Rochester Community Schools has a long history of offering Advanced Placement (AP) courses that lead to an end of the year AP exam. By taking an AP class and scoring well on the AP exam, students can potentially earn college credits as early as their sophomore year of high school.
Each college and university has unique requirements for earning credits based on students’ AP scores for each AP exam they take. If students earn scores of 3, 4, or 5 on the AP exam for a particular subject area, they might be eligible for college credit. Given our current circumstance all indications are that colleges and universities are planning to accept the scores, like they always have, for credit or for advancing to higher level courses. Colleges pledge to be flexible and adaptable to the circumstances created by COVID-19 and the executive orders surrounding it. AP Students who test successfully may still earn college credit and potentially save on college costs.
It is important to note that this information is meant as a guide, and it is imperative that students and parents check with universities to ensure that information has not changed. Specific colleges and areas of study within universities often have specific requirements that fall outside of general guidelines. Checking with universities is a MUST especially during these unprecedented time!
The purpose of this page is to provide AP students and families resources and information related to AP exams. Should you have further questions please contact your high's AP coordinator (contact information below).
Seniors who would like to send your AP scores to a college can find information here: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/sending-scores/online
Seniors should also make sure they change their email from a school based email in July if they would like to continue to have access to their College Board account.
As you know, the AP tests have been modified to meet the COVID-19 challenges that we all face this year. Most tests will be taken at home and will be approximately 45 minutes in length. Those of you who have taken AP tests in the past can attest to the fact that this is a much more desirable circumstance than a normal AP testing environment. Another “plus” is that this year’s AP tests are open book tests designed to measure your understanding of the major concepts of the course.
College Board has provide many resources to assist students in preparing for AP exams. This includes YouTube live classes! You also have access to your AP Classroom and assignments your teacher can provide.
The two documents below give AP exam takers the information he/she needs to know prior to testing. Please follow everything in the 2020 Testing Guide to ensure you are prepared and have a good testing experience. You will need to log in 30 min ahead of your exam time. You will need your E-ticket as described below. This will be emailed to you or can be accessed through your AP account in case you are not receiving emails.
Please remember to write/type their AP ID NUMBER and INITIALS on each page of their answer pages you submit. Information regarding this begins on slide 13 on the AP Testing Guide
For all exams (except those with portfolio components, Music Theory, and World Language) students will need a web browser: Chrome is recommended, but Firefox, Safari, or Edge will also work. They will also need Internet or cellular connection (slides 11-14 in the 2020 Testing Guide go into more specific detail).
**If you have the Grammarly plug-in on your computer, you'll need to remove it to test.
**Students with accommodations may need assistive technology and devices (if applicable, for students approved to test with accommodations)
Music Theory – Students will need a smartphone, tablet, or computer with camera, microphone, voice recording app, and 2-3 printed copies or handwritten copies of the answer sheet template with staves (slides 15-16).
World Language - iOS or Android smartphone or tablet with: AP World Language Exam App installed (available week of May 11), access to the internet by Wi-Fi or cellular data, at least 30MB of available storage, at least 25% battery charge, or connection to a power source (slides 15-16).
Other important links are:
World Language Information: https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams/exam-day-experience/world-language-culture-exams
Music Theory Information: https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams/exam-day-experience/taking-the-ap-music-theory-exam
From May 4, students can access an AP 2020 Exam Demo at cb.org/apdemo. It will allow them to practice the different ways to submit their responses. If they can't connect to this demo from their planned testing device, they will not be able to access the real exam on test day (information on slide 26).
Beginning the week of May 11, students taking world language exams can download the AP World Languages Exam App. Before the exam, they can use the app’s practice mode to become familiar with its features, test their technology's compatibility, and check the quality of sound in their intended exam location (information on slide 26).
Everything that you will need for test day will be coming to you through the email you have created your College Board account with. It is imperative that you are receiving and reading these emails. If you are unsure please follow this guide to check the status of your email and email settings through College Board.
College Board updates their FAQ throughout the exam period. You can find here: https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/faqs
Question: How do I get my e-ticket, especially when I am not receiving emails from College Board?
A: Your e-ticket will be available in your College Board AP account two days prior to your test. By not using your May E-ticket, College Board will automatically issue you a new one for the June make-up date.
Question: Can I test late?
A: If you do not test in the “regular” testing time frame and choose to test late, that is up to you. IF you experience technical difficulties during the late test, though, there will be NO other option to take your AP exam at a later time. There is no form or request that needs to be made to teachers or coordinators for you to select this option.
Question: What if I have more than one test on a single day? Do I have to take both?
A: That is up to you. See the above question concerning late testing.
Question: Can I still get a refund?
A: Yes, if you do not test for one or more of your AP exams, College Board will notify us. You will get a refund for that test (s) sometime this summer as the District processes them. Do not email your teacher or coordinators for a refund.
Question: I had technical difficulties during my regular time exam. Now what?
A: Students should not call if they encounter issues. Customer service centers are operating at extremely limited capacity due to the pandemic. If a student lost too much time to a technical problem, wasn’t able to connect to an exam, or experienced some other serious disruption, they can request a makeup exam at cb.org/requestmakeup. (this is directly from College Board)
Question: How do I know if I’ve successfully submitted a response?
• When a student finishes the exam and their submission has been received, they will see a screen that says “Congratulations, Your Exam is Complete.”
• When a student finishes the exam, but their submission has not been properly uploaded, they'll see a message that says “We Did Not Receive Your Responses (s).” In this case, students can request a makeup at cb.org/requestmakeup.
• In a limited number of cases, a student's response may be successfully uploaded, but their file can’t be accepted for scoring (for example, due to a virus). When this happens, the student will receive an email from us letting them know about the issue, and that they'll automatically receive an e-ticket for the makeup exam.
Question: What should a student do if they don’t remember seeing either message on the screen about form submission? Should they request a makeup exam?
• If a student isn’t sure whether they’ve submitted a response, they can request a makeup exam. However, once they submit a makeup request, any response they submitted for the May Exam will be invalidated.
Question: Can students submit a PDF of their handwritten work?
Answer: Yes, so long as they combine all photos of their handwritten response into a single PDF for that question.
Important: once photos of their handwritten work are saved as a PDF, they are no longer considered photos by the system, but documents: PDFs are document files, not image files. So when the timer reaches 5 minutes remaining, the student must click the “Attach Response” button within the exam and then select “Attach Text File” to locate their saved PDF, rather than the “Attach Photos” button.
Question: Can student submit an HEIC file of a photo of their handwritten work?
Recent iPhones and iPads save photos as HEIC files. HEIC photo files can’t be submitted “as is” in the online exam. They must be converted to an accepted file format. Here are two ways students can do that:
OR
Question: I have several questions. Where is a good place to look for everything AP testing:
Visit the College Board website directly: https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students
If you have had a technical issues with your AP exam please visit the Trouble Shooting Tips on the College Board website: https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams/troubleshooting
If you feel this has impacted your exam you can request to take your exam again during make ups in June. Click on the link below.
Rochester Community Schools is encouraging all students who have registered for an AP exam to take the test. Information will be sent directly to students regarding how to test and when your test will be taken.
For students who are no longer interested in taking an AP test that they have registered for, there are two options for obtaining refunds.
Option One: Complete the Google form below by May 8th requesting a refund for the amount paid for testing. The RCS business office will begin to review the registrations and process the refund requests. Those who registered and paid using the online payment system may see a reimbursement sooner than those who paid by other methods.
Option Two: Don’t do anything right now. If you plan to test but make the decision at the last minute not to, you can still receive a reimbursement. Once all of the testing is complete (June 5th), College Board will provide the district with a list of students who tested, and a reimbursement will be created for those students who did not test. These refunds will likely be sent in July.
Again, we believe that the long term opportunities are better for students who decide to test, but we fully understand that students may have changed their mind about testing given the current situation.
If you have any questions, you can reach out to the AP Coordinator at your home high school:
AHS: Janice King JKing@Rochester.k12.mi.us
RHS: Christopher Green CGreen@Rochester.k12.mi.us
SHCS: Linda Veeser LVeeser@Rochester.k12.mi.us
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RCS_AP