HS-PS1-2 | Chemical Reactions · NYS standard · Regents questions
Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.
Clarification statement: Examples of chemical reactions could include the reaction of sodium and chlorine, of carbon and oxygen, or of carbon and hydrogen.
Assessment boundary: Assessment is limited to chemical reactions involving main group elements and combustion reactions.
Regents Exam Questions
Released New York State Regents exam questions that assess HS-PS1-2 are listed here by exam and question cluster. Each link opens the question with its answer key.
Vocabulary
Terms from the Chemistry Glossary that come from this standard or from the released exam questions that assess it.
- atom
- chemical property
- chemical reaction
- combustion reaction
- electron state
- element
- evidence
- investigation
- main-group element
- matter
- nucleus
- outermost electron state
- periodic table
- phenomenon
- properties
- proton
- reactant
- reaction
- system
- trend
- trends in the periodic table
- aqueous (aq) – Aug 2026
- chemical formula – Aug 2026, June 2026, Sample 2025
- claim – Aug 2026
- climate change – Sample 2025
- compound – Aug 2026, June 2026
- concentration – Aug 2026
- electron – Aug 2026, June 2026
- hydrocarbon – Sample 2025
- insoluble – Aug 2026
- ion – Aug 2026, June 2026
- ionization – Aug 2026
- metal – Aug 2026
- outermost energy level – Aug 2026
- oxidation state – Aug 2026
- pH – Aug 2026
- precipitate – Aug 2026
- product – Aug 2026, June 2026, Sample 2025
- semiconductor – Aug 2026
- solution – June 2026
- temperature – Aug 2026
- sodium chloride – implied by "the reaction of sodium and chlorine"
Performance Level Descriptions
Every Regents exam question on HS-PS1-2 is written to match one of the performance level descriptions (PLDs) below.
Resources
Examples and discussion of resources for the learning, teaching, and assessment of HS-PS1-2.
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NGSS Dimensions
Performance expectation HS-PS1-2 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:
- Constructing Explanations and Computational Thinking
- Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
- PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter
- The periodic table orders elements horizontally by the number of protons in the atom's nucleus and places those with similar chemical properties in columns. The repeating patterns of this table reflect patterns of outer electron states.
- PS1.B: Chemical Reactions
- The fact that atoms are conserved, together with knowledge of the chemical properties of the elements involved, can be used to describe and predict chemical reactions.
- Patterns
- Different patterns may be observed at each of the scales at which a system is studied and can provide evidence for causality in explanations of phenomena.