just read a tweet by AP Trevor Packer - the AP twitter rep - who mentioned they’ve cancelled the AP registrations of a ring of students who were developing plans to cheat. I’d think it’d be incredibly easy to cheat on the tests this year. I’m glad they are publicizing this; but I also worry about it all and how colleges will accept those scores next year. Have any of you heard anything?
AP tests started already? thought they are to start next week. How can they detect “a ring of students who were developing plans to cheat”. I am confused - how can AP make a claim that they detected ‘plans’ to cheat.
@hs2020dad They start tomorrow. The “plan” was developed by students who were going to work together to answer questions via phone or video chat, which is prohibited.
As for schools accepting credits, the AP credit guidelines I’ve seen haven’t changed much from the c/o 2023 to the c/o 2024. Most schools seem determined to give students credit for exams no matter the format.
The replies to and retweets of Trevor’s tweet that are coming from college AOs and counselors are classic.
Here’s one from WPI’s VP Admissions:
And from Jon Boeckenstedt, Oregon State, VP Enrollment. Jon is a well respected key opinion leader in the industry.
More fun reading on twitter…
I was on the seminar for parents to help give advice on preparing your student for these exams. These aren’t the first students caught. It seems College Board is targeting both private chat rooms and phone help, but I am sure they are looking at other possible ways to cheat to close as many loopholes as they can without giving too many secrets away. The CB did these kids a favor in yanking their exam passes. Had they been caught cheating during the test, a note explaining the cheating will be sent to colleges along with their scores.
I am personally glad that colleges are still accepting these scores. Whereas 90% of students don’t care for online learning, it would be hypocritical to stick their own enrollees with it while insisting on another standard for kids in the same storm.
Just because kids were talking about cheating doesn’t mean they would actually cheat. Seems unfair to pull their tickets prior to them actually doing anything wrong. While I definitely don’t condone cheating, I also know that kids talk about a lot of stuff and much of it is just talk.
Well, the first day is over. Haven’t seen any huge problems yet other than forgetting to include AP ID on the uploaded documents.
Hoping to avoid our frequent internet glitches today by keeping everyone off of their devices while our junior takes the Calc AB today. Our student wants to take photos of the answers rather than type up the responses in Word or whatever so I hope the photos are clear and get uploaded in time.
@CheddarcheeseMN We have had spotty internet connection as well and tried to stay of devices for our junior. She took 2 Physics tests yesterday and the Calc BC today and fortunately no glitches in uploading her work on any of the tests. I have been so worried about it! Now only 2 more tests next week (and an essay for seminar that can be submitted anytime in the next week or so). The tests next week should not require any additional uploads…just take the test and submit, but I will continue to worry about a good internet connection until this is all over. Report back on how the Calc AB connections go for your junior!
AP Calc AB went well at our house, but on Twitter AP_Trevor is getting a lot of responses about glitches that prevented students from completing the tests. Maybe too many people were submitting answers at the same time.
@CheddarcheeseMN A lot of the “glitches” were students either misreading or not reading instructions. For example, the instructions say to not refresh the submit page if it’s taking a long time. They can also only take certain types of files for the upload. So a lot of students were uploading straight from their phone without converting the file.
That being said, there were definitely legitimate problems with the testing.
Now there is a second Trevor Packer account on Twitter with an extra _ or two between the AP and Trevor. Pretty hilarious - how long will it last?
The ID number on each page seems to be a common theme. Is that really problematic? I would think that CB would have designed its software to bundle the student submission files with the demographic data entered. I haven’t seen a test or screen or anything so it is hard to determine if DD will need to worry. Knowing our luck, she’ll pick test day to forget to do that.
Approximately 1,000 Physics testers on Monday weren’t able to upload their answers and the College Board’s solution is to have them take the makeup test.
I know these are crazy difficult times but seriously that is an awful solution for those kids. and while it is only 2% of those tested, imagine being in that 2%- poor kids.
That’s not good. Not fair to the students.
Now I am thinking… what if the makeup test isn’t an option? My DD, for example, is signed up to take a concurrent enrollment class at a college (now online), and we already know attendance is part of that grade. We’d own the problem if it was on our end, but the onus was and is unquestionably on the CB to get the upload right.
Now the APforstudents twitter page is saying that 99% of students successfully uploaded their work on Tuesday and that the problems for the 1% may be browsers that need to be updated?
Has everyone seen the data on google search analytics for key words during the AP physics and calc tests? Clearly some cheating going on.
Google “interest in physics related terms on the day of the Physics AP test” and a reddit thread will come up that has some data.
DS could not upload his work on either of the Physics C exams he took and must retake. Not the end of the world and he has a pretty good attitude about it but CBs reaction has been disappointing, i.e., none except for saying old browsers.
I am not a techie person but son is and says that is definitely not the case for him. In addition, he did some sort of demo a few days before the test and was able to successfully upload so it seems unlikely that there was a technical issue on his side if it worked on the demo.
The test was open book and open notes. Were they explicitly told not to use the internet? Here is a graph of analytics for a search term during the calculus exam. If you are googling “what is a derivative” during the calc exam, I’m not sure the internet can really help you at this point.
Students could use their notes, class books/resources. Internet use specifically prohibited, as is getting help from someone else.
Edited to add rules and link:
https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/faqs?excmpid=SM48-ED-CB-tw