Anyone else having trouble with AP tests?

[MEmama]

DS took his third AP exam of the week yesterday (one more to go!), but it didn’t submit. I’m reading this is a huge problem—the college board is saying it’s happening to about 1% of students but in actuality it sounds like 15%+. 

After trying all the ways to submit the exam and it not going through, he submitted a form to retake it in June, the only recourse available. But apparently students won’t be told if they’ve been “accepted” for the retake until right before the makeup exam!?!

I am about ready to lose.it with how this is (not) being handled. They are literally telling students too bad, try again if we let you, and if that doesn’t work you're out of luck.

Anyone else? 
 

[Ali in OR]

Are you in the "old browser" category? Those are the biggest problems I've heard of. Dd's two tests went smoothly. I was paranoid about it, asking her if she did the demo, does she know there's a problem if she uploads photos from certain phones, how old is her browser (5 month old computer, probably okay) etc, doing my best to micromanage, but this kid is much more on top of it than her older sister would have been. She already knew about everything I mentioned, did the demos, had her strategy based on the test (using her phone for chem to upload photos, using her computer to type the APUSH essay). I know there is also an element of luck to this, but no technical glitches for her. Now content-wise, we're just hoping for a respectable 3 instead of 2 for chem (APUSH should go better), but at least no stress from technical issues!

[Arcadia]

Is it the APUSH? That’s the one I heard had lots of complaints by parents.

[DoraBora]

Yep.  Ds ran into trouble with his first exam (Physics C) on Monday.  He had written his responses in a Word document (per CB suggestion) and couldn't get his second batch of answers copied and pasted into the response fields on the website.  The first batch worked perfectly, so this was unexpected.  He tried as many methods/tricks as he could until the time expired with only half of his answers entered.  

I've mostly stayed out of thie testing situation this year, but I did post a panicked message here that day.  Someone kindly replied with a link to the retake request form (which I didn't know about), but ds was already on it.  I'm not thrilled either that they must wait so long to learn whether they'll be allowed to retake tests, but there it is.

I'm sorry your ds had issues this week.  Very stressful!  My ds was so ready to be DONE!

[sassenach]

Yes! We had that happen with Chem on Thursday. I had no idea that the retake wasn't guaranteed. I need to log onto DS's account.

He said that his friends who took the test on their phones didn't have any issue because they could upload pictures of their work directly. He and one of his friends both had problems.

I better get a refund if he can't retake. At least APUSH went smoothly for him.

[sassenach]

1 minute ago, DoraBora said:

Yep.  Ds ran into trouble with his first exam (Physics C) on Monday.  He had written his responses in a Word document (per CB suggestion) and couldn't get his second batch of answers copied and pasted into the response fields on the website.  The first batch worked perfectly, so this was unexpected.  He tried as many methods/tricks as he could until the time expired with only half of his answers entered.  

I've mostly stayed out of thie testing situation this year, but I did post a panicked message here that day.  Someone kindly replied with a link to the retake request form (which I didn't know about), but ds was already on it.  I'm not thrilled either that they must wait so long to learn whether they'll be allowed to retake tests, but there it is.

I'm sorry your ds had issues this week.  Very stressful!  My ds was so ready to be DONE!

Same for DS- it was his second batch that he couldn't upload.

[sassenach]

6 minutes ago, DoraBora said:

Yep.  Ds ran into trouble with his first exam (Physics C) on Monday.  He had written his responses in a Word document (per CB suggestion) and couldn't get his second batch of answers copied and pasted into the response fields on the website.  The first batch worked perfectly, so this was unexpected.  He tried as many methods/tricks as he could until the time expired with only half of his answers entered.  

I've mostly stayed out of thie testing situation this year, but I did post a panicked message here that day.  Someone kindly replied with a link to the retake request form (which I didn't know about), but ds was already on it.  I'm not thrilled either that they must wait so long to learn whether they'll be allowed to retake tests, but there it is.

I'm sorry your ds had issues this week.  Very stressful!  My ds was so ready to be DONE!

Can you link that form? Turns out ds hasn't filled it out 😡

[Arcadia]

2 minutes ago, sassenach said:

Can you link that form? Turns out ds hasn't filled it out 😡

• https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams/getting-ready-for-exam-day/exam-day-checklist
• “If I can’t rejoin my exam, lose too much time trying to regain access, or do not see a Your AP Exam is Complete message at the end of the exam, I can request a makeup test by completing the form.”

form link https://education.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1B9R7XJa9dXaQBv

[DoraBora]

12 minutes ago, sassenach said:

Can you link that form? Turns out ds hasn't filled it out 😡

Sorry, I'm not very fast at this.  Thankfully, Arcadia is.  😁

[DoraBora]

Nvm.  I found the "grrr" emoji that is just so appropriate here.  I wish I could use it to respond to posts about this situation, but for now, I'll use the sad one for our students.

Edited May 16, 2020 by DoraBora

[MEmama]

55 minutes ago, Ali in OR said:

Are you in the "old browser" category? Those are the biggest problems I've heard of. Dd's two tests went smoothly. I was paranoid about it, asking her if she did the demo, does she know there's a problem if she uploads photos from certain phones, how old is her browser (5 month old computer, probably okay) etc, doing my best to micromanage, but this kid is much more on top of it than her older sister would have been. She already knew about everything I mentioned, did the demos, had her strategy based on the test (using her phone for chem to upload photos, using her computer to type the APUSH essay). I know there is also an element of luck to this, but no technical glitches for her. Now content-wise, we're just hoping for a respectable 3 instead of 2 for chem (APUSH should go better), but at least no stress from technical issues!

Nope. Brand new computer. He took a couple of practice tests and uploaded those with no problems. His other two tests didn’t have an issue, but now he’s extra stressed about his last exam next week. 😞 

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

Is it the APUSH? That’s the one I heard had lots of complaints by parents.

Computer science.

[hellen]

My son had an issue with chemistry, but not computer science.  The "are you sure you want to submit" screen went away before he had a chance to click yes.  He said it flashed so briefly he wasn't even sure that is what it said.  Fortunately, the next day's exam went fine.  

Some small percentage of June test takers are going to have issues again.  I feel sorry for those kids.  It's bad enough to have technical issues the first time.  

[MEmama]

51 minutes ago, hellen said:

My son had an issue with chemistry, but not computer science.  The "are you sure you want to submit" screen went away before he had a chance to click yes.  He said it flashed so briefly he wasn't even sure that is what it said.  Fortunately, the next day's exam went fine.  

Some small percentage of June test takers are going to have issues again.  I feel sorry for those kids.  It's bad enough to have technical issues the first time.  

Yes, the college board's answer to potential problems in June seems to be “Too bad”.  Totally unacceptable.

I'm holding out hope the CB will come to their senses and allow tests to be resubmitted. They are time stamped for goodness sake! This is not time for them to declare some purity test (sure, maybe some kids will figure out a workaround, but I doubt cheating will be rampant). These poor kids have been through enough this year and now it just feels like they are being punished. 
 

At this point I wonder if they will even count for anything at all in college admittance. 

[Janeway]

I received an email that people are having trouble with the AP exams from the place where son was supposed to take them.

[MEmama]

4 minutes ago, Janeway said:

I received an email that people are having trouble with the AP exams from the place where son was supposed to take them.

He isn’t taking them from home?

[DoraBora]

Ds handwrote his Calculus BC exam on Tuesday, scanned it using an app on his phone, and uploaded it as a pdf without incident (if that's helpful to anyone for next week).

[MEmama]

25 minutes ago, DoraBora said:

Ds handwrote his Calculus BC exam on Tuesday, scanned it using an app on his phone, and uploaded it as a pdf without incident (if that's helpful to anyone for next week).

DS just hand wrote his calculus and took a photo on his phone, then uploaded the photos. That worked fine as well. 
He didn’t have an issue uploading his European history either.

[Alice]

My so had trouble with Latin. He also submitted the make-up form. We had tested the demo on the same computer using the same browser and it had worked fine. For him it was the first question that wouldn’t submit but the second did and he did the exact same thing for each. 

I told him afterwards that I was proud of him for staying cool and managing to even do the second question. I was in the room with him but had no idea he had a problem until afterwards. He thought it would be cheating to ask me for help submitting (I’m not sure that’s true, but I admire his integrity) and so when it wouldn’t work and he ran out of time, he just move on to the second one. I think at the same age I might have dissolved in a puddle of tears. 🙂

I also told him that if they won’t let him re-take it, since he did really well on Lukeion’s final exam, he can just tell himself that’s the equivalent of a 5. 🙂 

[LAS in LA]

I just got an email today saying that students will be able to email their responses if they have loading problems, but only for the tests this coming week and only immediately after the exam to a unique email address which will pop up if the responses aren't submitted properly.

Looks like they're acknowledging the problem.