Expressway: Regents? Grandma to the rescue

It's mid-June and in the next two weeks students across New York State will be sweating through Regents exams.

As a former high school science teacher, I get nostalgic at this time. I feel a kinship with those undergoing the tests. I miss the joy of seeing students' happy faces when they earn good grades. To empathize with their distress and to keep my skills sharp, I often print out a science Regents exam from the Internet -- it doesn't matter which one -- just for the challenge of taking it.

Last June I had a vested interest in chemistry. It was the subject that my grandson Kevin, then a Sachem High School East sophomore, found difficult to master.

All year long I asked, "How are you doing in chem? Is there something you don't understand? You know I can help you."

All year long he replied, "Don't worry. I'm on top of it."

But in early May, when his teacher predicted to his mother that he'd fail the chemistry Regents unless something changed, we took the reins.

"Kevin," I said. "I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse." I was about to play my trump card.

"You can come to my house twice a week after school for free tutoring and stay for dinner."

"That's a deal," he said eagerly. He's never been known to refuse food, especially my rigatoni with homemade sauce and meatballs.

During our first session, we were both amazed at the mistakes he made on what should be easy questions. He confused atomic number with atomic mass and protons with neutrons and electrons. He divided molarity and volume in titration problems instead of multiplying them, and had no clue how to read solubility curves.

Our first step was deciphering the periodic table of the elements. Then we scoured the rest of the reference tables. This booklet contains a gold mine of measurements, equations, maps and other data that's routinely used in classes, lab assignments and exams. We also balanced equations, separated mixtures from solutions, and learned about dating fossils or rocks through radioactive decay -- all the topics in which he felt weak.

Last, I showed him some test-taking techniques: underline key elements in the question, write a formula first to make it easier to plug in given numbers, cross out incorrect answer choices in the test booklet and, if stumped, look for clues in the reference tables, which students can use during the Regents.

Three years earlier, his sister Lindsay experienced the same problem with chemistry. She'd slid through the semesters only because of her excellent memory. But like Kevin, when it came to Regents review in chemistry, she was failing. I tutored her the same way. On the Regents exam, both she and Kevin scored above 80 out of 100 percent -- not exactly superior, but well above the failing grade of 64.

"I hated you when you forced me to work with you," Lindsay reminded me recently. But in the end she appreciated the help -- and the meatballs.

"I know you did it because you love us," she added.

"Yes," I smiled, "and for the pleasure of seeing both of you succeed."

Reader Rose Marie Dunphy lives in Holbrook.