Every year at Curtis, a new wave of juniors has to adapt to the demands of a challenging workload. Just one of their many assessments is the Regents, the final, cumulative tests of a student’s collective knowledge. For every major class, there’s a Regent that has to be taken at the end of the class. In fact, the English Regent had long since been one of the most important things for all junior students to focus on and prepare for in their class. “The hardest part is keeping up with assignments that your teachers give you and keeping your grades up,” explains Briseida Mendez, a junior student herself. Between this and writing numerous program-specific essays, the IB DP students specifically found themselves caught in a tough academic balancing act. 

However, recently, this has not been the case. In an effort to relieve the mounting pressure that the IB DP juniors were experiencing, the English Regent was moved. Prior to this, the aforementioned Regent was taken by DP students during their junior year. Now, incoming IB students can look forward to taking it at the end of their sophomore year. “We’re prioritizing the students and teachers,” said James Torta, assistant principal of supervision of the English department, who is responsible for coordinating with teachers and improving academic instruction. This includes the scheduling for the English Regent. When asked if the congested junior schedule was the motivation for the move, Mr. Torta had this to say; “That was a big reason for it. It was the primary reason. They had three assessments in one year. It was stressful for the students; it was stressful for the teachers. I didn’t want to stress either of them out and I wanted to give them the best chance on their IB exams.” 

The English Regent still remains a key milestone in a junior student’s journey through high school, but this one moderation aims to both optimize IB DP junior year outcomes, and hopefully make it just slightly easier for busy students.