March 2020 AP exam updates - *we don't know* about format.

Hi everybody!  Hope you've been tuning in to me and Josh Beck on the Advanced Placement Youtube Channel.  We'll have a show for you every weekday at noon eastern, at least until exam time.

I'm posting here because I keep hearing incorrect and speculative statements about the 2020 AP exams.  Be just as careful about AP misinformation as you are about COVID misinformation.  Okay, maybe not quite as careful...

What is known:

1. The AP exams will in fact exist for 2020.
2. They will be taken from home, electronically.
3. They will be 45 minutes long.
4. They will not include straight-up multiple choice questions.
5. If you or someone you know needs help with connectivity for the exam, go to cb.org/tech.

That's it.  Everything else you might have heard is false or unconfirmed as of March.  Further announcements will come on April 3.

What is the format of the questions?  How will answers be input?  No one knows.

The development committees are working quite actively to figure out the answers to these questions.  I don't know how, or how well, any of this will work.  The College Board and ETS are trying very hard to adapt to a New World Order.  Compromises will be made.  It won't be perfect.  But I do trust the people on the development committees to do the absolute best that they can to create a good exam.

Please don't speculate.  Please don't spread rumors; if a student starts a sentence with "I heard that..." please gently end the conversation.  And I'd end it with the following:

The AP Physics test, in any format, tests a student's ability to communicate an understanding of physics principles.  If you know your physics, you'll do fine... no matter the format.

The AP exam cannot ever be "gamed".  If you're trying to find the One Weird Trick that will get credit on a certain style of problem, then, well, you're doomed.

Just practice the same kinds of questions we've always practiced in our courses.  That's all you can do, anyway.

GCJ