While the CollegeBoard is still hammering out a revised schedule of AP exam dates for 2019-2020, the company has posted enough information for students to make quality decisions about how best to complete their AP coursework and prepare for their exam(s).
Among the biggest academic disappointments the COVID-19 school closings have caused is that AP students, who worked extra hard for the first three quarters of the year in some of the most challenging (and interesting) classes offered at any high school, suddenly don’t get to play the fourth quarter—or at least not a regulation fourth quarter. I feel especially bad for students who signed up for an AP course not primarily because it looks good to admissions officers (which, of course, it always does), but rather because it’s a subject of particular interest they actually look forward to learning about at an advanced level. But then around the Ides of March, just as each of these courses was gearing up for its exciting climax and opportunity to pull the whole year’s worth of work together, class is cancelled. AP students, you have my sympathy.
There is some good news for AP students, however—in fact, two big pieces of really good news 🤓.
- For any student motivated to learn the material from mid-March to the end of almost any AP course, irrespective of a particular school’s or teacher’s requirements—or lack thereof—during that time, there are many excellent resources (and plenty of them free) available to students learning at home (details below).
- From the perspective of college admissions, 4’s and 5’s on AP Exams have long carried more weight than the final course grades (elaboration below), and because of the special arrangements for all of this year’s exams resulting from school closings, 4’s and 5’s will likely be easier to get than in previous years.
The reason AP classes play so well in the college admissions game is that the curriculum for every course is designed and standardized across the country to cover material at a level of difficulty typically required of an introductory undergraduate course—in fact, the AP program debuted in 1955 to give high school students with a specific interest and advanced knowledge in ONE or TWO subjects a taste of what college classes will be like, as well as an opportunity to earn college credit (hence, “advanced placement”). For the first generation or two of AP students, even one or two AP courses on a high school transcript would catch an admissions officer’s attention. But precisely because they make it so easy for admissions officers to feel confident that an applicant will be able to handle the academic demands of higher education (which is one of the primary responsibilities of every committee), AP classes have proliferated as the college admissions game has become more much competitive over the last 20 years (to an unhealthy point, in many educators’ opinions, such that it’s not uncommon today for ambitious, and usually highly stressed, students to graduate with double-digit AP courses under their belts, sometime including six or seven in a single year!)
So while having an A or B in one or more AP courses always looks good on a high school transcript, it looks even better to have a 4 or 5 on the corresponding AP Exam. The main reason is that committees can’t be certain whether a grade received from a particular teacher at a particular school matches up even-steven with the same grade from a different teacher at a different school; but a 4 or a 5 on the same exam every student in a given AP course takes from Maine to Hawaii, and indeed around the globe, ALWAYS means, unequivocally and unambiguously, the student has demonstrated college-level mastery of that subject.
So How much Work Do I Have to Do for the Rest of My AP Course(s)?
Good question, glad you asked. If you want to get the most out of each AP course from a college admissions perspective, I have three pieces of advice:
- Continue to complete all your particular class’s online assignments and attend all meetings as your teacher requires them, however meager or substantial. Even if assignments are optional or won’t be graded, do everything your classroom teacher asks you to do with a mind toward your final grade. 🙂
- Work at least as hard as you need to for you to get a 4 or 5 on the exam. (Many colleges offer credit for a 3’s on AP exams, but 4’s and 5’s are the magic numbers for admissions purposes.) Even if you were counting on reviewing in class during the last quarter, even if the teaching and learning in your class has become much fluffier since the transition to the internet, and even if you currently feel a bit lost in the course, this is still a reasonable goal for the majority of students if they put their minds to it, for three good reasons:
- There are excellent exam prep materials readily available that spell out exactly what you need to know for each exam.
- You have much more time to study and review for this one exam than you would have had if school were still in session.
- The CollegeBoard is making several “student-friendly” accommodations for all the AP Exams this year.
- In classes of particular interest, especially those you are likely to pursue in college, you want to do more than minimums, especially if you intend to apply to selective schools. For example, if you’re a likely business major taking AP Economics this semester, or a future psychology student taking AP Psychology, you have a golden opportunity to demonstrate your academic interest by doing more than what’s expected. Imagine, for example, being able to claim in an application essay or interview that when schools closed during the last quarter of 2019-2020, you seized an opportunity to read extra books or take on online class or otherwise dig deeper into a primary academic interest. It’s easy for applicants to claim they’re passionate about this or that subject on a college application, but it carries significantly more weight when they can show committees evidence of that passion. Plus, if you are going to pursue the subject as an undergraduate, why not build as strong a foundation as you can in high school?
2020 AP Exams: What, When, and Where
Although the thought of taking AP Exams might at first seem even more daunting this year than in the past, i.e., given the complete cancellation of regular classes for the last 25% of the year, the CollegeBoard seems to be working hard to make this year’s exams not only manageable, but perhaps even more attractive than previous years’. First, there will be no traditional in-school exams. Instead, all exams will be administered online (accessible by virtually any device, and yes, they’re implementing reliable safeguards against cheating, like “a variety of digital security tools, including plagiarism detection software,” so don’t worry about potential cheaters ruining the curve ;-)), they will all be only 45 minutes long (compared to two to three hours in a normal year), and they will contain only free response items (i.e., no multiple choice questions), thereby reducing the overall time you’ll need to study. Second, they will focus on the first 75% of the year, when schools were in session, and de-emphasize the last 25% (course-specific content for each AP Exam here). And third, students will have a choice of two exam dates for each course, one in early May for those who want to take their exams sooner rather than later, and one “later” (I’m guessing late May or early June) for those who want more time to study . Dates are supposed to be posted by April 3 on the CollegeBoard site.
Resources to Help You Earn 4’s & 5’s
So how are students supposed to know enough to earn 4’s and 5’s without their normal classes, daily contact with teachers, homework, routines, and classmates with whom to commiserate down the final stretch? Relax. Start by recognizing that your goal here is to do well on a single 45-min exam, not necessarily to master all the material in the course. With all the resources at your disposal to target this major goal over the next month (or two if you opt for the later date), and with everything you can learn in advance about the specific material each exams covers and the types of questions you’ll see, there’s no need to freak out. The methodical use of any or all of the following types of resources over the coming weeks will help you reach your goal:
- Free Online Resources: The CollegeBoard has set up a Daily Schedule of AP Online Classes and Review Sessions to supplement videos already available on its Youtube channel. Likewise, Kahn Academy’s AP tools include excellent self-study videos, worksheets, homework, and practice exam questions for most APs Courses.
- AP Study Guides: Third-party publishers like Princeton Review, Barron’s, McGraw-Hill, and Stanley Kaplan make AP test prep books that generally contain a combination of material covered on the exam and practice tests (and again, no need to practice or study for the multiple choice sections). If you don’t already own an AP prep book, my advice is to go to any major bookstore and browse the ones available in your subject(s) and choose whichever one(s) you like best (this will maximize your chances of USING the book rather than just buying it ;-)). Chapters are generally organized by the same topics as course textbooks, only in condensed versions, and might prove especially helpful for learning material your class hasn’t covered yet.
- CollegePrepExpress Tutoring and Review Classes. If you feel you might need more help to feel confident about earning a 4 or 5 on game day than online resources and/or prep books can provide, we’re here to help! Using Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom, you can work privately or in a small group with a tutor while still practicing social distancing to prepare for either of the two English exams (with Dr. Yo); US History and Government (with Alisha); and Calculus AB and BC or any of the Sciences (with Arjun). We also offer excellent online AP Review classes for APUSH and English Language and Composition. Call (860) 519-1000 if you’d like to discuss options and design a plan that works for you!
The bottom line is students who intend to apply to competitive colleges should do whatever they need to do—and in no case will it be as time-consuming as going to school :-)— to know enough by one of their two exam dates to get a 4 or 5. Those who summon the discipline to invest the necessary time in a systematic study plan from now till their exam will be very glad they did next winter and spring when they get their acceptance letters from college! 🙂