With annual AP exams underway, some students feel ‘wildly unprepared’ because of the pandemic

CHICAGO — Kyujin Derradji is well-versed in Advanced Placement exams, having taken one as a sophomore and three as a junior. Now a senior at Northside College Prep High School, Derradji, 17, of Humboldt Park, is slated to take four more exams in May.

But this pandemic year is different.

“My classes have divided up the learning materials too much to accommodate for remote learning,” Derradji said in an email. “I feel wildly unprepared to take timed AP exams where I have to fill these gaps in preparation on the spot.”

Starting this week, thousands of students in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs are taking the annual AP exams. Both in Chicago and across the nation, the number of exams taken is expected to be higher than in previous years. But with the majority of AP instruction happening remotely in and near Chicago, some students feel at a disadvantage.

‘Testing apples to giraffes’

Created by the College Board, AP courses are designed to mimic college courses, culminating in a comprehensive exam in the spring. AP test scores have minimal effects on college admissions, school counselors said, but when students score highly, they can earn college credit or place out of entry-level college courses.

In 2019, the last “normal” year of AP testing before the pandemic, 74% of students nationally who were enrolled in an AP course took the exam, said Trevor Packer, head of the College Board’s AP Program. This spring, 88% of students are reporting they plan to take the exams, he said. Chicago Public Schools ordered 45,178 AP exams to be taken by students over the next several weeks, Packer said. That’s up from the 43,773 the district ordered in 2020.

AP exams are standardized to measure how well students mastered the course material. But this year is “far from standardized,” said Bob Schaeffer, executive director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, or FairTest.

The “whole notion” of standardized tests is that all test takers face similar conditions, Schaeffer said. But students in different districts, regions and states have received instruction via various combinations of remote and in-person learning this school year.

“You’re not testing apples to apples,” Schaeffer said. “You’re testing apples to giraffes.”

Nicholas Latham, 17, a junior at Whitney Young Magnet High School, will take three exams this spring: AP Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Physics 1. He said he’s nervous about the tests because he wants to do well, and it wasn’t always easy to focus during online classes. But while “the situation isn’t perfect right now, it’s not impossible to succeed,” said Latham, of Lincoln Park.

His mom, Sara Latham, is nervous for her son for another reason.

Nicholas Latham has only had four days of in-person instruction since CPS reopened high schools on April 19, his mother said, but friends and family who live in the South have been in the classroom for most of the year. For classes like physics, hands-on learning through experiments hasn’t been as feasible during remote learning, she said.

“It’s sad to me that everybody is taking the same test, but they all didn’t have the same school year,” said Sara Latham, 45. “He’s not getting the same chance as if he had been in school, with the teachers, in class, able to ask questions immediately.”

Pandemic exam adjustments

In past years, AP exam fees — usually $95 per test — become nonrefundable after a certain date leading up to the exam. This year, the College Board waived all cancellation fees, allowing students to decide not to take the test at any point, Packer said.

In 2020 and 2021, Chicago Public Schools has covered the cost of all students’ AP exams, said district spokesperson Emmanuel Salazar.

But Derradji, the senior at Northside College Prep, said that his family has already paid for his four AP exams this spring and that his school “never made me aware that I would not have to pay for them.” That’s part of the reason why he’s still taking the exams, he said.

“I do not think that we should be forced to pay hundreds of dollars for these exams,” Derradji said in an email. “Requiring students to pay hundreds of dollars to take exams that they are structurally unprepared to succeed in is unfair and creates an unnecessarily high barrier to entry.”

The district did not immediately respond to requests for comment on families still having to pay for AP exams.

Typically, students nationwide follow a uniform schedule, taking in-person exams the first two weeks of May. This year, the College Board is offering three “administrations” for schools to test students.

The first testing window spans from May 3 to May 17 and only offers in-school paper-and-pencil exams. The following two weeks, May 18 to May 28, half the course subjects have paper-and-pencil tests administered in school, and half are digital and can be taken either at home or school. A final testing period from June 1 to June 11 mostly offers digital exams to be taken at home or school, with a handful of paper tests.

“There were students (who) lost instructional time or started the academic year later or struggled to adjust to a variety of different instructional calendars,” Packer said. “We need to provide as many different opportunities to test as possible.”

Preparation

When tests are offered varies on a school-to-school basis.

Niles West High School in Skokie opted to administer exams during the third testing period, about three weeks after school lets out for summer, said Dan Gin, the school’s college and career counselor. Teachers will still be available over the summer to hold review sessions and answer questions leading up to AP exams, he said.

“We’re offering a study period at the end of the day for every student,” Gin said. “Teachers are available, especially the AP teachers ... if your student is preparing for the test or needs a little extra help.”

But some students are still not feeling as prepared after a year of remote and hybrid learning, Gin said. Prior to the pandemic, students received about 200 minutes a week of instruction per class. With the school’s hybrid and block scheduling, they only receive about 110 minutes per week, Gin said.

If students can afford it financially, Gin said he encourages all students to still sit for the exams as a “challenge” to assess how much they learned. The school district’s board of education has also helped curb the number of students opting out of taking exams, Gin said, by deciding the district would cover one AP exam fee per student.

James Franko, a school counselor at southwest suburban Riverside Brookfield High School, said it’s hard to gauge the “general vibe” students are feeling toward AP exams, but most students seem to want to “make the most of it.”

One student, Franko said, approached him feeling anxious about the AP exam itself, as well as the preparation it entailed.

“I don’t think she really blames — she’s not pointing fingers,” Franko said. “It’s more just the setup has been challenging.”

That student decided last week not to take the AP exam this spring, Franko said.