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NPR Education
AP Exams Are Still On Amid Coronavirus, Raising Questions About Fairness
Carrie Jung
April 27, 2020
A lot is at stake for students taking Advanced Placement exams, even in
normal times. If you score high enough, you can earn college credit.
It's also a big factor in college applications. But for some students,
the idea of studying right now feels impossible.
"I'm constantly thinking about making sure my family doesn't get sick
and I don't get sick," says Elise, a high school junior outside Boston.
(We're not using her full name because she's worried about hurting her
college applications.)
Concerns about the coronavirus have put most standardized tests, such
as the SAT and ACT, on hold this spring. But AP exams are going forward
with a new online format — and that's raising questions about fairness.
Elise, 17, says she spent months preparing for what is typically a
three-hour, multiple-choice and essay-based exam; she was blindsided
when she learned it will now be an online, 45-minute, open-response
test.
"I have no idea what I'm going to get when I open that test," she says.
Elise was hoping the College Board, which administers AP exams, would
cancel this year's exams, as it did the spring SATs. But since the
tests are being offered, she says she feels she has to take them. She
worries it would look bad on her college applications if she opted out.
For other students, just the idea of taking the exam at home is causing
anxiety. Kayleen Guzman, 17, from Boston says it's hard to find peace
and quiet in her house right now.
"Currently, it's me, my mom, my dog, my sister and my stepdad," she explains. "Sometimes I feel like it's too much chaos."
But Guzman is glad she still has the opportunity to take the AP exams
at all this year. She says she worked hard in her two AP classes and
she wants the chance to earn college credit.
However, it's still unclear how much credit colleges will give students for this year's exams.
"None of us would say that we are confident that a 3 or 4 or 5 on the
AP exam this year means the exact same thing as a 3, 4 and 5 on the
exam last year," says Harvard University's Andrew Ho, who studies the
reliability of educational tests.
Ho says that because of the new format, this year's AP exams won't be
measuring the same thing as previous years' exams. For one, the new
tests will cover less material. And changing where kids take it — from
a proctored classroom to their laptops at home — is a big deal. But Ho
adds, "Just because it's not completely comparable doesn't mean the
College Board and colleges, through their own policies, couldn't
adjust."
Some colleges are already adjusting. The University of California
system has come out explicitly to say it won't change the way it
credits AP scores. Other colleges that didn't want to go on the record
say they are planning to change their policies, but the details weren't
ready to share just yet.
In a statement, College Board spokesperson Jerome White said the
organization decided to move forward with AP testing to give motivated
students the opportunity to earn college credit. He added that the
organization is making "a significant financial investment" to make the
exams available online, from cheating prevention software to helping
students who may not have an Internet connection or access to a
computer.
Still, some educators worry that those efforts won't be enough.
"This situation has created a lot of distraction," says Savannah
Lodge-Scharff, an AP Physics teacher for Boston Public Schools. She
argues that without in-person classes, many students won't be able to
engage with the material in the same way. On top of that, financial
stress means many of her students are juggling additional
responsibilities, like taking care of siblings.
"I have some of my students who are working 40, 50, 60 hours a week at
the grocery store right now in the fear their parents are going to be
laid off," she explains.
And then there's the question of geographic equity. This year's exams
will be administered at the same time worldwide, meaning students in
Hong Kong will be up at midnight to take it.
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