This article won honorable mention in the 2021 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association spring awards ceremony.
Due to the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, this year’s Advance Placement (AP) Exams are being taken online for the first time ever. While most test takers didn’t have a problem with submitting their test, a small percentage were not able to.
“Given the wide variety of devices, browsers and versions students are using, we anticipated that a small percentage of students would encounter technical difficulties,” College Board tweeted on May 11.
Also according to their Twitter, their success rate of students being able to submit their responses are between 98-99% each day, leaving about 1-2% not being able to turn their exams in.
One common difficulty among students across the country is the servers crashing before they are able to click submit. College Board claims that outdated browsers are to blame for this and recommends that all future test takers make sure their browser is up to date before taking the test.
Another issue that arose was when students tried to attach pictures of written work instead of a typed response. In some instances, student’s screens turned black when attempting to upload them. In order to fix the problem, students should format their photos to be either a .jpg, .png or a .jpeg instead of a HEIC file which is what most iPhone photos default to.
But these aren’t the only problems. They also released a list of more common issues and their fixes on their website for those who are experiencing trouble. They also recommend students practice the demo exam before taking the test as well.
College Board then released a statement on May 17 saying any future tests and makeups that are unable to be submitted can be turned into a personalized email address. It will show up on the screen that says “We did not receive your response.”
Those who took exams May 11-15 and were unable to submit their responses will still have to do the makeup, but will now have the security of being able to submit their retest if it happens to not go through again.
First round testing will conclude May 22 and makeup exams will start on June 1.
