The testing system is designed with the expectation that students
will take the examination during their second year at a college or university
after having completed at least one of the two required English composition
courses. While the intent is clearly to have students take the exam after they
have completed the English composition sequence, students are not required to
have taken either or both of those courses prior to taking the Alternate Regents’
Examination. Rather, students are required to take the examination “in the quarter
after they have completed 60 quarter credit hours if they have not taken it
previously” (BOR Policy 306 Regents’ Testing Program-a subsection of Board
of Regents University System of Georgia, 1994b). The test can be retaken each
term. A student can pass one part of the examination while failing the otherpassing
the reading test, for example, while failing the writing test-but eventually
must pass both parts of the test.