Previously published Jun 2. 2021
May 2020 was a historic month for APs. In addition to all exams being digital, they were also forty-five minutes in length, which meant that the content tested was dramatically reduced. Whereas in normal times, one would commute to their respective testing center to take the test, the digital APs were all held simultaneously around the world, which meant that some international students had to climb up in the wee hours of the morning to take their exams. Despite the odd nature of the APs last year, AP test-takers still flocked to their computers and still managed to take their APs.
However, Bobcats this year can return once more to the paper version of APs. In fact, on May 4th, 2021, dozens of high school students flocked to BASIS Fremont at 7:15 A.M. to take the AP Calculus BC exam. One could certainly describe the scene of students in a classroom as surreal after staring at their classmates through a Zoom window for virtually a year. For many as well, this exam would be the first paper and pencil exam that they have taken in over a year. Additionally, the 2021 in-person AP exams would last the entire 3-4 hour duration, similar to previous years’ tests. Seems rather… normal, does it not?
Yet, after a year of taking online exams, a sudden change back to “normal” pencil and paper tests now feels out of place and bizarre. The classrooms, stationery, and company of teachers and fellow students, which was once taken for granted, now seem to be a strange new phenomenon. Yet, students can slip back into those comfortable habits as if the pandemic had never occurred. Even the long, grueling talk of the proctors during AP exam administration felt alien but normal at the same time. Although only for four hours in the morning, the first in-person exams have brought back some semblance of normal life before the pandemic for BISV students.
