New Format for 2020 Advanced Placement Tests
As a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the resulting school closures across the nation, College Board announced on March 25 that all Advanced Placement (AP) testing will be administered online. According to College Board, when students were asked via survey if they still wanted to take their AP tests, 91 percent of them said that they would. This year’s exams will be open note and 45 minutes long as opposed to the previously mandated three-hour exams. Furthermore, instead of administering a series of multiple choice and free-response questions, the 2020 AP exams will solely consist of the latter. Test takers will be able to submit their work by either uploading their responses directly to the AP platform or by submitting a photograph of their handwritten work via attachment to College Board. Those who do not have access to the internet or mobile devices have been told to reach out to College Board so that an alternate testing method can be arranged.
Regardless, some students do not believe that College Board’s online exams this year will adequately test students’ knowledge.
“I personally do not think these online exams are a satisfactory substitute for the traditional AP exams,” senior Eujin Oh said. “Even with the extended online reviews that College Board has provided, which are not as helpful as the materials that our teachers could have given to us [when on-site schooling was still in session], I do not think we are really getting [the satisfactory exams] that we had originally paid hundreds of dollars for.”
Many schools have discussed concerns regarding how prepared students are for the AP exams after switching to online learning. In an attempt to address this and the varying schedules of individual teachers, College Board has made it so that the exams cover only material they know was taught up to early March. It has also provided online lessons and review sessions for material that should have been covered by March to aid students in their preparation. Junior Kelsey Smith believes their decision to test online was the best course of action for College Board to take, as any physical exams would be infeasible.
“Under the current circumstances, the last thing College Board wants to do is bring hundreds of kids into a room for hours at a time,” Smith said. “Taking these extra precautions during social distancing is inconvenient but necessary, since many high school students have been committing their days and nights to [study for their AP tests]. It should be their right to take the AP exam for college credit.”
Another concern that arose after College Board’s announcement regarded cheating and plagiarism and how such action could be easier to get away with due to the exams being online. Thus, in order to combat cheating, College Board has implemented plagiarism detection software and post administration analytics. Though no details were given on how this software will be used as of now, College Board has made the consequences of online cheating clear. As stated on the official College Board website, students whose responses are too similar to online content or another student’s response will have their scores canceled. In addition, all AP teachers will be given a copy of their students’ submitted work in order to pinpoint anything that does not line up with a student’s known work. Overall, College Board is taking measures to make this experience the best it could be the students taking it.
“I think that College Board has done a great job in adapting the test to the current circumstances,” Spanish 1, 4, 5 and AP Spanish Literature teacher Jacqueline Valerio said. “College Board is doing what they can, and our students have proven time and time again that they are resilient. I have no doubt our [students] will do great.”
