Have you seen the College Board’s new changes to AP exams? 7EDU has you covered! The College Board has been busy this month making changes to their standardized tests, and they just announced updates for the 2021 AP Exam season.
Overview of the Changes
Now that the SAT Subject Tests are cancelled, AP exams are more important than ever. The College Board recognizes this and is offering increased flexibility to allow all students to take APs this year. Here are the highlights:
Even if your school cannot offer in-person exams, full-length digital AP tests will be available to take from home.
There are no cancellation fees for cancelling your exam or not taking it.
The exam schedule will be expanded to consider the range of timelines that schools are on - the details will be shared in February.
7EDU’s Analysis On How This Impacts You
Full-length online tests are good news for most students’ scores! Last May, AP tests only included free response questions without multiple choice questions. However, students tend to do much better on the multiple choice sections than the free response questions. Therefore, a full-length online test comes as great news to students looking to boost their score through the multiple choice questions.
The College Board is considering offering multiple test dates because some schools are behind schedule with teaching their AP courses, so students may not be ready by May. Last year, the College Board offered 2 test timelines - one in May and the other in June. We expect that they will do the same this year.
A lot of smart students actually took the same AP test twice last year, because they were not satisfied with their first test score. You can do so by requesting to take a makeup test in June. Therefore, 7EDU recommends students to prepare for and take the May test, because even if you don’t do as well as you want to, you are still able to request a retake afterwards.
And there you have it - the AP exam changes should come as good news to most students, because it’ll provide you with more flexibility and options this spring. Make sure to follow 7EDU for the latest news and trends in standardized testing, college admissions, and more. Contact us at info@7edu.org or (408) 384-2690 to find out more about our AP classes!
Make sure to check out 7EDU’s guides to getting a 5 on some of the most difficult AP tests:
How to Get a 5 on AP US History
