On Friday the 16th, of May, AP Psychology students, having studied sufficiently and prepared well (for the most part), sat down to take their AP exams. However, once testing was ready to start, it was apparent that something had gone wrong. The testing site, College Board, had experienced a major malfunction, leading to the students being unable to take the test. Confusion spread amongst the test-takers, followed by a sense of relief and thankfulness. As it turned out, College Board had experienced a widespread crash of the AP Psych exam that was leading to the students’ troubles with the site. The AP exam is no joke for any class, let alone AP Psych for students in Cresskill, as it’s a self-taught course with no outside help.
The students taking it all reacted differently to the news of the cancellation, with students that had studied rigorously in preparation for the exam for the most part feeling more shaken and rather angry with the issues, as it meant that they would now have to prepare for the AP test again, even if they were given more time. Other students, however, were more thankful than disappointed with the postponement of the exam, having been given a couple extra days to study for the AP exam. One such student is Aya Catran, a junior student who reflects the latter thoughts on the postponement of the exam. Upon being asked about her thoughts on it, Aya explained how she was “very relieved and ecstatic, because I didn’t have to take the test, and I got to go home.”
Aya viewed the postponement as giving her more free time before having to take the test, which Aya remarked that she used to “hang out with my friends, and we didn’t study at all.”
Of course, the students made sure to prepare again before having to take the test, as Aya suspected that the creators of the exam would “probably change the test and make the questions more unpredictable,” in order to make up for the students having more time to prepare.
However, other people were more unsure of the effects the AP postponement would have on the experiences of students. Mrs. DeMarco, who had been a proctor for the AP exam until it got delayed, realized quickly that there was an issue bigger than our building. She recalls, “once 15 minutes went by, I started googling about the national outage, then I saw students on different sources talking about the cancellation.” The news came as a shock to many, inspiring mixed emotions.
Mrs. DeMarco explains how “As a student, I’d rather have it postponed than have shenanigans disrupting the testing experience,” reflecting her belief that it’s better to have the exam be postponed than to have students take it with such technical issues. She also explains how the issues with the site had led to students getting stressed and having their thoughts “not be in the right place,” leading to further issues for the students as they aren’t able to focus on the exam as effectively.
This unexpected cancellation of the exam begs the question: could this happen again? The unfortunate truth is, it’s always possible. Technology always has its shortcomings like anything, and as Mrs. DeMarco says, “There are bound to be problems as a result of relying on computers [for testing.]” The best thing the people responsible for the AP testing can do is prepare sufficiently for such unpredictabilities, similar to how the students have to prepare for taking the AP exams themselves. While there’s always a chance of these things happening, this exam crash has acted as a learning experience for the people in charge, helping us avoid such issues in the future whenever possible. Is it possible we’ll see more of these issues in the future? Only time will tell.
