Regents are now completely watered down. I believe they should be made much more rigorous. BH at least they are a minimal standard to show some competence in the subject. Things would be even worse without them. Yeshiva kids would goof off in English even more than they do now without them.
Years ago in chem or physics, one had to solve the entire problem. Now they usually do about 90% of it, and you only need to finish them. They also include irrelevant info that was only needed when you actually had to solve the entire problem. Some of the Bio questions border on, Can you circle the earthworm in the picture? How do you feel about pollution?
If you want a more challenging assessment you should have the kids take the SAT subject tests. These are nationally administered tests that seem to better gauge one’s knowledge, and are required by many colleges for admission (usually three in the subjects of your choice).
Note, I am speaking about my recollections of a while back when I took them, and comparing them to my kids’ review books. I hope the subject tests have not been watered down, as well.
What also annoys me is that this bare-boned 150 page softcover NYS regents review in Bio, Chem or Phys, has become the actual textbook used by many yeshivas. It is a complete joke, and was never designed to be a textbook, only a short review.