The College Board, the non-profit organization that develops and administers the Advanced Placement (AP) program, has announced that beginning this Wednesday, March 25, 2020, they will be providing live and on-demand AP review courses to students for free. Additionally, they are developing a new at-home testing option so that AP students can still take their exams and receive college credit.
In light of the recent federal, state, and local health directives that are attempting to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the vast majority of schools in the United States have been forced to close, making it impossible to administer AP exams to students in the traditional setting. To gauge whether AP students wanted to take exams this year, the College Board surveyed over 18,000 students enrolled in AP courses and found that 91% of students still wanted the opportunity to earn the college credit they have been working towards this school year.
On Wednesday, students will be able to virtually attend free AP review courses that will be delivered live by AP teachers from across the country. According to the College Board, these courses will be optional, mobile-friendly, and will be made available on-demand so that students can access them at any time. The courses can be accessed via the AP YouTube channel and the daily course schedule can be found here.
The College Board is currently developing secure 45-minute online free-response exams for each course, which will focus on the content most schools were able to complete by early March. Students will have the opportunity to take these exams on their computer, tablet, or smart phone and will also have the option to hand write their responses and submit them via photo. The College Board said that they are also working on solutions to help students who do not have access to the Internet or one of these devices.
The College Board confirms that universities that accept AP exams for college credit support these modified exams and are committed to ensuring that students who earn college credit based on their scores receive that credit.
You can find more information about the on-line courses and at-home AP exams here.