By Uy Pham
The College Board announced that its shift to require digital AP exam administration has accelerated to include 28 AP exams for the 2025 AP exam testing season. This marks a shift from the College Board’s previous announcement around March that only 9 AP exams would be completely administered in a digital format.
Of the 28 AP exams, 16 will be fully digital and 12 will be hybrid digital. For hybrid digital exams, the multiple-choice section will be conducted online in the Bluebook app while the free response sections will still be answered in a physical booklet. However, the College Board notes that the free response questions will be shown on Bluebook.
As with the previous announcement, The College Board confirms that paper exams will only be distributed for students with testing accommodations. Exam content, length and question type will remain unchanged. The calculator policy remains, with a potential for a Desmos calculator to be embedded within Bluebook.
In the press release announcing the acceleration of digital testing, Head of the Advanced Placement Program Trevor Packer cited test security reasons for the acceleration.
“Unfortunately, this year, we saw a rise in bad actors compromising AP exam content for financial gain,” Packer said. “We were able to avoid large-scale cancellations only because none of the compromised material was distributed broadly. But we believe that paper AP testing will continue to be vulnerable to theft and cheating.”
Packer suggests that digital exams will be more secure rather than shipping paper booklets and that digital exams are streamlined, accessible and student-friendly.
The following 16 AP exams will be fully digital: African American Studies, Art History, Comparative Government and Politics, Computer Science A, Computer Science Principles, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Environmental Science, European History, Human Geography, Latin, Psychology, Seminar, United States Government and Politics, United States History (APUSH) and World History: Modern.
“Since the majority of students in our age range type much faster than they can write, I believe that the overall quality of responses will increase drastically. Grammatical errors will decrease, and more complex thoughts and ideas will be shown on the exams,” senior Kyle Delengocky said. “Penmanship and legibility will no longer be a concern.”
Hybrid digital testing is reserved for the 12 exams covering science, math and economics: Biology, Calculus AB and BC, Chemistry, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Precalculus, Statistics and all of the AP Physics courses.
However, all foreign language exams and AP Music Theory will remain in their current physical format, but plans for digital testing will arrive in the future.
“We understand that this is a significant change, and we will work closely with the AP community throughout the year to ensure that schools have the information and resources they need to prepare for digital AP Exams,” Packer said.
Students and teachers’ thoughts
Out of the five teachers who responded to a survey sent by Baron Banner regarding hybrid digital AP exam testing, four confirmed that both multiple choice and free response components are on paper in their class. Of the four, two will not make changes this year, and two are open to consideration. One teacher already utilizes a hybrid digital format in their class for examinations.
AP Statistics teacher Chrystine Lee pointed out the potential environmental impacts of moving away from paper test booklets.
“I’m thinking of the environmental impact of not printing huge test booklets, not shipping them all over the world and not shipping them back for scoring,” Lee said. “This will save so many resources and will be worth it if it works.”
AP Physics 1 teacher Debbie Dickinson is hopeful that the online component of multiple choice questions will save crucial test time.
“For physics, just the multiple choice will be online, which means not marking your answer darkly and then trying to erase it and then ripping your test booklet,” Dickinson said. “Anything that reduces the bubbling has got to be an improvement.”
However, while some students agree with the benefit of being able to easily draft and edit free response answers online for the fully digital exams, others have concerns about being able to physically write on the multiple choice booklets.
“Being able to write on the physical sheet of paper where the question was asked makes a huge difference,” junior Evan Ready said. “Especially in physics, I underlined and circled parts while writing formulas or drawing diagrams. Having a scratch paper might not sound inconvenient, but it forces you to jump back and forth from physical to digital.”
Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) preparation
Previously, FVHS planned to offer four AP exams in a digital format for May 2023. Approximately 20 AP English Literature students could not submit their test, and 45 APUSH students could not access the test at all. As a result, the remaining two digital exams were moved online, and FVHS did not offer any digital exams in May 2024.
FVHS Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Instruction Brian Clark confirmed there are plans to have stress tests during Baron Academic Time on Mondays.
“These stress tests are an opportunity to have as many students as possible bring their school-issued devices to campus to test the limits of our Wi-Fi capabilities,” Clark said. “There should be one this semester and one in spring.”
If the Internet disconnects during testing or the device runs out of battery, students will be expected to be able to continue their progress. Through the Bluebook app, an internet connection is only required to log in and set up the exam. Students’ work will be saved, and testing time will not be lost.
Plans to charge devices in between or during the testing sessions may be necessary for students who have multiple exams in one day.
Additionally, more Wi-Fi access points have been added to the gym, and AP teachers have been encouraged to begin introducing and testing the Bluebook app in their classes.
“We are naive enough to think that there will always be potential for problems,” Clark said. “We are working with our district tech[nology] department to ensure that the transition to digital exams is as seamless as possible.”
