Online AP Exams 2020: Everything you need to know

With school closures, the College Board has made various adaptations to AP exams to allow students to obtain credit. This has involved moving most tests online.

College Board

With school closures, the College Board has made various adaptations to AP exams to allow students to obtain credit. This has involved moving most tests online.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced schools nationwide to close early. To allow AP students to obtain the college credit they have been working for, the College Board has implemented new online testing and other helpful digital resources.

What has changed (content-wise):

Due to school closures, AP exams will only include topics and skills most teachers have already taught by early March. 

According to the College Board, the format for exams will be free-response questions, with each question timed separately. Students will need to write and submit their responses online within the allotted time for each question. 

For AP courses that involve the submission of a portfolio (Art and Design 2-D, Art and Design 3-D, Seminar, and Research), the deadline to submit work to the College Board has been extended until May 26th, at 11:59 p.m. For AP Art and Design courses, the number of final portfolio products has also been reduced.

What to expect:

Exams will be administered from May 11 through May 22, with makeup testing from June 1-5. 

All AP exams will be taken online through the College Board website this year. Students will be able to take exams on any device they have access to: computer, tablet and smartphone. 

All students have two options for submitting final exams. One option is to type and upload their responses. The second option is to submit a photo of handwritten responses.

Most of the exams will be 45 minutes long and include an additional 5 minutes for uploading answers to the AP website. All students need to access their online AP accounts 30 minutes prior to their exams. 

There will be more information provided about new online testing as May approaches.

How to prepare:

It’s important to keep in mind that most of this year’s AP Exams will be open book/open note. Additionally, the College Board is providing online review videos on Youtube for students whose instructional time has been significantly changed by the coronavirus outbreak.

For more information on AP Exam coronavirus updates, visit the College Board website: https://pages.collegeboard.org/collegeboard-covid-19-updates