AP Exams & Scheduling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our school, students must take exams when college board has it stated unless they have an exam that overlaps in which case one exam may be taken on makeup day. Even when I was in school, that was the rule as well.

This is the policy for DC’s school as well, but like another pp, DC has accommodations so a second exam on the same day automatically gets rescheduled.

And yes, other classes and assignments continue, although teachers are aware of the situation and offer flexibility.

But for example, DC is missing a bio lab tomorrow afternoon because of the extra-long Eng Lang exam, and will have to make it up during a free period on Thursday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid has had two days with two exams. Managed to pee and wolf down a power bar and protein shake betw first and second. Also has tests and papers in other classes.

This! ten minutes between exams today.

[Anonymous]

My kids have had individual teachers extend deadlines for the entire class when students requested it based on AP tests. Both times it was a situation where the teacher gave kids until the following Monday to turn in the assignment, which was nice.

[Anonymous]

Last year, my kid’s Spanish lang exam lasted around 6 hours due to technical difficulties.
This year, my kid spoke with the AP coordinator because he had two exams scheduled for one day, and the first tends to run long. AP coordinator allowed the kids in that situation to reschedule the second one for the makeup day.

[Anonymous]

My kid had multiple teachers who couldn’t finish all the materials before the AP exam. These teachers also would hold a last minute marathon review session the day/evening before the AP exam. These same teachers all had taught the same AP classes quite a few times and still had very poor time management!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about how different high schools support students taking AP Exams -- I'm trying to gather real examples of schools that handle testing well and understand how other students handle the pressures that exist during AP testing weeks to help make things better for next year and future students.

For example, my DC took the AP US History Exam Friday morning (3 hours 15 min) which started after 8:30 am due to proctor seating kids very slowly. Test ended at 12:08 pm, kids got released at 12:12 pm, DC was seated for her next exam at 12:15 pm and started it at 12:30 pm. Obviously, no break for lunch or bathroom after getting up at 6 am and eating breakfast before 7 am. DC was not the only student taking both tests that day with this timeline. I've reached out to the AP Coordinator for some explanation and received no response.

It seems at our high school, students who have two different exams scheduled for one day are required to take both exams. I've heard that other schools automatically allow students to reschedule one of the exams on a makeup day. Is that true at your school or school system? If so which one.

I've also been reading that College Board policy acknowledges that a 3 hour and 15 min exam can be over 4 hours in duration with instruction and breaks -- and says it's up to the AP Coordinator at the school to ensure that students get a mandatory 20 min break between tests (um -- does anyone else think 20 min is comically short and expecting schools to figure this out is bad design?). Has anyone had experience with this getting handled well? How? Does anyone think the break should be at least 40 min? Does anyone know why College Board doesn't address this issue with their scheduling, e.g. by scheduling the longer test in the later slot or starting the afternoon test at 1 pm instead of 12 noon?

Teachers at our high school have also continued to assign papers and tests during these two AP testing weeks. Is this normal? Are students expected to navigate the load themselves or does your school have policies in place to help with assignments and attendance for students who have multiple AP tests during these weeks?

Appreciate hearing about your DC experience.

It sounds like your kid had extended time due to a 504 for adhd or a learning disability.

Talk to your 504 coordinator. Next year, your daughter might be able to take one of those exams on the make up date if she is doubled booked

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid has had two days with two exams. Managed to pee and wolf down a power bar and protein shake betw first and second. Also has tests and papers in other classes.

This! ten minutes between exams today.

Only for the kids with extended time.

Everyone else should have had a linger break than 10 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about how different high schools support students taking AP Exams -- I'm trying to gather real examples of schools that handle testing well and understand how other students handle the pressures that exist during AP testing weeks to help make things better for next year and future students.

For example, my DC took the AP US History Exam Friday morning (3 hours 15 min) which started after 8:30 am due to proctor seating kids very slowly. Test ended at 12:08 pm, kids got released at 12:12 pm, DC was seated for her next exam at 12:15 pm and started it at 12:30 pm. Obviously, no break for lunch or bathroom after getting up at 6 am and eating breakfast before 7 am. DC was not the only student taking both tests that day with this timeline. I've reached out to the AP Coordinator for some explanation and received no response.

It seems at our high school, students who have two different exams scheduled for one day are required to take both exams. I've heard that other schools automatically allow students to reschedule one of the exams on a makeup day. Is that true at your school or school system? If so which one.

I've also been reading that College Board policy acknowledges that a 3 hour and 15 min exam can be over 4 hours in duration with instruction and breaks -- and says it's up to the AP Coordinator at the school to ensure that students get a mandatory 20 min break between tests (um -- does anyone else think 20 min is comically short and expecting schools to figure this out is bad design?). Has anyone had experience with this getting handled well? How? Does anyone think the break should be at least 40 min? Does anyone know why College Board doesn't address this issue with their scheduling, e.g. by scheduling the longer test in the later slot or starting the afternoon test at 1 pm instead of 12 noon?

Teachers at our high school have also continued to assign papers and tests during these two AP testing weeks. Is this normal? Are students expected to navigate the load themselves or does your school have policies in place to help with assignments and attendance for students who have multiple AP tests during these weeks?

Appreciate hearing about your DC experience.

It sounds like your kid had extended time due to a 504 for adhd or a learning disability.

Talk to your 504 coordinator. Next year, your daughter might be able to take one of those exams on the make up date if she is doubled booked

Doesn’t sound like from the timeline she described.

[Anonymous]

The reason for the schedule is to ensure the students do not cheat.

Also - starting the afternoon exams later may impact afternoon buses.

[Anonymous]

Wish I had seen this earlier. My kid has Spanish lit and English lang tomorrow, she definitely would have loved some advocacy to put one off until the makeup day.

I also wish the school would cool it on papers and projects during the AP week. One thing an experienced teacher did, bio, was finish up a week early and then schedule a high value summative that was all AP style multiple choice. It was insanely painful for DD to be doing her bio prep while other classes were in full swing, but it was a life saver when she started working in the final review for ApUSh and Spanish.

I also am really annoyed at her music ensemble. Luckily my kid is a planner, so she looked at the schedule and noticed, a month ago, a extra music festival, rehearsal, and performance last weekend, as well as the final rehearsal, dress, and concert this week. Yes, that's 3-4 hours of music Saturday - Wednesday. She said she was not able to do the extra festival, which may impact her chair next year, but it's just too much. A lot of kids did it, then had last minute "emergencies"'requiring them to miss yesterday's rehearsal and/or tomorrow's dress. I know this because we got an angry letter from the director saying that so many people were requesting off that no one would be excused who didn't give 2 weeks notice. In 3 years, we've never gotten a parent letter like this, so I'm guessing the callouts were pretty extreme. My kid loves her ensemble, but I'm proud that she planned ahead and was willing to set a clear boundary!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is normal during exam week. I've known kids who have done two tests, no lunch and then headed to race in the conference track meet. Your kid is fine

Yeah. This is what my kid did today, minus the track meet. I didn't feel the need to snowplow their AP exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about how different high schools support students taking AP Exams -- I'm trying to gather real examples of schools that handle testing well and understand how other students handle the pressures that exist during AP testing weeks to help make things better for next year and future students.

For example, my DC took the AP US History Exam Friday morning (3 hours 15 min) which started after 8:30 am due to proctor seating kids very slowly. Test ended at 12:08 pm, kids got released at 12:12 pm, DC was seated for her next exam at 12:15 pm and started it at 12:30 pm. Obviously, no break for lunch or bathroom after getting up at 6 am and eating breakfast before 7 am. DC was not the only student taking both tests that day with this timeline. I've reached out to the AP Coordinator for some explanation and received no response.

It seems at our high school, students who have two different exams scheduled for one day are required to take both exams. I've heard that other schools automatically allow students to reschedule one of the exams on a makeup day. Is that true at your school or school system? If so which one.

I've also been reading that College Board policy acknowledges that a 3 hour and 15 min exam can be over 4 hours in duration with instruction and breaks -- and says it's up to the AP Coordinator at the school to ensure that students get a mandatory 20 min break between tests (um -- does anyone else think 20 min is comically short and expecting schools to figure this out is bad design?). Has anyone had experience with this getting handled well? How? Does anyone think the break should be at least 40 min? Does anyone know why College Board doesn't address this issue with their scheduling, e.g. by scheduling the longer test in the later slot or starting the afternoon test at 1 pm instead of 12 noon?

Teachers at our high school have also continued to assign papers and tests during these two AP testing weeks. Is this normal? Are students expected to navigate the load themselves or does your school have policies in place to help with assignments and attendance for students who have multiple AP tests during these weeks?

Appreciate hearing about your DC experience.

https://www.webmd.com/parenting/what-is-snowplow-parenting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason for the schedule is to ensure the students do not cheat.

Also - starting the afternoon exams later may impact afternoon buses.

You're crazy. They're different exams on different subjects.

[Anonymous]

My dc had two in 1 day and it never occurred to me that they couldn't handle it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid had multiple teachers who couldn’t finish all the materials before the AP exam. These teachers also would hold a last minute marathon review session the day/evening before the AP exam. These same teachers all had taught the same AP classes quite a few times and still had very poor time management!

We did miss a lot of school this year with snowcrete.