College Board will transition from paper AP tests to a digital format, starting in May of 2025.

There will be a total of 9 AP classes offered in a digital format according to College Board. 

All students taking these exams next year will take them digitally unless they have an approved testing accommodation.

Each year, College Board will announce more classes transitioning online. By 2026 another six AP exams are expected to turn digital. 

Although some exams are moving strictly online, College Board is giving certain AP classes the choice to take paper or digital exams.

For Lafayette, A+ Test Coordinator Jessica Brawner said it was decided in the beginning of the school year that two AP classes will be having their exams online this spring: AP World History and AP European History.

“It was decided that those were good classes to start with, then we’ll take the information that we learned this year to make decisions for next year,” she said. “AP World is primarily for 10th graders and for most of them, this is their first AP exam, so it’s not like they’ve taken paper and pencil ones in the past and this [isn’t] a big switch for them,” Brawner said.

According to College Board this transition comes with a few changes to the test-taking method. Primarily, students will take the exam through a web application called Bluebook.

“So in class, our students are going to be going over the whole web application. We will open it and we will run through it and they even have a practice exam so you can get the use of all the tools,” social studies teacher Steve Klawiter said. “The difference is on a pen and paper exam, you can circle something in the prompt, but on the digital exam, you’ll have to be familiar with their tools, like the highlight and annotate.”

Klawiter said he is excited to see his student’s results and feedback from the digital exam. 

“My seniors are still doing pen and paper in AP US History and my sophomores are going digital. So I get to kind of experience both at the same time and get feedback from both. Next year, all the classes I teach will be digital,” he said.

Students will have to use their Rockwood-issued Chromebooks for the test.

While there are certain changes, the exam itself and rules won’t change much. According to College Board, students taking the AP exam in May are still required to take it in school, with the same amount of questions in each section and with the same amount of time on the test.

“It’s still gonna be the exact same,” Brawner said. “I think that it’ll be better because [students] are used to working online. When we were doing paper and pencil exams, that was more of a change of pace for what our students are typically doing anyway,” Brawner said. 

Brawner said she is excited about this new change.

“I think that it’s being driven because most things are digital now and it just kind of makes sense, plus it’s a lot less expensive for them to put an exam online than it is to print a paper booklet,” Brawner said. 

Social studies teacher Matthew Weackerle said he is trying his best to prepare his students for the upcoming AP European History exam and said that this change has made teaching a little more difficult for him, specifically with the practice writing he gives to students.

“Now with Artificial Intelligence, students [could] accidentally end up making that decision to where they use Artificial Intelligence to write, then that becomes an issue,” he said.

Nonetheless, Weackerle said he is more excited than nervous.

“I’m excited anytime that we can get technology in front of kids, I think is always a good thing. So even with it being a digital format, it’s been nice to kind of switch a little bit more digital inside of the classroom,” Weackerle said.