College Board announces plans for AP testing
Every year, students across the state and country take the SAT, ACT and AP tests. Frisco ISD students are scoring highly and surpassing both state and national averages.
April 7, 2021
The CollegeBoard has officially announced their plans for the AP tests for the 2021 year. Students will be taking the test in-person, in socially distanced classrooms following COVID-19 guidelines.
However, the decision has some AP students on campus a bit unsure of what to expect.
“I am worried about taking the AP tests in person. My teachers did a great job this year but I feel like as a virtual student I’m not adequately prepared to take a full length test yet,” senior Ariana Khan said. “I also feel like after a year of being at home the shift to taking a test in a school environment will be hard to handle.”
A student can opt to do the virtual test but only if they have extenuating circumstances regarding COVID. The virtual version of the test will occur after school is already over and will still be the full-length version, just fitted to be taken digitally. This means that there will be no backtracking allowed.
“I don’t really like AP tests being in person. I feel like I’m forced to go in person if I want the best advantage on my test since you can’t go back to questions on an online test,” junior Aryan Samal said. “It’s really annoying since I have to go to school 6 times for 6 AP tests and I have a high risk person living in my house.”
Students who have been going to school in-person such as senior Megan Guidry, like the idea of taking full-length exams rather than a condensed digital format.
“I think that the in person AP tests may have better formatting than the online versions we had to take last year,” senior Megan Guidry said. “Last year, online tests consisted of entirely free response questions which typically covered just one or two of the many topics we had covered in the AP class, and so I think that having the full version of the in person AP exam (including multiple choice questions) may give a better indication of how we understand the material. However, I think that safety during an in person test is a concern for many people, but I’m glad that we would be wearing masks and social distancing in the testing room to help alleviate this concern.”
