After a year of rigorous curriculum at an advanced placement level, it only makes sense that Schreiber students enter their AP exams with a serious mindset in order to evaluate whether they truly grasped an understanding of the coursework.
Students work extremely hard all year and devote long hours to their studies in order to prepare for this final exam.
They should not have to worry about anything but their exam upon entering the exam room.
However, come AP testing week, Schreiber’s examination environment is anything but collegiate.
Morning tests—said to start at 8 a.m. and afternoon tests—said to start by 12 p.m.—frequently roll over their predetermined time blocks and inevitably disrupt many students’ schedules for the rest of the day.
Additionally, each AP exam is monitored by proctors who are usually randomly assigned substitute teachers.
The proctors do not have to go through any training to administer the exam, and often are not familiar enough with the test procedures to help students.
As a result, many students with questions concerning testing protocols, are unable to seek out the unresolved answers about where to fill in personal information and place specific identification labels.
Many students have encountered blank stares when asking one of the proctors a question about how to properly fill out the test materials.
The Schreiber Times believes that it is the school’s responsibility to ensure that that the proctors who are selected know how to properly assist students in filling out various forms and should be accommodating to students who are required to take these long stressful exams.
It is understandable that regular teachers are busy at the time of the exams and are therefore unable to proctor them, but the school should still make sure that the proctors’ that they choose are able to answer students’ questions.
If worrying about each exam’s content were not enough pressure, many Schreiber students felt anxious over whether or not their scantron was filled out correctly before an exam could even start.
The Schreiber Times feels that the added stress of worrying if their test scores could be compromised by information that was not filled out correctly could negatively affect the way that students perform.
This casualty immediately undermines the professionalism of the AP exam testing setting and can potentially distort the serious mindset with which AP students wish to enter each test.