A High School Senior’s Thoughts on the 2020 AP Exams

When I found out that this year’s AP Exams were not canceled, I immediately let out a sigh of relief. I had worked hard throughout the school year, learning and preparing for these exams. As a senior in high school, I did not want to miss an opportunity to receive college credit before I left for university in the fall.

However, my initial relief was quickly overshadowed by doubt and distress as I thought about the potential ramifications of the exam being administered online. At the forefront of my mind was the issue of cheating. With the exams being taken at home without in-person proctors, the unfortunate truth is that many students will take advantage of the situation and collude with their peers. This remains a concern for me because I don’t want this situation to affect the integrity and credibility of the exam. Furthermore, as students become aware of the prospect of others cheating, the pressure to break conduct will heighten. Since the distribution of AP Exam scores are set by how well the general pool of students perform on the exam, I understand that many students fear falling behind the score standard that may be set higher due to mass cheating.

To address these concerns, the College Board has been working hard to implement preventative measures and has been cooperating with various online platforms to detect cheating and suspicious activity. Unfortunately, this engenders another concern of mine. In order to prevent cheating, I would expect the College Board to make the questions harder than usual so that students will be unable to easily obtain answers from unapproved sources. The uncertainty of how difficult the exam questions will be worries me since I am not sure if the practice material released from past years will be sufficient preparation. As someone who has taken AP Exams for the past four years, the alteration in exam procedure and format has definitely uprooted my sense of familiarity with AP testing.

I expect that many people taking AP Exams this year share similar sentiments and uneasiness regarding exam performance. Despite these undesirable circumstances, I urge all my fellow peers to resist the temptation to cheat. In these uncertain times, I believe that it is all the more important to stand firm in your values and hold fast to integrity. If there is ever a time to remain strong in your core morals despite challenges, it is now. I also understand that this situation gives rise to many worries, but I encourage everyone to take heart. You are not alone. We will get through this together. Study hard and do your best on the exams. No matter what the outcome may be, remember that you are NOT defined by a test score.

Wishing you the best of luck, Gabriella Tandra