Over a two-week period at the beginning of May, AP exams will proceed as scheduled. Since their establishment in 1955, the exams have taken place every year, without fail. In the beginning, a $10 fee would cover as many tests as the student felt prepared to take. Now, AP students pay $95 per exam, and that’s a discounted price for living in the United States. Plus, this cost is nonrefundable; signing up is a binding contract to sit for the exam.
Then, 2020 happened. COVID-19 quickly halted life as everybody knew it, and exams were amended. Students were allowed to opt-out of testing, which comprised of two free-response questions over the span of 45 minutes. Although student response was varied for this format, it was appreciated that College Board was at least attempting to be considerate and accommodating due to the circumstances.
This fall, AP students waited with bated breath for information from College Board regarding the 2021 examinations. I think that most of us (or at least me), believed that College Board would offer some modifications to the administration of AP exams. However, the company recently came out with a statement that exams would continue as in previous years. This means that students will have to show up at an in-person testing center and take a two to three-hour exam in its full difficulty.
The format of AP exams varies slightly depending on the class the student is taking. Art APs require a portfolio submitted sometime in late May, while math, science, and history exams are usually composed of a multiple-choice section followed by free-response questions. English exams are largely focused on writing; they present multiple sources and then have the students write essays in various styles.
Instead of simply amending exams, College Board is adding difficulty to both students’ and teachers’ lives in order to ensure that the exam schedule can continue as planned. In order to account for schools being closed due to COVID-19 cases, they’re adding online contingency exams, which have to be arranged through the school’s AP Coordinator. Additionally, many teachers have reported that at this point in January, they’ve only taught through about 25% of the required curriculum for the year. In response to this, the company released AP Pacing Guides.
At first glance, I thought this was a nice gesture, but upon looking deeper, I realized that these guides are completely unreasonable. Students are suggested to watch one to three AP Daily Videos (five to 10 minutes long) and then complete personal progress checks and/or topic questions. These questions are usually composed of multiple parts and can take up to, or over, a half-hour to complete. Although this may not sound too unmanageable, for students who are in multiple AP courses (like myself), these daily assignments would quickly eat up hours of after-school time.
Beyond the logistical reasons, it’s completely unfair that College Board is expecting students to carry on as if this school year is even remotely close to anything normal. While Kingswood Oxford has been lucky enough to remain in person for a large portion of the year, schools in other areas of the country have been forced to stay remote due to high case levels in their area. Furthermore, even though we’ve been in person, we’ve lost significant amounts of class time due to this virus. More than that, we’ve lost a large part of our high school experience; many students have been feeling unmotivated or like there’s nothing to look forward to. School events that were a break from students’ stressful school lives have been canceled due to COVID-19 policies, which only further demoralize the community.
In asking us to take these exams with no modifications, College Board is disregarding the continuous blows that our morales have suffered this year. They should release a plan that ensures success for AP students all over the country and relieves some of the pressure they’ve placed on teachers. They’ve proven that it’s possible to host amended versions of these exams while still staying true to the goals of the course, now the students are asking that they show some of the same flexibility that was demonstrated last year.
