by Sydney Henry ’20

As many U.S. schools have shut down for the remainder of the year due to coronavirus, the College Board was left to make an unprecedented decision about AP examination. At the beginning of April, the College Board decided to move its exams completely online and changed the formatting of the exams to better accommodate the current situation. All exams were postponed to a week after they were originally meant to occur and slimmed down from the original multiple section tests, to now be a 45 minute test with either one or two written response questions.

This change in the exam left many students wondering if they would still be receiving the college credit that they had worked for. The College Board has since announced that the decision about whether or not to give credit will be left up to the individual colleges and universities, with the official statement from the College Board saying “We’re confident that the vast majority of higher education institutions will award credit and/or placement as they have in the past.” 

However, this does not guarantee any credit to the high school students. Although many colleges have already announced that they will be giving full credit for this year’s exams, some students are still left wondering if their specific school will validate their efforts or not.

There is currently no official list that indicates whether or not colleges will be giving AP credit to incoming students, however a writing feedback website known as Prompt, has compiled a list (including sources) of all the institutions who have made an official decision and have made this list available to both students and educators. The list contains a small portion of colleges and universities in the U.S., but can be helpful to those looking for an official answer for these few institutions.

This uncertainty about whether or not they will receive credit has led many students to electively decide not to take this year’s exams. While some may see it as a waste to take the class and not take the exam, it’s understandable that many students are let down by the fact that they may not receive the credit they’ve worked for.

The current list compiled by Prompt can be found here: 

http://pages.prompt.com/colleges-that-accept-2020-ap-credit#change