AP Update for DA STEM students planning on taking the AP Calc BC exam

Dear DA STEM students, 

The College Board has been changing their plans.  They announced on 3/20/2020 that they are developing secure 45-minute online free-response exams for each course.  The exam content will focus on what most schools were able to complete by early March.  

This means that the AP Calc BC exam will mostly focus on skills/topics you learned in Calc I.  Here is the list of sections that are historically on the AP Calc BC exam. Then I have included the topics that they currently are saying won’t be covered on the exam.   

First column is the sections that WILL be covered in the exam, and the second is those that WILL NOT be covered Calculus BC** Units 1-8 + 5 topics in Unit 10 (10.2, 10.5, 10.7, 10.8, and 10.11) Unit 9, Unit 10 (except Topics 10.2, 10.5, 10.7, 10.8, and 10.11) They are saying that it will be a 45 minute free response exam, which likely means 3 questions.

The College Board says you’ll be able to take your exams on any device you have access to—computer, tablet, or smartphone. You’ll also have the option to write your responses by hand and submit a photo.  They have talked to colleges and they support this solution and are committed to ensuring that AP students receive the credit they have worked to earn. For decades, colleges have accepted a shortened AP Exam for college credit when groups of students have experienced emergencies.   The College Board insists that the exams will be secure. They’ll be using a variety of digital security tools, including plagiarism detection software.

I haven’t heard yet whether they are changing the dates of the test.  I will keep you in the loop. This is all new to all of us.  

Sincerely,

Meredith