Following the Stay at Home restrictions and closure of schools, the College Board decided to survey students to see if they still wished to take the AP exams. After surveying 18,000 AP students they received mainly ‘yes’ and created online AP tests. The test will be 45 minutes and will include either one or two free-response questions. Students may take the test on any device. 

The College Board decided to have the exam only cover the topics that should have been reached by March. The tests are also officially open book for students. “Like many college-level exams, this year’s AP Exams will be open book/open note. The exam format and questions are being designed specifically for an at-home administration, so points will not be earned from content that can be found in textbooks or online,” the College Board wrote on their website. “However, students taking the exams may not consult with any other individuals during the testing period. We’ll take the necessary steps to protect the integrity of each exam administration, as we do every year.”

The College Board has implemented tools to detect plagiarism, and AP teachers will receive copies of the work their students submit to see if they spot any inconsistencies. Consequences have been established if students violate exam security. 

“Students sharing or receiving exam content or exam responses, or engaging in any plans or efforts to provide or gain an unfair advantage, will be blocked from testing or their AP scores will be canceled,” the College Board wrote on their website. “This includes communications or assistance in person, via the Internet, via social media, or by any other means.”

For Oak Park High School students, many of the new shifted dates overlap with their finals.

“Administration, teachers, and counselors will work together to help students navigate this stressful time and prioritize the AP Exams,” Assistant Principal Natalie Smith wrote in a StudentSquare blast. “The entire staff will be flexible, working through any time conflicts the new dates create.”

Students will most likely still receive college credit if they pass their AP exams.

“We’re confident that the vast majority of higher ed institutions will award college credit as they have in the past,” the College Board wrote on their website. “We’ve spoken with hundreds of institutions across the country that support our solution for this year’s AP Exams.”

According to biology teacher and Science Department chair Winnie Litten, students should prepare for the exam that is coming, not what they thought the exam would be. In addition she suggests that students practice the various ways to upload answers. This practice will be available on May 4.  

“I think what they will be testing is the student’s ability to THINK — thinking is not Googleable, it is a result of understanding the information and being able to apply it to a new situation,” Litten wrote. 

Litten advises that students take advantage of the reviews teachers are compiling.

“Students – don’t take your foot off the gas, you have an opportunity to score big with this exam potentially,” Litten wrote.