The College Board has released a detailed guide for this year’s AP exams. It covers information about exam timing, rules for taking digital exams at home, specific rules for schools, special accommodations, and more such information.
If you are going to take your AP exams at home, here are some key points that need to be noted down.
- Full-Length Exams
This year, the AP exams are going to be full-length exams with multiple-choice questions and free-response sections. Students won’t be able to submit any handwritten documents. For security reasons, students won’t be allowed to revisit a skipped question.
- Start Time
The start time for online AP exams has been set to 12 P.M EDT and 4 P.M EDT. The second part of the exams will automatically start after the completion of the first part. The offline exams will be administered according to local time.
- Devices
The College Board has reiterated that students cannot take AP exams on smartphones. The exams can only be taken on Computers and Laptops and they too require to meet certain criteria (prescribed software, inbuilt camera/webcam, etc.). Further details will be announced on the 8th of April.
- Internet Connectivity
Students are required to have good internet connectivity to take the AP exams. However, the AP Exam application will accommodate slight fluctuations and downtimes.
- Practice
The College Board will be launching a practice digital testing application on the 8th of April. This will be available to students and educators to help them prepare for the actual exams.
- Unique Question Format
This year, the questions will have a unique format so that students cannot look for the answers online, in the course books, or other study materials. 2021 AP exams are not open book.
The College Board has stated that all of these updates are almost final but they might be changed in the coming month. The final guidelines will be released on the 8th of April, 2021. Keep checking this space for more updates.