AP exams have always been a large part of academics at Arcadia High School (AHS). These courses are college level courses that not only give students the opportunity to challenge themselves, but also provide an opportunity to obtain college credits.
Every May, students organize the knowledge they have acquired throughout the year in preparation for these exams. This year, most AP exams have switched to a digital format, and will be administered on the Bluebook application.
Mr. Trevor Packer, head of the AP Program, previously announced that one of the major reasons to change to digital testing was because of the risks that paper testing brought: theft and cheating.
Packer explained through a news post in July that, as opposed to shipping more than 900,000 tests to different locations weeks in advance, moving tests online would not only increase the security of the tests but would also be more efficient, accessible, and student friendly.
Of the 28 AP courses that are affected by this switch, 16 will become completely digital (with both the multiple choice and free response questions answered online through the application), and the remaining 12 will become “hybrid digital,” (encompassing a digital multiple choice section and a paper free response section) including a large majority of science and math subjects.
“I think it’s probably good for the kids,” said Ms. Melissa Wright, AP English Language and Composition teacher. “I was told that some kids who did take it electronically last year felt more comfortable typing [their essays] than they do handwriting them.”
She additionally stated that the content of the test, at least for the AP English course, will remain the same as previous years. This leaves one challenge for the students taking AP exams this year: adapting to the online formatting of the test.
“We’ll be playing around with AP Classroom to get [students] used to it,” Ms. Wright said, when asked about preparations for the digital format of the exam. “We’ve talked to the district, and we’re hoping [to get] a lockdown browser that allows for us to format the essays.”
As for “hybrid digital” exams, the switch appears to be less drastic because students will still be able to complete their free response questions on paper.
AP Biology teacher Mr. Andrew Austin noted that the digital exam “does, however, have the huge disadvantage of students not being able to freely annotate questions and diagrams they are presented with.”
Generally, students have reported feeling unsure about the change.
“I haven’t taken an AP test online, so I can’t say if it’s safer [in terms of security],” said junior Olivia Fortuna. “I am hoping that it does make writing essays for the AP tests easier.”
Similar sentiments are echoed throughout the student population at AHS, with many preferring the free response changes to the ones implemented on the multiple choice section.
“While I’m relieved that we won’t have to write the free response questions by hand, I also don’t like not being able to annotate the multiple choice questions,” said junior Juliette Fang, adding that she’ll “find out how I really feel about digital AP exams once May rolls around.”
