ordinary sittings.
Has the English Language Arts Regents curve got harder?
Across the 33 published administrations, the raw points needed for a 65 have ranged from 28 to 32 — a spread of 4 points. The curve history below shows the same requirement as a share of the paper, which is the view that survives a change in the size of the exam. What none of this supports is a claim about the next sitting.
Why are there gaps in the curve history?
Because those administrations never took place: June 2020, August 2020, January 2021, August 2021, January 2022 were cancelled around the pandemic. The lines break rather than jumping the gap — the drawing code emits a new segment whenever two points are not consecutive sittings — because joining them would draw a data point that does not exist. Where a special administration was held, it is labelled rather than treated as an ordinary session.
Can I reuse these numbers?
Yes. The whole dataset — this exam and every other one — is downloadable as CSV from the links in the curve history below, and the figures are NYSED’s, reproduced as published. Each row of the session table links to the NYSED file it came from, so anything here can be checked against the source in one click.
Where does this English Language Arts data come from?
From the conversion chart spreadsheets NYSED publishes on nysedregents.org — 33 files for this exam alone, each linked from its own result in the calculator. They are re-downloaded and re-parsed automatically, and nothing is published if a checksum moves, a file changes shape, or the reference values stop matching. Last verified September 7, 2026.
Where these figures come from
All 33 English Language Arts charts on this page are read from the spreadsheets published by the New York State Education Department (NYSED), Office of State Assessment. Conversion charts published by NYSED. Figures reproduced as published; consult the linked NYSED file for the authoritative version. Last verified September 7, 2026.
- NYSED — English Language Arts conversion chart archive
- NYSED — English Language Arts, August 2026 chart (XLSX, the file behind the table above)
- NYSED — Regents examination archive
GeniusPrep is an independent tutoring company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the New York State Education Department.
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28 raw points is a term of work, not a talent problem.
Regents are given in January, June and August. Start with a diagnostic: a past English Language Arts exam, marked against the real chart, and a written plan built from the gap it exposes.
Take the next step
Where does your child stand on English Language Arts?
Tell us the score they came out with and the sitting they're aiming for. We start with a diagnostic so the plan fits the gap, not the calendar.