WHAT'S NEW WITH THE REGENTS' TEST?
Quite a bit, actually.
From its beginnings in 1972 until 2008, the Georgia Board of Regents' Test of Reading and Writing Skills has been administered to University of Georgia system students who have completed one or both of the required classes in English composition.
However, that's about to change. Beginning in the fall 2008 semester the test will be administered to entering freshmen-students who have not completed either of the required composition courses. In fact, all entering freshmen who are not required to take either Learning Support English or Learning Support reading classes will be required to take the Regents' test during their first semester of college-level study.
In effect, this adjustment will change the Regents' Test from an examination of competency to an examination of diagnostics; indeed, the desire to identify students in need of extra help in reading and writing is one of the factors that precipitated the change in the first place.
Invariably, this change will create a bit of a "bottleneck" as first-year students taking the test will join those sophomores and second-semester freshmen already scheduled. In anticipation of this increased demand, the College's administration has added several extra sessions of the Regents' Test and will recruit more faculty volunteers to administer and proctor the examination. The administration is confident that it has done everything possible to ensure a smooth transition to this "new" Regents' Test.