I am not from New York, but IIRC, the NY Regents exam was a very tough test. Do you know if they have made it easier over the years?
I don’t have direct experience with them - I’m not from NY and my daughter isn’t old enough to have taken them yet - but my understanding is that for a while they were getting easier - they had to if they were going to make everyone get a regents diploma - but the idiotic way NY has introduced Common Core has made a hash of things, and I think that affects the regents exams right now.
I am from NYC and the Regents of yore was EXTREMELY difficult and extensive; however, in recent years it has been made “easier” and “easier”; sadly.