What Changes to AP Exams Mean for Seniors

College Board announced on Friday that updates to AP exams are coming. To combat the changes, College Board is committed to supporting schools and students at home by providing free remote learning resources (with AP teachers providing instructional content) and developing a new at-home testing option. New time constraints within the education community (namely, high school seniors) have caused College Board to react accordingly and in doing so, their press release last week outlined AP changes that high-schoolers can expect this year:

• Traditional face-to-face AP exams will not take place.

• Students will take a 45-minute online free-response exam at home. Students will have the option to take these exams on any device of their choosing—computer, tablet, or smart phone. Alternatively, taking and uploading a photo of handwritten work will also be an option.

• Students have the option to stagger and schedule when they’d like to sit for the AP exams. For each AP subject, there will be 2 different testing dates. Some students may opt to take the exam sooner while the content is still fresh while others may decide they need more time to review and practice.

• On April 3, College Board will release the full exam schedule, specific free-response question types, and additional testing details.

• Any student who has registered for an exam can choose to cancel at no charge.

• College Board has adjusted the content of each AP exam to reflect curricula that includes topics and skills most AP teachers and students have already covered in class by early March (pre school closures).

• Colleges nationwide have supported this solution and are committed to ensuring that AP students receive full credit they have worked this year to earn. While this emergency is unprecedented, colleges have experience in accepting a shortened AP exam for college credit when groups of students have experienced emergencies.

• Read more about test security, test content, and course-specific exam information here. We will continue to update our readers as we learn more directly from College Board in the coming weeks.