AP tests have always been a cause of immense stress for SIS high school students, and the switch to digital exams for the 2024-’25 school year is likely to intensify pre-test anxiety as students hurry to prepare for this change. Due to the pressure that this new test format will pose to many AP students, teachers should help students prepare throughout the school year so the digital format is not foreign to them in the weeks leading up to test day.
Many aspects of the AP exam that students must properly prepare for will be significantly different in a digital format, including timing for writing essays, specifically when accounting for the differing speeds of handwriting and typing; wording, which College Board states will be altered slightly to reflect the delivery mode; and answer lengths, which will no longer be limited by the number of lines on a page.
In previous years, students have prepared for AP exams almost entirely with non-digital tools such as handwritten essays and textbooks, making this change calling for new methods of practice intimidating to students. Some teachers have implemented digital practice through homework and in-class formative work. It is crucial for other AP teachers to follow suit so their students can become more familiar with a digital testing format, especially considering that the vast majority of the exams that students take at school are handwritten.
“It seems that College Board is starting to roll out these tools in AP classroom that are going to make it similar to the digital exams, so that is really good,” Megan Mannell, AP English Language and Composition teacher, said. “I think it is really good practice since students can get used to the interface and to the highlighting, noting, and eliminator features, which will be good practice.”
Though the Digital SAT has given some students experience with digital test-taking, many still lack experience with a digital test format, and exposing students to it consistently throughout the school year through both formative and summative work can ensure that their AP exam scores do not suffer due to a lack of familiarity with the digital format.
“Later on in the school year, I will for sure be altering formatives and summatives to fit the digital format, but it is going to take some time to make sure that we are not going to have technical glitches happening during assessments,” Ms. Mannell said. “Initially, AP teachers will probably start out with paper assessments so we do not cause any undue stress to anybody. Then, once we can be more confident that the features in AP classroom are going to work, then we will start to shift to the digital format.”
Some classes plan to implement none or very minimal digital changes into assessments and homework for the majority of the school year. The reasons for this choice vary, whether it be due to potential technical difficulties on summative days or difficulties in converting the handwritten tasks required for certain AP subjects to a digital format.
Despite the difficulties that may come with implementing digital practice into lessons, providing little to no practice on a digital format prior to an AP exam will likely lead students to feel unprepared or face technical difficulties on exam day.
“Taking a test in a format that you are less familiar with can be a challenge for some,” Chris Del Vecchio, high school assistant principal, said. “Here at SIS, we feel like exposure to at least one simulated digital testing environment prior to the actual exam is really important. As a team of AP teachers, we have already talked about how we can overcome challenges to make sure students feel ready not just with the content but also with the mechanics of the test. A little bit of exposure to the digital exam environment should be something that is expected.”
Though implementing digital practice into summatives and formatives may be inconvenient or difficult to organize, it is vital for teachers to provide proper exposure for students, whether this digital practice is provided consistently throughout the school year or a few times before the exam. The students can only feel entirely confident in their test-taking with the help of teachers who implement measures to ensure that they maximize their potential during their AP exams.
