Session 1 Part A: Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding

In this part of the English Regents Exam, students are first asked to take notes while listening to a passage. The passage may be a speech, lecture, anecdote, persuasive argument, historical texts, or even a personal reflection. Each passage is about fifteen minutes of listening. A bit long? Overwhelming, heh? Well, fifteen minutes of listening means an equal fifteen minutes of note taking! Take advantage of that, woo! And it’s also the reason you had plenty of sleep the night before, right? The passage might be boring, but don't daydream, it’s one of the worst times of your high school career to do that. Focus! After the passage, your next task is to answer a few multiple-choice questions about the passage. The multiple-choice are questions based on the main ideas, key vocabulary, and on interpretation. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Although a tad more of a tricky task, next you must write a response. They may ask you to write an essay, a letter, or a report. The response should be well organized and have in-depth analysis. If you running short on time and know you won’t finish in time, start concluding! Unfinished essays= bad.