New AP Test Guidelines Due to Covid-19

My sister is a VP in California. Yesterday she and I were discussing the challenges facing her AP and IB students and instructors. The teachers are really anxious about how their kids will do and their inability so far to instruct remotely. Our school does only dual enrollment so a little simpler for us. I just sent her this link, so thank you. The provision about only covering material through March on the exams is huge. Many a senior may be able to breathe a bit at this point; at least on the AP front. Good info, again, thank you.
 
Our school district is probably screwed then, being on semesters rather than year-long courses. Most of DS's courses were only half way through. I would imagine the part of "most" teachers covered will be further than what they covered.

DS did like the idea that his entire school year may be done by first week of April...
 
My DD21 immediately went to "Shorter time and less material means a harder test." My cynical old self immediately went to "There's going to be rampant cheating and all 5s so the schools are all going test optional."
 
Our school district is probably screwed then, being on semesters rather than year-long courses. Most of DS's courses were only half way through. I would imagine the part of "most" teachers covered will be further than what they covered.

DS did like the idea that his entire school year may be done by first week of April...
we do semesters too but all AP courses are every other day all year
 
@S
My cynical old self immediately went to "There's going to be rampant cheating and all 5s so the schools are all going test optional."

Exactly.

No matter how much effort CollegeBoard puts into preventing cheating, it's not going to stop it.

Quote: The exam questions are designed and administered in ways that prevent cheating; we use a range of digital security tools and techniques, including plagiarism detection software, to protect the integrity of the exams.

I don't believe it's possible to police well enough, where people absolutely can't cheat. You can 'lock' the computer to only appear on the test screen, you can screen for plagiarism, but at the end of the day anyone with an AP book/phone/textbook can look up HOW to do a free response problem. After all, if it's on the test, the explanation should be in the AP book. They say they've given online tests for AP CompSci in the past, but CS is very different in the fact that it would be much easier to spot plagiarism, and a lot harder to cheat. Take most other AP tests, and it's very different. As a Junior, I personally don't know how I feel about doing it online. I've been around people my age all my life (obviously), and I know that very few people would have the integrity to not utilize tools that would give them an advantage. With AP tests where a 60% would give you a 5, no amount of studying could edge a non-cheater over a cheater. It will be interesting to see how CollegeBoard will be attempting to prevent cheating.
 
There are some tests out there where they require a camera to be trained on the student to track where the eyes are going. These ACT guidelines, however, indicate that just about any device will work ("send a photo of your paper test") so none of that fancy tech will be employed.
 
My guess is that the questions will be randomized and shuffled from a large test bank in a lockdown browser
 
On this forum, I would think this primarily applies to kids who are going the ROTC route. So, the underlying question for kids on this forum who are taking AP classes/tests online: why in the world would you cheat? If my kid gets a 3, for instance on the Physics exam, his intended school won't give him credit. That's probably a good thing - why would he want to test out of a class he may not pass? He needs to maintain a certain GPA to keep his scholarship. End goal, folks. Having a year of Physics and then having to take the class, again, in college, is alright. Yes, you all are at a disadvantage - just do the best you can with what you know. Study hard til then.
 
If the schools aren't in session by September then it won't just be the subject tests that are conducted this way. The basic SAT and ACT could be offered similarly, and at that point you can't count on them the same way. Any tiger mom without boundaries could be proctoring any test. Just a potential mess for the schools that use them as a baseline tool to sort through the huge variety of schools they get transcripts from.
 
I agree with @Holden100 to an extent. Cheating should be out of the question for anyone, but especially students going for rotc/sa. The part where I sway is the fact that people who do cheat bring the curve way up, so where normally you would have gotten a 4 or 5, you now have a 3. Same thing happens with the SAT when all of a country gets their SAT scores cancelled because the tests were shown early — causing the curve to go out of whack.

About the SAT, colleges are already starting to not require SAT scores because of this fiasco, so I wouldn’t be surprised if others followed. I know this from the email spam I get from them every day.
 
If the schools aren't in session by September then it won't just be the subject tests that are conducted this way. The basic SAT and ACT could be offered similarly, and at that point you can't count on them the same way. Any tiger mom without boundaries could be proctoring any test. Just a potential mess for the schools that use them as a baseline tool to sort through the huge variety of schools they get transcripts from.
Given how recent Varsity Blues is, I can't imagine having home, online testing for ACT or SAT. I think schools will just push deadlines, repeatedly, if needed. Or go to a complete holistic review, or possibly give more emphasis on PSAT testing.
 
I agree with @Holden100 to an extent. Cheating should be out of the question for anyone, but especially students going for rotc/sa. The part where I sway is the fact that people who do cheat bring the curve way up, so where normally you would have gotten a 4 or 5, you now have a 3. Same thing happens with the SAT when all of a country gets their SAT scores cancelled because the tests were shown early — causing the curve to go out of whack.

About the SAT, colleges are already starting to not require SAT scores because of this fiasco, so I wouldn’t be surprised if others followed. I know this from the email spam I get from them every day.
Well, if he gets a 3 when he should have had a 5 due to cheating from others and messing up the curve, then he'll hopefully just ace that 2nd semester Physics class! :)
 
Well if we can't put kids in a room together for a test then the schools won't be bringing them to campus either, so in a way it solves itself for next year. But this year is still a mess. How can they offer any spring SAT or ACT? I feel for those kids who didn't crush it last October.
 
Well if we can't put kids in a room together for a test then the schools won't be bringing them to campus either, so in a way it solves itself for next year. But this year is still a mess. How can they offer any spring SAT or ACT? I feel for those kids who didn't crush it last October.
They've already pushed the April ACT to June; I actually think it'll get pushed, again. I really just think colleges with typically December of January app deadlines will push those to March, so now juniors (next year seniors) can take tests in the fall and then in the winter. They may/could add more test dates in January, which they typically don't. This is based only on what makes absolute sense to me, under the assumption that even our now Seniors can get started in school next Fall. I really hope that's the case.
 
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