In the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic and transition to online school, the traditional AP exams have been revised to accommodate online learning and stay-at-home order.

New tests are significantly shorter at just 45 minutes, and will only be covering content taught since before school transitioned online. College Board announced that there will be no limit on scores of a 3, 4, or 5. Despite the chaos that has ensued since online school began, College Board revised AP exams in a way meant specifically to help students succeed and not lose out on the hard work they have put into classes all year.

AP exams will be available online starting May 11 and will be open through May 22. Makeup dates are available per subject from June 1-5. Each subject’s exam will be taken on the same day at the same time worldwide. Classes that have portfolio submissions received a deadline extension until May 26, 11:59 pm. College Board hopes to release exam scores as close to the normal July date as possible.

Most exams will have 1-2 FRQs with each question timed separately. Foreign language students will take two spoken tasks with FRQs three and four on the current AP exam. The format for exams is completely digital through AP classroom. College Board recommends that students familiarize themselves with the format before taking the actual test. College Board has created an exam demo checklist, which can be found on their website at https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams/exam-day-experience?SFMC_cid=EM308679-&rid=48313066.

While the threat of cheating is more pronounced since students will be taking the test from home and there aren’t proctors monitoring the tests, College Board has designed the exams in a way that is meant to test individual knowledge about a subject and applicable skills, instead of random guessing on multiple choice questions. 

This year’s AP exams are straying far from the traditional testing experience, but have been designed in a way to ensure students’ success. Good luck to everyone taking 2020 AP exams!