Today, March 20, the College Board released their plan for students affected by the Coronavirus. To ensure all students can take the test despite school closures, they are developing an option to take Advanced Placement tests at home on a computer.
According to the College Board website, the at-home tests will be only 45 minutes long, and will only focus on topics that teachers were able to teach before many schools closed.
Also, Senior Vice President of AP and Instruction for the College Board Trevor Packer tweeted out that the online AP exams will only include free-response questions this year to discourage cheating that would occur with multiple-choice questions. Students who choose not to take AP tests this year due to the new format will also receive full refunds.
For those who do not have access to the technology to take AP exams online, the College Board is working on a solution to give everyone an equal opportunity to take their tests.
To calm many students and teacher’s worries that the tests will be cancelled or too difficult after weeks of no school, Packer ensures that the College Board is focusing on giving all students the same opportunity to earn college credit despite the crisis that the United States is facing.
The College Board is also helping students study by holding free, live AP review courses starting on March 25. These classes will be taught by AP teachers from around the country and will go over the first 75% of most courses, the amount that should have been taught by now.
To view the schedule for these courses or learn more about the new AP test format, visit the link below:
