Might Have to Retake AP Exams From Last Week!?

[easypeasy]

Has anyone seen this!? A glitch? 😶

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/15/us/ap-exam-glitch-trnd/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_content=2020-05-15T22%3A15%3A09&utm_source=fbCNN&utm_medium=social

[mom2scouts]

Yes, it's horrible. Those tests are already hard and stressful and teens have enough stress in their lives right now. I feel so bad for the students who have to take the tests again.

[fourisenough]

My DD was able to upload her AP Art History exam questions with no problem, thankfully.

She is worried that AP English Lang next Wednesday will be more difficult since so many more students sit that exam. It seems like the problem isn’t the outdated browsers, but the volume of test takers crushing the CB site.

[Arcadia]

 

[MEmama]

Yup. DS took 3 exams last week, one of which didn’t go through. He has one more to go and of course now he’s extra anxious, plus the additional anxiety for his make up test in June.
This whole fiasco is being handled so poorly, and entirely at the expense of our kids. 😡

[Arcadia]

@MEmama I can't get the sample for the AP Environmental Science exam "page not found" 😞

I could get the samples for micro/macroeconomics and English language thank goodness.

ETA:

@MEmama Now it works 🙂

Edited May 17, 2020 by Arcadia

[Hadley]

My heart hurts for these kids and their parents, and for all of you on this board who are going through this nightmare. I wish I had a magic wand that could wave away stress.  So frustrating.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Hadley

[linders]

S17 was able to upload his Gov, Calc, and Lit work no problem. He says his Chem finally uploaded with 11 seconds left, and 2 (out of 6) kids in his class couldn't upload and have to retake.

[Kalypso]

My ds has to retake AP Cal AB. He was unable to upload one of the questions. He was so upset

and at first did not want to do the retake. I still can't believe that they didn't have a backup plan for this type of problem. I'm happy to see they have a plan in place for this week's test takers.

[MEmama]

On 5/18/2020 at 1:25 PM, Kalypso said:

My ds has to retake AP Cal AB. He was unable to upload one of the questions. He was so upset

and at first did not want to do the retake. I still can't believe that they didn't have a backup plan for this type of problem. I'm happy to see they have a plan in place for this week's test takers.

I’m FURIOUS they won’t accept tests retroactively. There are no excuses. 😡

(of course I’m glad for the kids going forward, but this half assed decision is just another f...up by the overpaid, overinflated Powers That Be)

[Roadrunner]

20 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I’m FURIOUS they won’t accept tests retroactively. There are no excuses. 😡

(of course I’m glad for the kids going forward, but this half assed decision is just another f...up by the overpaid, overinflated Powers That Be)

I am already concerned over cheating on this test and what it does to scores/curve. They don’t really seem to have any mechanism to keep that in check. I can not imagine the cheating if they were to retroactively accept tests. 
This is a terrible situation with schools being closed. Terrible for kids who have to retake. At the end of the day though, it’s still impressive that they were able to pull off this testing season and not cancel all exams. 
 

[Arcadia]

31 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I’m FURIOUS they won’t accept tests retroactively. There are no excuses. 😡

(of course I’m glad for the kids going forward, but this half assed decision is just another f...up by the overpaid, overinflated Powers That Be)

I am more annoyed with ACT for not cancelling the June ACT. My teens aren't taking SAT or ACT this school year but it still feels weird that ACT is waiting until May 26 to inform when local high schools and state universities are staying closed until at least Fall. In fact my nearest state university which is a SAT/ACT/CLEP test center has said Fall semester would be online. 

[MEmama]

47 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I am already concerned over cheating on this test and what it does to scores/curve. They don’t really seem to have any mechanism to keep that in check. I can not imagine the cheating if they were to retroactively accept tests. 
This is a terrible situation with schools being closed. Terrible for kids who have to retake. At the end of the day though, it’s still impressive that they were able to pull off this testing season and not cancel all exams. 
 

I don’t disagree. But to not have contingency plans in place for a system they knew was going to fail somewhat significantly...it just doesn’t make sense. The “solution” of effectively throwing their hands in the air and shrugging helplessly seems to not have students in mind. It’s disrespectful of these high achieving, motivated kids at best. 

I'm not terribly concerned about the cheating aspect, but I do wonder what weight will even be given to the tests by universities. Not concerned about college credit so much as whether the exams will matter much for admissions. Surely they aren’t worth the same as usual? Idk. I just want it to be over. 

[Roadrunner]

41 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I don’t disagree. But to not have contingency plans in place for a system they knew was going to fail somewhat significantly...it just doesn’t make sense. The “solution” of effectively throwing their hands in the air and shrugging helplessly seems to not have students in mind. It’s disrespectful of these high achieving, motivated kids at best. 

I'm not terribly concerned about the cheating aspect, but I do wonder what weight will even be given to the tests by universities. Not concerned about college credit so much as whether the exams will matter much for admissions. Surely they aren’t worth the same as usual? Idk. I just want it to be over. 

I think their makeup exams are their contingency plan. 😓 It’s hard to design and run something on this scale so quickly smoothly. They could have waited until the end of summer and done entire exams in person assuming schools opened, but I am not sure that would have been better, especially if they waited and still couldn’t run them. 
I wish they had done two 45 minute sessions (one for MCQ and one for FRQ) maybe on consecutive days to give more weight to those exams. I guess at the end of the day everybody is in the same shoes, so if those exams don’t matter, they don’t matter for all of us. Let’s just hope next year our kids are in the classroom remembering the crazy 2020 as a year they got away with 45 minute long APs. 🙂 
 

I bet now CB will be slammed with lawsuits from everybody who always wanted to pull a knife on them. 

[mathnerd]

31 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I bet now CB will be slammed with lawsuits from everybody

What happened essentially took away the level playing field from the students. Which is why they will be sued. There is no definitive statement that it does not matter much in admissions, and those who did not get a chance to complete the tests have to slog all summer keeping the content up-to-date for no fault of theirs. If it was just a bandwidth issue, they could have been competent enough to anticipate this and reserve more resources with whatever company they are contracting with.

[freesia]

6 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

What happened essentially took away the level playing field from the students. Which is why they will be sued. There is no definitive statement that it does not matter much in admissions, and those who did not get a chance to complete the tests have to slog all summer keeping the content up-to-date for no fault of theirs. If it was just a bandwidth issue, they could have been competent enough to anticipate this and reserve more resources with whatever company they are contracting with.

Not all summer--the make up is in June

[Roadrunner]

5 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

What happened essentially took away the level playing field from the students. Which is why they will be sued. There is no definitive statement that it does not matter much in admissions, and those who did not get a chance to complete the tests have to slog all summer keeping the content up-to-date for no fault of theirs. If it was just a bandwidth issue, they could have been competent enough to anticipate this and reserve more resources with whatever company they are contracting with.

not all summer. It’s a 3 week delay. Not ideal but you can look at it as extra preparation time and knowledge based on first set of exams. It’s all in how you spin. 

 

[mathnerd]

1 minute ago, freesia said:

Not all summer--the make up is in June

 

Just now, Roadrunner said:

not all summer. It’s a 3 week delay. Not ideal but you can look at it as extra preparation time and knowledge based on first set of exams. It’s all in how you spin. 

 

I thought that schools are closed in June? (sorry, I don't have a kid taking it, so don't have any idea how an AP test center would work).

[Roadrunner]

2 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

 

I thought that schools are closed in June? (sorry, I don't have a kid taking it, so don't have any idea how an AP test center would work).

It’s online this year. 

[freesia]

4 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

 

I thought that schools are closed in June? (sorry, I don't have a kid taking it, so don't have any idea how an AP test center would work).

This year the tests are taken at home from a personal computer or photo uploaded from a phone.  Students chose from 2 dates June or May (with June being the make-up if there were technical issues.)

 

[freesia]

8 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

not all summer. It’s a 3 week delay. Not ideal but you can look at it as extra preparation time and knowledge based on first set of exams. It’s all in how you spin. 

 

Yes, I agree.  It's disappointing and frustrating and unfair, yes.  But honestly a lot of things in life are.  We owe it to our kids to teach them to re-frame the narrative and pick themselves up and be resilient.  We particularly need to do that with our high achiever/perfectionists (and I say this as a high achiever/elite college grad with a really driven junior who has thrown everything into preparing for her APs).  It really is going to be okay. They can retake the test.  They will go to college (and much more than likely one they like and gives them the life experiences and education they need to continue their journey.)  Colleges are going to know that starting with our juniors, things just aren't going to look the same on the applications.  Hopefully we can all be non-anxious presences as they navigate this.

[Arcadia]

52 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

They could have waited until the end of summer and done entire exams in person assuming schools opened, but I am not sure that would have been better, especially if they waited and still couldn’t run them. 

They are planning for online SAT for fall if schools cannot reopen. ACT is also planning online at home tests for fall as contingency. 

Also seniors might not want to wait until end of summer to do the exams. They did survey the students. My kids would reply to some of the surveys and they want to take the exams and be done. 

7 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

 

I thought that schools are closed in June? (sorry, I don't have a kid taking it, so don't have any idea how an AP test center would work).

It is online for both.  Typically there is a late test date for AP exams but this time the late test date becomes the automatic makeup date for those who could not submit their answers successfully last week.

[Roadrunner]

What about subject tests? Are they planning those online as well?

[Arcadia]

26 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

What about subject tests? Are they planning those online as well?

No idea. The subject tests aren’t as “profitable” /mass market.

“•	If, unfortunately, schools cannot reopen this fall, we're pursuing innovative means to ensure all students can still take the SAT this fall. We'll provide updates about those plans if they become necessary.”

[Arcadia]

@Roadrunner

"In the unlikely event that schools do not reopen this fall, College Board will provide a digital SAT for home use, like how we’re delivering digital exams to 3 million AP students this spring. As we’re doing with at-home Advanced Placement exams, we would ensure that at-home SAT testing is simple, secure and fair, accessible to all, and valid for use in college admissions.

Like the paper test, a digital, remote version of the SAT would measure what students are learning in school and what they need to know to be successful in college."

https://pages.collegeboard.org/sat-covid-19-updates

[Kendall]

I am grateful that my daughter's AP Calc AB answers uploaded. I hear many teachers whose students had trouble and will have to retake. At least one of  teacher mentioned ahead of the first AP week the possibility of students sending answers to their teachers right after the test as backup.  Emailing answers immediately to AP is the backup plan for this week, but not retroactively for last week. The idea was given to them ahead of time and they should have had it in place for the first week IMO.  I'm just glad we are done.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Kendall

[Arcadia]

From their Facebook post

“Students who began an AP Exam either this week or last week but didn’t successfully submit their answer(s) should request a makeup by May 24 at 6 pm Eastern Time. We are reopening makeup requests for ANY AP STUDENT who tested and didn't successfully submit answers, even if your 48 hour window has passed. 

Reasons to request an AP Exam makeup could include:
🔹 Internet or power went out
🔹 Tech or submission issue
🔹 You're not sure if you uploaded the correct document
🔹 You copy/pasted your response in your email submission instead of attaching your files

Students will receive makeup approval for these issues, or similar ones: sickness; significant interruptions from family members; battery failures; power outages; technical disruptions. Note: running out of time to submit a response is not a valid reason to request a makeup.

If you didn't take your AP Exam this week or last week, and you never clicked on your e-ticket, you do NOT need to request a makeup. Any registered student who didn't open/take their May exam will automatically receive an e-ticket for the June makeup exam.

cb.org/requestmakeup“

[RootAnn]

On 5/19/2020 at 1:36 PM, Arcadia said:

I am more annoyed with ACT for not cancelling the June ACT. My teens aren't taking SAT or ACT this school year but it still feels weird that ACT is waiting until May 26 to inform when local high schools and state universities are staying closed until at least Fall. 

Not everywhere is still closed. My state is reopening pools June 1st, for goodness sakes! I'm hopeful the place-by-place policy will mean my kid can take it & get it done. Please, ACT/local school, let my kid test in June!

[Arcadia]

10 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

Not everywhere is still closed. My state is reopening pools June 1st, for goodness sakes! I'm hopeful the place-by-place policy will mean my kid can take it & get it done. Please, ACT/local school, let my kid test in June!

Hopefully your location test centers could open up. My county has 26 new cases today so it’s less likely for schools to be open for June.

[linders]

On 5/19/2020 at 4:42 PM, mathnerd said:

What happened essentially took away the level playing field from the students.

Anecdotally, I'm not sure there has ever been a level playing field, at least where the public schools are not good.

A neighbor teaches AP Lang at one of our public high schools. He spends much of his time on classroom management - our district promotes "AP for all" with no "gatekeeping" to ensure kids who take AP are prepared. Thus, some of the kids can't read the material assigned for class and aren't prepared to discuss. He can't do much in the way of discussion anyway because of some of the truly awful things students will say. He has kids who toss things around the room, and he has little recourse - can't send out of room unless they seriously harm someone, and they know it.

Kids who get to go to better schools, public or private, have a big advantage in APs - better prepared. a stronger peer group, potentially better teachers. And kids with more resources can get AP test prep books. They likely have more time to prep - not working or helping care for family.

The current situation made it worse, but it was never level.