Advanced Placement

For the first time ever, students sitting Advanced Placement (AP) exams will complete and submit shortened exams online. The College Board has provided additional resources, including video lessons and access to practice questions, to help students become comfortable with the particulars ahead of time.

 

Despite these changes, students and parents can rest assured that AP exams will remain challenging but fair, and the College Board has secured the cooperation of universities in awarding the same credit as in previous years.

 

“For me, the changes have not made a huge difference,” says English teacher Jay Connolly. “My AP classes are made up of committed students, and because we had worked together for six months before the pandemic, the classes are positive and productive and we have been able to proceed more or less as usual. In fact, the SOUL program delivery system will probably help students on the exams, given that working on screen is what they now do day in, day out.”

 

Meanwhile, science teacher Jeremy Fehr has been preparing his students to respond calmly to any anxiety they may naturally feel when faced with fewer questions to showcase their understanding of a range of concepts covered over the whole year.

 

“The students have worked hard before the pandemic struck, and have continued to do so ever since,” he shares. “This will help to ensure that they will perform to the best of their ability, and they should be proud of the time and efforts that they have put forward in preparation for this exam. We have been made aware of the types of questions to expect, not which concepts, but the style of questions. This has allowed our class to focus on preparing these types of answers, and hopefully minimize some of the stress that students experience every year as they approach their APs.”

 

The fact that Shawnigan students are now studying from their homes all over the world also has an impact, explains modern languages teacher Sandy Sun. Her AP Chinese Language students, living in Canada, China and South Korea, will all begin their exam at the same moment, but in different time zones, which for some students may mean starting their exam as late as midnight or 1:00 am. As opposed to the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing that are normally tested, this year the language students will face an exam focused entirely on speaking. This change, she notes, may be advantageous to native English speakers who often face a challenge reading Chinese characters.

 

While Ms. Sun says that not having students living in the same time zone can present a challenge, she points to several advantages that the SOUL program can offer at this time.

 

SOUL has also enabled AP Comparative Government students, who will sit their exam on May 22, to reach beyond borders and connect with international experts in preparation for their exams. The class recently enjoyed an interactive session with British Liberal Democrat politician Tom Brake and British Labour MP and LGBT+ advocate Wes Streeting. Social studies teacher Paul Klassen shares that the students had the opportunity to listen to the MPs speak and then pose questions.

 

Advanced Placement (AP) exams, which offer college-level curricula and credit, start this week and continue until June 5.