For many Upper School students, Ravenscroft’s shift to a distance-learning model in March was a harbinger of things to come: canceled college tours, postponed SATs and a fundamental realignment of what has become a rite of spring for high-performing students across the country: Advanced Placement course reviews and exams.
AP coursework at Ravenscroft typically involves a mix of hands-on activities, presentations, in-depth class discussion and small-group work. The work students and faculty did in adjusting to the new approach was, as Head of Upper School Aaron Sundstrom said, “impressive.”
“From seamlessly switching class discussions to a virtual platform to preparing students for the new at-home, online format of the exams, our teachers made great use of new digital tools from the College Board to supplement their own lessons and ensure students were prepared for their AP exams,” he said. “It was a tremendous show of both faculty and student resilience.”
“We hit the ground running”
AP exams — administered in May under the auspices of the nonprofit College Board — are typically set up as three-to-four-hour standardized sessions covering months of college-level courses. As with the SATs, public health restrictions introduced in response to COVID-19 might have led to the tests’ cancellation this year. But the College Board implemented a new online option that allowed students to showcase their knowledge while the material was still fresh.
As Ravenscroft Registrar Debbie Pirotte, whose office is responsible for ordering AP exams, said, “The College Board did an amazing job creating new exams and setting it up in a short timetable.”
Nevertheless, the new format meant fundamental changes in the exam itself. Students were now tasked with answering one or two free-response questions in 45 minutes, limiting how much content mastery they were able to demonstrate. The elimination of multiple-choice questions meant students might not be able to balance out their results if their responses to the free-response questions were weak. However, the College Board supplied assurances that the complexity of the questions would allow students to demonstrate their range of knowledge, for which they would receive credit.
Pirotte and the College Counseling Department had their hands full trying to stay on top of daily changes and provide students with accurate information.
“We were prepared to hit the ground running,” Lia Prugh, Co-Director of College Counseling, said. “What I’ve heard from parents and students is that they have been appreciative of how much they’ve been able to do at home.”
While a handful of students had technical issues with their online test submissions and had to register for a make-up session, Pirotte said most students had completed their AP tests by early June. Results are expected by mid-July.