Tens of thousands of city students were supposed to have taken their State Regents exams Thursday, but the rare snow day has forced most of the students to wait until June to take the exams.

Regents exams are only offered three times a year and students students must pass five of them to earn a high school diploma.

According to the state Department of Education, 46,367 students would have taken history and government exams and 22,365 students would have taken geometry Regents.

Also, 9,457 students would have taken chemistry Regents, 1,847 would have taken physics Regents, 9,164 would have taken reading Regents and 9,238 would have taken science Regents.

"The senior class has been preparing for the last two months. After school tutoring, Saturday tutoring and some of us have even met in different parts of the city to do group tutoring," said High School Senior Michelle Estrada.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg dismissed concerns earlier in the day, saying that students could use the snow day to study.

"Unfortunately we had a snowstorm which we didn't want, but God gave us, and the state will figure out a way to work it out for the kids to take the test," said Bloomberg. "But learning the material is not a bad idea. As a matter of fact, they've got the day free. They can go back to the books. And I'm sure most of them will want to spend this day doing that."

Most students scheduled to have taken the test would have just completed a course preparing them for the test. So in June, it will be five months since they have studied the particular course matter.

Some schools even require students to pass one Regents course and exam before moving on to the next.

For hundreds of city students, passing a test Thursday was even more critical as it was the only thing standing between them and graduating this month. Late Thursday, the state Education Department announced that those students will be given a diploma without passing their final exam -- as long as they passed the course leading up to it. That would seem to be good news for students who have been struggling to graduate. However, those students will get only a local diploma, a watered-down version that four-year colleges don't accept.

This is the last year the state is even offering the local diploma option.

The last time city students' January exams were impacted by a snow day was in 2004. Back then, the state allowed those working toward the more-basic local diploma to skip the test altogether, as long as they had passed the course.

For students who wanted the more prestigious Regents diploma, they had to wait until June.

Historically, the state does not provide make-up Regents tests.