AP Testing in the Age of Coronavirus

If you were worried that AP tests would be canceled this spring, save your worries for other things — like your family’s health and the spiraling economy — because AP tests are on for 2020. The AP tests will, however, be modified since, well, students aren’t exactly in school to take these exams and may very well not be even two months from now. So what changes have been announced about this spring’s AP exams? Wonder no more.

AP Exams Will Be Administered Virtually

As College Board, the maker of the AP exams, announced on their website, “Traditional face-to-face exam administrations will not take place. Some students may want to take the exam sooner rather than later, while the content is still fresh. Other students may want more time to practice. For each AP subject, there will be 2 different testing dates. The full exam schedule, specific free-response question types that will be on each AP Exam, and additional testing details will be available by April 3. We’ll also unlock any relevant free-response questions in AP Classroom for digital use so students can access all practice questions of the type that will appear on the exam.”

Streamlined AP Exams Will Be 45 Minutes

College Board continues, “For the 2019–20 exam administration only, students can take a 45-minute online exam at home. Educator-led development committees are currently selecting the exam questions that will be administered…Students will be able to take these streamlined exams on any device they have access to—computer, tablet, or smartphone. Taking a photo of handwritten work will also be an option…Test security is a concern. The exam questions are designed and administered in ways that prevent cheating; we use a range of digital security tools and techniques, including plagiarism detection software, to protect the integrity of the exams.”

For more information on changes to each AP exam, we encourage our readers to check out College Board’s announcement in these unprecedented times. And does it surprise our readers in the slightest that College Board, a business, would do what they can to keep these tests in place — albeit virtually? Come on now. College Board wasn’t about to give back all their AP testing revenue!