AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
That’s how they arrived at the open note, 45-minute digital exam that students took. It also needed to be accessible by smartphone, to help with the access issue. The tests needed to be short enough to do from home, but long enough that it demonstrated a student’s abilities and generated a score that could be trusted by colleges. ![]() ![]() So then the question became how to pull that off. They said, ‘Please don’t take that away,’” Packer recalls. “They filled pages and pages of comments in the open-ended response, saying they were losing so many aspects of high school life-trips, prom-but what they could still do was study. But a survey of students on the matter found that 91 percent of respondents wanted a chance to take the test and earn college credit. When schools closed last March, the College Board briefly considered scrapping the AP exams altogether, says Packer, given the logistical challenges posed by school closures and disparities in home internet access for students. These changes come on the heels of the College Board’s decision last month to move away from SAT subject tests and optional essay tests, which it also produces. Subscribe on iTunes or wherever you listen. Schools can also choose between different dates and formats for different tests.įor more news about how COVID-19 is changing education, check out the weekly EdSurge Podcast. This will allow schools to “mix and match,” Packer says, explaining that a school could spread students testing in-person for AP Calculus across all three dates to allow for social distancing, or could have all in-person test-takers sit for the exam on a single date. Students who are still learning remotely can take the digital exam at home, which will be full-length (three to four hours, instead of 45 minutes, as was the case last year) and virtually the same as the handwritten version.Īlso unlike last year, in which each subject test was offered at the same time and date worldwide to avoid answer-sharing, the College Board is offering three test sessions for each subject, from early May to mid-June. Students who attend a school that is open for in-person instruction may take a traditional paper-and-pencil AP exam with a proctor-the same way students did before the pandemic-or opt for the digital version. The goal is to meet students where they are by allowing them to test where and when it’s convenient. This year, the College Board, having learned from those experiences, is announcing more changes in an effort to provide “unprecedented flexibility” in the age of pandemic-era testing, says Trevor Packer, a senior vice president at the nonprofit who leads the AP program. The result was an open book, open note, abbreviated at-home exam, using whatever device a student had available. Last spring, the College Board, which oversees the AP program, redesigned the exam to accommodate a new reality of shuttered schools, disrupted learning and students with varying degrees of connectivity. That format held for decades, but ultimately could not withstand the challenges posed by a global pandemic. ![]() Since the Advanced Placement (AP) program began in the 1950s, tens of millions of students have taken their exams in school, with paper and pencil, over the course of several hours.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |