College Board has announced that they will conduct the following seven AP Exams digitally and on paper next May: AP Computer Science Principles, AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Seminar, AP U.S. History, AP European History, and AP World History: Modern, after two years of remote examinations and one year of pencil-paper testing.

College Board is a non-profit organization that administers the SAT and runs the Advanced Placement (AP) program. Through this program, students can take college-level courses in high school and take a final exam in May, scoring between one to five points, and possibly earning college credits.

In May 2023, students taking one or more of the seven aforementioned tests will choose between taking a written test or using electronic devices.

Many students look forward to having the option to take tests digitally. “I find it easier to concentrate on digital tests/quizzes, paper makes me anxious and it deters my focus,” said Darsh Kachalia ’25, an AP US History student. 

Caleb Gluchowski ‘26, who plans to take AP English Language in the future, says he would prefer to take tests digitally due to hand pain that results from excessive writing.

“Honestly, I would be fine to write the whole APUSH test on paper, but it is easier to write words on the computer than it is to write on paper,” said another AP US history student, Nakul Narayanan ‘25. “Pencil-paper allows writers to present work in a more standard and neat fashion, while computers need the brain to take valuable time to process the set of tools available, and it needs to figure out how to input work. Sometimes, certain symbols are also unavailable, while writing is more versatile.”

Ms. Jennifer Sidorski, an AP US History teacher, said she is worried about “academic integrity and cheating,” and that “digital exams have to have protections built into the exam that would prevent the concerns above, and because of this, certain features of testing like going back to MCQ during the time allotted for answering those MCQ’s might not be there.”

However, Mr. John Krajunus who teaches AP Computer Science Principles says that his students will be well off either way. “They have worked with computers all year and can handle the difference between digital and paper and pencil exams.”

Although College Board has experience with digital examinations from the COVID-19 pandemic, their effectiveness now in an in-person setting will be determined only once AP season is over in May.