ADAMS TWP — Mars students planning to graduate in 2017 better bone up on biology.

That is because the Mars School Board on Tuesday evening voted to add the biology portion of the state Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement that year.

The district already requires students, beginning with the Class of 2017, to pass the algebra and English Keystones to graduate.

The state Department of Education will require students to pass the algebra 1, English and biology Keystones beginning in 2017. Until then the exam scores will be used to determine whether school districts meet adequate yearly progress benchmarks.

Students currently take the exams in 10th and 11th grades, and Mars students who fail must take remediation classes.

Board Vice President Rebecca Brown said the state has made allowance on those tests for students in vocational technical programs and students with individual education plans. They can complete a project-based assessment if they do not pass the Keystones on the first try, Brown said.

Mars has historically resisted state assessments and stood in favor of local control of schools, but the board decided in 2012 to make the Keystones a graduation requirement in the interest of achieving state adequate yearly progress standards.

“The sad reality is that we will continue to have this discussion because we will eventually have five Keystone Exams,” board President Dayle Ferguson said of the state’s plans for the tests.