2021 AP Exams

By Kate B. ‘22

Every May, students across the country take their AP exams--standardized exams that are meant to test a student’s knowledge of the material covered in a college level class in order to hopefully earn a college credit. For the past two years, AP exams have been a little different due to a new set of circumstances.

Last year, over 2.6 million students took AP exams in the midst of the global pandemic. In order to adapt to such unforeseen circumstances, College Board released shortened versions of their usual AP exams, but these modified versions of the exams were only used for the 2020 testing period. Yet this year, College Board has returned to their typical tests, even though some students are in the same situation as last year and have not been able to attend classes in person. While College Board offered both digital and in person exams this year, that decision was made by the school and not individual students. 

When asked about the challenges of teaching an AP class in the midst of the pandemic, Dr. Riley, who teaches AP World History, responded: “This year has been so much more challenging because…everything takes longer to load, to switch to, there is no board everyone can see—the discussion is more difficult because everyone is in different formats.” She also expressed the difficulty that distance learning has posed in terms of covering the material that could be on the AP exam. Since AP courses are typically faster-paced classes, students are expected to retain more material as compared to a non-AP class.. With numerous pandemic-related difficulties, it was harder for teachers like Dr. Riley to thoroughly cover all of the material. Dr. Riley also spoke on her students’ perseverance in the face of the pandemic, saying that “I don’t think students got that serious review energy going that normally builds up when everyone is in the classroom together…I think students had to put up with a lot this year and honestly did as good a job as they could under the circumstances.”

This return to normal AP exams has not only affected those teaching the classes, but those taking them as well. CC Colangelo, an 11th grade student taking both AP Chemistry and AP French, speaks on the difficulty brought by distance learning: “For chemistry...I couldn't participate in labs, which are a pretty important part of a chemistry class...For French, I remember it was definitely a struggle last year when the pandemic first hit…but even after being back in person this year, my teacher being virtual still made class feel distant and hard to participate.” 

Despite  various struggles faced by both students and teachers and the extra stress that has come with the pandemic, College Board continued administering the full AP tests this spring, which is just another step in the process of things returning to an apparent “normal.”