Students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School prepare for Advanced Placement testing. Testing for APs starts on Monday, May 5 and continues through Friday, May 16, with make-up tests administered May 21-23. Every testing day, there will be a morning and afternoon test consecutively.

During the weeks leading up to AP exams, teachers prepare their students by assigning mock exams. These exams are split into Multiple Choice Questions and written responses, varying by course. For example, AP Language and Composition’s exam consists of three essays and MCQs, AP Biology’s consists of free response questions and MCQs and AP U.S. History’s consists of a long essay question, a document-based question, short answer questions and MCQs.

Students grade themselves on their mock exams for a better understanding of what they should be studying.

“We’ve been preparing our students since day one,” AP Language and Composition teacher Coral Bachen said. “We do multiple choice practice, in class writing and REHUGO, that is huge prep for all the different aspects of the exam. This year, we are doing modified mock exams during the class period.

Dates and locations for AP tests were posted on the Canvas homepage and MSD’s website. Students will take their tests in the auditorium or the media center; those with accommodations will test in a specific room. Testing location depends on how many people are taking each exam—bigger exams test in the auditorium.

Students have been advised to bring pencils, pens (not red), calculators (if permitted) and lap desks (if testing in the auditorium). They may also bring snacks and water, but the prior can only be accessed during breaks. It is also recommended to bring a jacket, seeing as the auditorium and media center tend to be cold. Scratch paper will be provided.

If students have testing in the morning and want to leave early or have testing in the afternoon and want to come in late, their absences will count against the 10-10-10 rule. Before and after exams, students will be in their normal classes. However, the days AP exams coincide with End of Course exams—May 7, 8 and 14—sign-outs will not count against the 10-10-10 rule.

Afternoon tests start at 12 p.m. and are likely to go past 2:40 p.m., meaning students will need to make sure they have a ride home. Morning tests start at 8 a.m. promptly.

For certain APs, teachers have been hosting after-school review sessions, in which they go over different exam topics. Additional review sessions were held at Northeast High School on April 11-12, but they required a $10 registration fee for each session attended.

“I wanted to go to the biology review [held by AP Biology teacher Itza Sierra] in order to make sure I am fully prepared for the AP exam, and it’s free to attend,” junior Mylie Mayberry said.

Laptops will be given to students as the majority of AP exams are now either fully or partially online. Plus, students can also test on their own computers; they have simply been asked to download Bluebook beforehand hand if doing so. If a laptop dies during an exam, the timer will stop until the student resumes testing.

During testing, proctors will no longer be saying the suggested times for when students should be completing parts of their exams. Instead, a timer on each computer will let students know how much time they have left individually.

In previous years test results were given out late summer, and the same is true this year as well. Scores will be available beginning on Monday, July 7 and students can check their results by signing into their College Board accounts.