1.   The new exams have been designed for weaker students who, until now, have been set unattainable targets.

2.   The new exams will only add to the workload of already hard-pressed teachers.

3.   The new exams are currently being piloted in a number of areas.

4.   A student has made education history by becoming the first in the country to pass a new exam.

5.   Bush has said he is awaiting results of new state exams to determine whether bilingual education is successful.

6.   But educators fear the new exams may prove onerous to those who study trades and who previously were not required to take the tests.

7.   But Padala said he preferred imposition of a one- or two-hour training requirement rather than a new exam.

8.   But she said the system had been devised with extensive teacher input, after field testing of the new exam.

9.   DeFabio and Richard P. Mills, the state education commissioner, insisted in interviews that the new exam was at least as challenging as the old one.

10.   For its part, the SEC launched two types of new exams without fanfare last summer, Gohlke said.