Pros and Cons of the New AP Exams

By Katherine G. ‘22 & elizabeth g. ‘21

PROS

At least they’re shorter. A three hour exam is a long time for anyone, especially to be sitting in a plastic chair with a stress-inducing time limit. If someone was doing homework this intensely for that long without a sufficient break, they would most likely have a nasty crick in their neck and a craving for YouTube. However, a shorter exam means students have less time to spare. While students may have had time to spend a little extra on a section beforehand and make up for it later, they better be ready to roll once the timer starts ticking. Students have to spend less time taking the exams, but they may find themselves more rushed than ever to get anything down.

The pressure to perform well on the AP exams might have compelled students to cheat at home by looking through class materials. So to make testing more fair, the College Board announced that the exams will be open-note. Students would have inevitably looked through their notes anyway, so why not just let them and level the playing field? Looking through pages of notes is time consuming, and with these shortened time limits, students are encouraged to learn the material more thoroughly ahead of time, just like any normal AP exam. While the test itself may be open-note, prior review remains necessary. The notes will be helpful for dates and details, but students were told to not expect to rely on them entirely. The only way a student could cheat is if they were in communication with other students during the exam.

For students in AP history classes, the test is simple: one DBQ (document-based question). Max McCullah, an AP U.S. history teacher from City on a Hill Charter Public School in Roxbury, comments, “It allows students to show what they know, instead of multiple choice which forces them to struggle through what they may not know.” The AP history exams will test students’ analysis capabilities more specifically than their knowledge of events and dates this year.

CONS

Covid-19, the national pandemic currently plaguing our nation, has required all citizens to quarantine in their houses and social distance, which complicates the testing processes both for the SAT/ ACT and the AP exams. College Board has modified the AP exams to accommodate these extenuating circumstances due to the implementation of social distancing. The 45 minute tests are to be taken at home and are open note, instead of the traditional grueling two or three hour exam taken in a school setting. The exams can either be taken on a computer or phone and will exclude the multiple choice section. The College Board has also made a decision to not include specific units that schools have not learned yet, but only if they were following the timeline provided by the College Board in the beginning of the year. It is clear, when looking at the accommodations set forth from College Board, that the continuation of these AP exams is in fact not in the best interest of the students but rather the company itself as they willingly jeopardize the integrity and standardization of these exams.

Many colleges will be accepting AP class grades rather than the exam grade for AP credit, which allows students to have the opportunity to not take the class that they received AP credit for in college. This places students entering college at a disadvantage because they received credit for a class in which they were not taught all of the information. It also assumes schools were following the College Board schedule provided online for teachers in the beginning of the year, which is not the case for many schools across America. This assumption can and will impact the curve, giving some students more of an opportunity to receive a higher score than others. The purpose of a standardized test is to eliminate inequitable factors such as the difficulty level or standards schools place on their students. Giving a specific group a clear advantage over another is not only a disservice to the students, but also to the educators that use this form of assessment to make decisions regarding placement. Furthermore, students have been preparing to take their AP exams all year, so the exclusion of the multiple choice favors students who perform better on written assessments, whether that be because of disparity between educational focuses among schools or because of a learning disability. While writing sections decrease one’s ability to cheat, that issue could be easily addressed by making multiple versions of the same test so that people cannot rely on having the same questions as their peers.

Additionally, the act of taking an exam at home imposes unjust issues for many students who lack a stable life at home, have poor internet access, have a learning disability that may make focusing at home difficult, or simply have to take the exam on their phone because they do not have access to a computer, which can slow the process of typing out their thoughts. Notably, College Board communicated that any student with unreliable internet or lacking equipment needed to take their exam can reach out to the organization and will be provided resources.

These unprecedented times have impacted many industries significantly and the College Board is no exception. It must provide these exams not only because schools and students rely on them, but also because of the profit made from these exams. There is no perfect model for how companies can and must accommodate social distancing, so it is important to commend the College Board’s efforts as an institution that insists on providing their services despite the overwhelming complications. Having said that, the College Board’s efforts hurt some students more than others in a way that undermines the fundamental value and purpose of AP exams. While it is nearly an impossible task to accommodate all students facing circumstances at home that complicate at-home testing, the College Board’s main concern appears to be the increased ability to cheat rather than the many other factors that threaten the integrity of their tests.