Recently, Irvington made significant changes to policies surrounding College Board testing administration on campus. College Board, the nonprofit organization that designs the Advanced Placement (AP) program and oversees SAT/PSAT testing, has also made changes to the way testing is administered nationally.

Irvington students have been affected by these changes. The PSAT, a practice version of the SAT, was previously offered each October to students in both 10th and 11th grades. This year it was administered on October 2 and 3 and only offered to 11th grade students. When asked what prompted this change, Ms. Howell, who is responsible for PSAT/SAT administration in Irvington, said, “It’s all a district decision.” PSAT and SAT changes seen in Irvington were mirrored at other high school campuses in the district. This year, the SAT was offered to both seniors and juniors – a notable shift from previous years in which only seniors were eligible.

On a national scale, the emphasis is on digitizing exams administered by the Executive Board. The SAT has become fully digital from March 2024 and will continue to work electronically permanently. In the upcoming 2025 AP testing cycle, students will see a conversion to digital AP testing. The Board of Governors had attributed this change to reducing cheating and making exams fairer for students across the country.

Mr. Aucoin, Irvington’s AP coordinator, discussed how the changes will be implemented at the school. ‘Well, we’re just registering for the exams now. I’ve been talking to some of our IT people, just preliminary conversations about what changes might need to be made to strengthen our internet service here and ensure that we can successfully administer the exams in this new digital format.” He also added that 9th and 10th grade students, or those in lower grades, may register for only 2 self-study AP tests: AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics. Students in 11th and 12th grades will continue to receive priority for AP registration for independent study.

Mr. Aucoin recognized the merits of the argument that limiting the number of APs students can take as underclassmen places an unnecessary burden on students if they are upperclassmen. “I feel like sometimes students feel like they have to take more AP exams than what their universities actually require,” he explained. “But I do understand the idea that if they could spread them out over four years, it might be a little easier, and I wish we had the space to be able to offer them.”

Fremont Unified has also emphasized the importance of keeping testing consistent across high schools. “It really is district policy. And so if you were to check Mission, Washington or America’s AP testing policies, they will be exactly the same as ours,” Mr. Aucoin said. “We have the same policies, same exam fees, same registration window. So it really becomes a bigger discussion with the entire district, because we as coordinators all have the same policy.”

Despite the many changes in test administration this year, students will complete the registration process for all tests in the same way as in previous years.