Angela You

College Board should continue offering traditional paper testing alongside digital AP exams

Starting this May, CollegeBoard is discontinuing standard paper testing for 28 AP exams, which are now replaced with either fully digital exams on Bluebook, or hybrid exams where students complete a multiple-choice section digitally and handwrite free-response answers in an answer booklet. The fully digital exams mainly encompass humanities subjects such as AP Human Geography and AP English Language. On the other hand, the hybrid exams include handwritten portions for STEM subjects such as AP Physics and AP Calculus. 

Students should still not be mandated to take their AP exams digitally because it presents many technical issues, it is inaccessible, and not all schools have access to a sufficient amount of digital resources. With this sharp turn into digital AP testing, students have had varying experiences with the new digital exams. While some are easily adapting to the new format, others find them frustrating and difficult to work with. 

First and foremost, digital standardized testing has only been recently introduced after 2020 demanded remote learning. As a result, students who are more used to testing on paper may struggle substantially without handwritten annotations or struggle to focus when shifting between their physical notes and looking up at the computer screen. As a student who took the fully digital AP English Language Exam in May 2024, I can attest to struggling during the essay-writing portion when it came to getting a gist of the source texts and condensing key ideas without physical annotations. In March of the same year, I took the digital SAT as well, and the inability to annotate and write on diagrams in the math section definitely hindered my ability to answer questions efficiently because I needed to copy down drawings and crucial information. Even with the use of scrap paper, the switch to digital can be a sizable concern for students like me who rely on annotating strategies and cannot perform as well as if they had otherwise taken the test on paper. Students who are more familiar with using technology in this case may adapt easier to this change than those who are not. Overall, this drastic shift into digital AP testing disadvantages a considerable amount of students who have grown up taking tests administered on paper.

In addition, technical difficulties such as server crashes are also bound to happen on a digital testing application. For instance, during the administration of the AP Spanish Language Exam at Townsend Harris High School last May of 2024, the speaking and listening function malfunctioned for many students, requiring the proctor to individually troubleshoot each testtaker’s device. Senior Kayla Lin who took the exam said, “I remember the proctor had to go down the rows one-by-one to connect the bluetooth [settings on] each laptop and the whole test in total took [around] 4-5 hours…” This technical problem delayed the exam by approximately a whole hour, thereby requiring students who were set to take the AP Biology Exam on the same day to retake the examination at a later date. Unfortunately, situations like these may prove to be common with the integration of digital standardized testing.

In addition, not all districts are able to adequately supply their students with enough devices or adequate devices, and refusing them access to any paper standardized testing at all further could create yet another disparity between wealthier schools and schools that are less funded. 

That is not to say that digital testing does not also have its benefits. Thanks to its implementation, typing out responses may put less stress on students’ hands and handwriting legibility will no longer be an issue. Head of the AP Program at CollegeBoard, Trevor Packer, also explained the reasoning behind the transition into digital AP testing during an interview with Education Week, stating that the transition to digital testing was a solution to an increased number of cheating attempts and purchasing of stolen exams since it is not as vulnerable to theft and cheating like paper testing is.

However, this should not justify compulsory digital testing at the expense of less experienced students. If students had the option to choose whether they wanted to take their AP exams on paper or in the digital/hybrid format, they would be able to take the test to the best of their ability without having to worry about technical difficulties or being unfamiliar with the test format. It is certainly possible to mitigate paper test cheating and ensure strict test security without compromising other students’ scores.

Whether a student decides to write or type their answers on an exam should not dictate their aptitude in a certain subject. If students had the choice of being able to take their exams either physically or digitally, students would be able to go into the exam room with confidence that they can perform their best.