AP Exams & Scheduling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This is your first go-around, I take it?

1. Same-day exams are a problem, precisely due to delays during the morning exam, which lead to a very short or a non-existent break before the afternoon one. Yes, I believe it DOES affect exam performance, and there should be a declared minimum length of break between two back-to-back exams!!! As it stands right now, it's a little fuzzy and discretion is given to the onsite testing coordinator. Usually, since they want the least hassle possible, they tend to try to shuffle off everyone into their afternoon exams, and a student would need to be very persuasive to get a testing coordinator to approve a make-up date in the situation you describe. Which I don't think is fair, at all! I entirely sympathize with your daughter, OP. For illness, I believe you need a doctor's note to schedule the make-up, so if you know a doctor who can write one, maybe your kid, if her first exam runs so late, can just walk out of school, and you request the make-up for the second exam with the doctor's note.

2. Life goes on separately from College Board exams, unfortunately. My kids' high schools were/are each quite understanding about late work and requesting test make-ups for AP exam absences. Indeed, MCPS gives excused absences on AP exam days, so that kids don't get zeros when they miss instruction on those days. It is understood that students need to keep studying for their other classes, hand in their assignments and take their tests at some point.

3. We declared a moratorium on extra-curricular activities last weekend and this week. My DD has missed a number of horseback riding classes. If she gets marked down in her semester assessment, we don't care. She has missed a number of her private instrumental lessons, and her teacher is very understanding. She's part of a selective youth orchestra that limits the number of absences to 2 per concert cycle, so we declared her "sick" for the last rehearsal. I'm sure lots of other high schoolers were somehow "sick" that day The concert is next weekend, so the conductor isn't happy, but AP exams are more important! In the house, DD is exempt from chores, laundry, pet care, etc. We make all her meals and baby her so she can focus on her exams, like we did for our son.

I hope your kid did well despite adverse circumstances, OP.

We have the same instrument teacher I believe, and mine hasn't seen him in at least a month, and only had virtual classes sporadically. First, there were two weeks with 5 exams per week, and then there was last week with all the AP exams. She's very fortunate that this week she has just one AP test, (plus a few writing assignments and one test in non-AP classes) and she's basically done with the tests. She took her break from youth orchestra with a similar policy to cope with her finals weeks, and went both last week and this one. The conductor seemed quite sad and puzzled that the entire band instrument section didn't turn up, and there were only a handful of strings in each of the sections. Their concert is this upcoming weekend, but IMO, it's their own damn fault that they're so tone deaf, when the Venn diagram of the kids in orchestra and kids taking a lot of APs is basically a circle. The kids would have all appreciated at least a week where they say 'Your education is the priority, go study for the tests or go to bed early so you can kill it in those tests'.

OP, what you're describing is quite normal. One of DD's friends had 10 minutes between her morning and afternoon tests, which she used to go to the bathroom. So like yours, she didn't really eat anything the whole day. The non-AP teachers have carried on with their teaching, and assigned assignments and tests, although these kids do have a little extra time to turn everything in. The ridiculous one to me is the AP pre-calc teacher who has carried on teaching the non-tested Unit 4 through both weeks, and has scheduled a test or quiz next Monday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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!

IEC here. She should write this up and work it into her apps in the fall! I saw a lot of applicants this cycle where less was more, and being able to tell a story of curating thoughtfully in order to optimize results -- and not just go all-in on everything all the time -- seemed to help, at least at the margins.

Anyway, good for your kid!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Just wanted to say thank you to all the posters who have shared their experiences so far. And I still hope to learn about more experiences and tips. This was indeed our first go-around with multiple AP exams and quite a learning experience.

I agree that overall scheduling for these AP testing weeks seems disorganized and handled poorly by both the College Board and the schools. What I'm hearing is that there's a lot of stress and different demands on AP test takers and for the most parts kids are handling it. BUT when circumstances line up to create a real potential problem for the student (and it can be as simple as a long test in the am like we faced but could also be outside demands) then it's up to the family to flag an issue and address it -- preferably in advance.

This was the important learning for me: schools (and College Board!) know that kids are facing intense days where they may forego food or breaks BUT there doesn't seem to be a supports in place to help kids identify or address issues. ** Students and parents have to proactively manage their schedule and/or seek a formal accommodation. It's disappointing but important to know that despite the appearance of an organized schedule there's nothing in place that considers the student's experience! **

Finally, a note of thanks to the poster who included a link to the article on 'snowplow parenting' which warned of the downside of trying to remove all obstacles for a kid. That's an exhausting approach to parenting and I hope I don't fit the definition of a snowplow parent but when the testing process seems to violate adult labor laws due to lack of a lunch break, then I think it does warrant some additional parental involvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just wanted to say thank you to all the posters who have shared their experiences so far. And I still hope to learn about more experiences and tips. This was indeed our first go-around with multiple AP exams and quite a learning experience.

I agree that overall scheduling for these AP testing weeks seems disorganized and handled poorly by both the College Board and the schools. What I'm hearing is that there's a lot of stress and different demands on AP test takers and for the most parts kids are handling it. BUT when circumstances line up to create a real potential problem for the student (and it can be as simple as a long test in the am like we faced but could also be outside demands) then it's up to the family to flag an issue and address it -- preferably in advance.

This was the important learning for me: schools (and College Board!) know that kids are facing intense days where they may forego food or breaks BUT there doesn't seem to be a supports in place to help kids identify or address issues. ** Students and parents have to proactively manage their schedule and/or seek a formal accommodation. It's disappointing but important to know that despite the appearance of an organized schedule there's nothing in place that considers the student's experience! **

Finally, a note of thanks to the poster who included a link to the article on 'snowplow parenting' which warned of the downside of trying to remove all obstacles for a kid. That's an exhausting approach to parenting and I hope I don't fit the definition of a snowplow parent but when the testing process seems to violate adult labor laws due to lack of a lunch break, then I think it does warrant some additional parental involvement.

You're not a snowplow parent at all. If this had happened to my kid, I would be livid! I agree with you that it's not fair, because the stakes for college admissions are high for the kids who take lots of APs. They're not the cohort that couldn't care less and just expect to get into a middling place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Just to add to the stress of taking multiple AP exams and missing a lot of other classes in the process, my kid’s teachers just records everything they miss as a zero. So now not only does the student have to make up work and turn it in, but then they have to keep reminding the teachers they turned it in and to update their grade. For some reason teachers never do and it takes multiple emails to get this handled. So stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just wanted to say thank you to all the posters who have shared their experiences so far. And I still hope to learn about more experiences and tips. This was indeed our first go-around with multiple AP exams and quite a learning experience.

I agree that overall scheduling for these AP testing weeks seems disorganized and handled poorly by both the College Board and the schools. What I'm hearing is that there's a lot of stress and different demands on AP test takers and for the most parts kids are handling it. BUT when circumstances line up to create a real potential problem for the student (and it can be as simple as a long test in the am like we faced but could also be outside demands) then it's up to the family to flag an issue and address it -- preferably in advance.

This was the important learning for me: schools (and College Board!) know that kids are facing intense days where they may forego food or breaks BUT there doesn't seem to be a supports in place to help kids identify or address issues. ** Students and parents have to proactively manage their schedule and/or seek a formal accommodation. It's disappointing but important to know that despite the appearance of an organized schedule there's nothing in place that considers the student's experience! **

Finally, a note of thanks to the poster who included a link to the article on 'snowplow parenting' which warned of the downside of trying to remove all obstacles for a kid. That's an exhausting approach to parenting and I hope I don't fit the definition of a snowplow parent but when the testing process seems to violate adult labor laws due to lack of a lunch break, then I think it does warrant some additional parental involvement.

You're not a snowplow parent at all. If this had happened to my kid, I would be livid! I agree with you that it's not fair, because the stakes for college admissions are high for the kids who take lots of APs. They're not the cohort that couldn't care less and just expect to get into a middling place.

+1

Also, asking how other people handle it is very far from "snowplowing." You're gathering info to gain perspective.

Since this is what I also do, I hereby declare it The Ideal Approach 🫶😍

[Anonymous]

mine has AP lang this morning then AP Physics C M only 20 mins in between!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Just to add to the stress of taking multiple AP exams and missing a lot of other classes in the process, my kid’s teachers just records everything they miss as a zero. So now not only does the student have to make up work and turn it in, but then they have to keep reminding the teachers they turned it in and to update their grade. For some reason teachers never do and it takes multiple emails to get this handled. So stupid.

Mine has a similar thing going on, where she missed two summatives that are recorded as zeroes (although they're supposed to give 50%), and she now has a B or B+ because of it. She has turned it in since, but the teacher explicitly told the kids that are turning it in late to not bug her about it, and she'll grade it when she gets around to it.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a kid who is taking their 11th and 12th APs as a senior this week (but also had a 4 hour long varsity sport state semifinals game last night and 2 hour practices on all other days, including on Saturday), I have so much empathy for all of you parents. Wish this kid could get some sleep already!

I was surprised to hear from a parent of a kid at Hotchkiss boarding school that their kid took zero APs. Not even one. It made me actually wonder whether I should have sent my kid to boarding school or another private school where APs are not common and lots of kids end up at the same colleges as a public school kid like mine who felt compelled to take so many of these long tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:mine has AP lang this morning then AP Physics C M only 20 mins in between!

How did it go?

[Anonymous]

Any Walter Johnson APEX parents around to chime in? Given that the APEX program is designed around students taking a series of AP courses and tests, what sort of coordination and support does the school offer to help students do their best on the tests?

This is separate but adjacent, is support for students in testing periods handled better in IB programs? Any observations?

[Anonymous]

Same - Lang and AP Physics C with 16 mins between to use bathroom and “eat” lunch. Oh and bathroom only had two stalls working so just time to go to the bathroom.

Child said FRQ sucked for physics c.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:mine has AP lang this morning then AP Physics C M only 20 mins in between!

My kid might be friends with your kid! She told me about a friend who had done this. 20 min is already too short for a break. I feel for OP's kid who just went from one exam room to the other. That really shouldn't be allowed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same - Lang and AP Physics C with 16 mins between to use bathroom and “eat” lunch. Oh and bathroom only had two stalls working so just time to go to the bathroom.

Child said FRQ sucked for physics c.

Yes! My kid was devastated. Everyone he talked to thought the same thing, even the star student in his class, who usually gets everything right without turning a hair. I hope the unusual level of difficulty will be taken into account. My kid practiced with a lot of previous exam questions, and I trust him when he says the questions were not of typical difficulty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same - Lang and AP Physics C with 16 mins between to use bathroom and “eat” lunch. Oh and bathroom only had two stalls working so just time to go to the bathroom.

Child said FRQ sucked for physics c.

Yes! My kid was devastated. Everyone he talked to thought the same thing, even the star student in his class, who usually gets everything right without turning a hair. I hope the unusual level of difficulty will be taken into account. My kid practiced with a lot of previous exam questions, and I trust him when he says the questions were not of typical difficulty.

My kid's entire physics C class came directly from the AP Lang exam. They at least had 30 minutes for a bathroom and lunch break, and they all thought the lang test was really easy.

My kid thinks he crushed the FRQs, but agrees that they were absurdly hard. He thought the FRQs looked more like F=MA/USAPHO problems and less like normal AP ones. They always curve the exams and the difficulty is always taken into account, so your kid really doesn't need to worry. From what I heard, one of the 4 forms was much easier. They're going to curve all of the other forms to have a similar score distribution.