Examining the Advanced Placement Program

As Advanced Placement (AP) students file into their respective testing rooms, most feel somewhat prepared to take the exam they’ve spent the entire school year preparing for. However, this year, when a person takes a glance through the doors of the sixth floor gym during the multiple choice section, they’ll find not the expected rows of students hunched over exam booklets but instead rows of screens tuned to Bluebook.  

CollegeBoard created AP exams in 1952. A study done at the Andover, Exeter, and Lawrenceville preparatory schools found that many high school students had demonstrated the ability to handle college-level coursework, and due to the fear that American education was falling behind during the Cold War, the AP program was established. These exams, quickly rising to become the mark of prestige, were taken on paper for decades—until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when CollegeBoard first introduced digital AP exams. In 2021, exams returned to the in-person format, but CollegeBoard has since been gradually transitioning to digital testing, with digital options for seven exams in 2023 and eight in 2024. In May 2025, 28 out of the 39 AP exams administered are digital, with no paper options available. These changes were implemented to improve exam security, following an increased number of cheating attempts in May 2024; digital testing is supposedly much more secure than paper testing. 

While it may look good on paper, the shift to digital AP exams is sudden and confusing for many students. In a world where newer generations are criticized for being “screenagers,” and more and more everyday actions rely on the digital world, students’ lives have become more difficult to navigate. There is consistent pushback against the digitization of our lives, such as a pending cell phone ban in New York City schools. When arguably the most influential exams for our college applications turn digital and students’ access to said online world becomes continuously more limited, one can’t help but wonder, “Where do we go?” 

Students are frustrated by the sudden shift toward digital testing, especially when placed in the context of hyper-competitive stress. AP exams and classes are at the forefront of the college admissions process, and at a school like Stuyvesant, the tests compound pre-existing anxiety about senior year. Many feel forced to take an excessive number of AP exams, leading to long nights of studying and a loss of sleep; when a new factor of digitization is added, students feel extremely demoralized.

Additionally, a multitude of practical concerns make digital testing stressful. Students complete these exams on cramped desks, leaving little room for the free response packets, scrap paper, writing utensils and calculators—let alone the chromebooks. From our experiences with the digital SAT, which became strictly digital in March 2024, we also worry about the consequences of technical issues. Problems with internet access, glitches, and slow and outdated school-wide chromebook technology can all contribute to setbacks and lost time on these three-hour exams. Unlike the SAT, the AP exams are only administered during a small window in May, prompting the question of what would happen if a student is unable to take the exam due to technical difficulties. 

Faulty technology isn’t our only grievance. Taking a long exam on a computer is strenuous—difficulties in concentration and eye strain can impact testing ability. For students who might take up to two AP exams a day or multiple AP exams in a week, the constant use of small screens for an extended period of time diminishes their intellectual abilities. If these exams are meant to measure students’ capacity to excel at college-level work, it is ironic that the environment for the tests does not enable our best work to come out.

Current high school students aren’t used to this mode of testing, and the transition between paper and digital testing has been too abrupt. From paper testing in 2024 to complete hybrid or digital testing in 2025, students and teachers are unsure of what to expect in terms of testing format, content, and schedule when it comes to digital AP exams, resulting in frustration; there is a lack of transparency about these changed policies, and students often feel like the CollegeBoard’s guinea pigs. And, while Stuyvesant students are privileged to have funding for computers, testing spaces, and proctors, other students may struggle to access the necessary resources or tools such as learning accommodations. 

Despite these concerns, digitization is likely inevitable, but AP testing doesn’t need to be exclusively online. Students who feel as if they would perform better on paper exams should be given the option to take a paper AP exam, while other students have the choice to take the digital exam. In addition, schools should make an effort to provide more efficient or updated devices in order to placate concerns of software glitches and technical malfunctions during the exam. Most importantly, however, the CollegeBoard should use students’ feedback—their grievances and experiences—to adjust the exams for the future. 

High school students all across the country are encouraged to take as many AP courses as possible. Colleges want to see that you’re not afraid of academic rigor and that you’re enthusiastic enough about your education to pile on the work. This philosophy is woefully flawed. 

At Stuyvesant, nearly every class is taught with as much rigor as an AP class. When colleges only look at the AP scores—exams you must pay to take—they don’t see the work that’s been put into the subject; rather, they see an arbitrary marker of a student’s willingness to learn. Not only does this foster more competition in an already stressful school environment, but it makes it harder for students to pursue the courses they’re truly interested in by mandating that they take the most difficult courses they can find, no matter the subject.

If students are going to be pushed into taking as many AP exams as possible, the least the CollegeBoard could do is listen to popular student demand for the exams to return to paper. It’s unfair to be told to fill our schedules with AP classes only to have no say in the actual testing experience, which, with the recent shift to digital testing, has become incredibly uncomfortable and disorienting.