AP Exams: Students prepared, did Costa?

Grace Dietz

Executive Arts Writer

This year, the overload of construction on campus has plagued the fluidity of Advanced Placement exams. A select number of students strive to attain a perfect 5 on their exams in order to attain college credit, but little do they know that the current construction with the gym made this time of year even more confusing and chaotic.

This year, AP testing took place from May 6-17. Because the gym is under construction and the library is unavailable due to  asbestos contamination, the exams were administered in other campus locations, including the small theatre, that met testing requirements.

The College Board requires that each desk must be a set distance from other desks in an effort to minimize the risk of cheating. Test proctors and school administrators checked the distance between desks prior to exams in order to comply with College Board regulations, Vice Principal Deborah Hofreiter said. There is a possibility that students’ exam scores can be invalidated if spacing between desks is not exact, according to Hofreiter.

In previous years, Fisher Gym and the small gym were used as the primary testing facilities on campus due to their large size. Now that the gyms are no longer standing, MCHS needed twice as many testing locations as last year in order to accommodate every student, as not even the largest classroom or additional areas amount to the extensive capacity of the Fisher gym, Hofreiter said. With a larger number of testing locations it is probable that students were overwhelmed with the new changes and lack of organization, therefore interfering with the efficiency of the test taking process.

Each testing room must be properly lit and well ventilated according to College Board. This year students who took exams in the auditorium were distracted by factors that are not allowed, according to the College Board. The auditorium was freezing, and students in the auditorium were either in the bright light of the stage or near darkness.

With the need for more testing locations came the need for more exam proctors. According to College Board regulations, it is necessary to have one proctor administering every 34 students’ exams. The more exam areas there are, the more money administration is spending on proctors. The current construction with the gym has already used approximately $38.5 million of the school’s budget, with help from a bond passed by Manhattan Beach voters, according to Principle Ben Dale. The fact that the district has to pay for more proctors now only escalates the situation.

Considering the need for additional proctors and the influx of students, the possibility of cheating has increased significantly. However, by only having one proctor per room this year, in most rooms cheating could have become a significant problem as it was last year. Cheating during an AP exam could invalidate every students’ scores of that certain AP test if the incident came to College Board’s attention.

Despite the challenge, AP testing on campus is still the most logical solution  as it would have cost MCHS more money and inconveniences if the administration changed testing locations.

Overall, the construction of the gym and closure of the library led to confusion for students taking AP exams this year. Although the district may not have realized that construction of the gym would pose this many obstacles to AP exams, there still should have been procedures in place to ensure that students could take their exams without significant levels of confusion and panic. Prior to testing, there was widespread confusion among students up until the day of the test. The proctors were trained specifically to walk around and monitor during the exam, according to Hofreiter. While they might have been more equipped with standard procedures, the proctors this year were ill-informed of testing protocol, as evident during the AP United States History Exam, according to junior Leigh Lyter. Students were confused during the time leading up to the exam because many of the usual steps were skipped. This was likely a result of poor training and a lack of communication.