Did College Board Update Practice Tests Reddit

College Board's AP Guide said the 2021 Digital AP Exams Crave Computers with Cameras–simply and so changed their mind?

Final calendar week the College Board announced they were making changes to this year's Advanced Placement test administration, offering both newspaper or digital versions. While reading about the online testing options, on the College Lath website, I clicked on this 2021 AP® Test Administration Planning Guide. (I downloaded and archived the AP Guide here on Feb five, 2021.)

This guide said students would be required to utilize a estimator that has a camera and would have to apply their photographic camera to take a picture of their photo ID prior to taking the digital AP test. The guide too said that schools must "push" (install) exam application software on all devices to be used for digital testing.

The AP planning guide too said, "The exam application includes security features to detect impersonation, plagiarism, or other adulterous attempts , and restricts students from returning to answered questions or moving back and forth betwixt unanswered questions ." [emphasis added]

I asked the College Board (on twitter) if students would be required to have their camera or microphone ON during the online tests:

February 10: College Board removed the wording virtually the camera requirement

Although Higher Lath has not yet answered my Feb viii twitter questions virtually the camera requirement or monitoring software, information technology does appear they removed any mention of camera requirements on their updated Feb 10, 2021 AP Exam Administration Planning Guide Information technology looks like College Board also removed any reference to the requirement that students should take a picture of their photo ID with their computer camera, and upload it on the day of the examination.

Nonetheless, this February ten update does non address Higher Board selling/licensing of the data, nor does it address the online trackers we saw on the AP websites terminal yr. The February 10 update too does not address what surveillance/proctoring software that schools and students will exist required to upload and use. The guidance still mentions "examination application" that applied science staff will have to "button" to pupil devices. Come across text beneath surrounded past the red box.

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-exam-assistants-planning-guide.pdf

The College Board'due south lack of transparency about how it uses and shares and markets the troves of educatee data reminds united states of the epistemic coup that Dr. Shoshana Zuboff wrote about in her contempo New York Times Op-ed.

Why it matters: College Board tracking, profiling, selling access to student data.

You will remember that last yr, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the Higher Lath administered the Advanced Placement (AP) exams in an online format for the first time. The technical problems of the online AP tests were widely reported, with students unable to complete their tests, unable to submit their answers even when they did complete the tests, and many claimed the online AP tests were discriminatory to disabled students. The 2020 botched AP tests led to a course action lawsuit against the College Board.

In addition to the glitches and technical difficulties of the test assistants, many were also concerned about hidden data collected during the online AP exams. It is well known that the Higher Board sells licenses to students' personal data, such as test score ranges, names, and demographic data, and this data tin be shared with third parties and fifty-fifty sold.

In fact, another form activeness lawsuit was filed against the College Lath last year for its deceptive practices, including selling student data to targeted advertisers such every bit Facebook.

In 2020 Consumer Reports looked at how the Higher Lath shared students' data when online; they establish that the Higher Board was "tracking students and sending information near their action to advertizing platforms at companies such as Facebook and Google" and " These practices seem to contradict the Higher Lath'due south explicit promises to consumers. The company may be sharing students' data without consent ."

We also looked at the data traffic and we found 25 trackers on the College Lath'due south websites–sending kids' data to companies like YouTube, Facebook, Google, Adobe Marketing etc. Nosotros also found Lucky Orangish on the AP demo page which is a first party tracker that can tape every keystroke and where the mouse moved, everything a student did on the webpage.

What monitoring software will the 2021 digital AP exam require?

We practise not know what software will exist required for this yr's digital AP exams, because the College Board has not released that information yet.

Examity?

The Higher Board already uses the monitoring/ proctoring software Examity for its Accuplacer tests. Examity is one of v software proctoring companies listed in a lawsuit brought forth by Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic), for their "collection of personal information and the use of "secret algorithms" — amount to "unfair and deceptive trade practices." Interestingly, Examity has a requirement for students to submit pictures of their photograph ID prior to the online exam, like to the protocol mentioned in 2021 original AP Guide.

Some other secure browser in conjunction with Cambium?

The College Lath has already used another visitor, Cambium Cess, Inc.™ (CAI)—for this year's online PSAT 8/nine exam delivery. (Cambium Assessment was formerly endemic by AIR, read about their 2019 purchase here.) Co-ordinate this 2020-2021 College Board Saturday Educator Guide, the Cambium platform was used for the first ever online PSAT online tests:

College Board besides posted this Testing Organization Overview clarification for the Cambium-based online assessments:

Secure Browser

"The secure browser is the student testing application used for the preadministration session too as testing. It prevents students from using other applications and from copying test information and must be installed on all test taker devices. The secure browser you install depends on the operating organisation your students employ."

If your school already uses the CAI test commitment system and your students have the exam on Chromebooks or iPads, you'll need to change the assessment program in SecureTestBrowser. For Windows and Mac, you'll demand to install the College Board version of the secure browser.

Install the secure browser

Digital Exam Exercise

For hands-on practice administering digital tests, proctors should employ the TA Interface Practice Site . Students can practice navigating the exam and using the bachelor tools in the Student Digital Test Preview .

Each site can be used independently, just we recommend also using them together to hold a examination day simulation and exercise allowing students into the testing session.

Proctors tin also click through a brusk simulation on their own—no sign-on required.

Learn how to practice giving digital tests.

Student Tools

When students accept the exam, they'll be able to utilize these tools:

Clock: Counts downward the time left for each section and gives a v-minute warning. Can exist hidden.
Mark for review: Allows students to flag questions for later review.
Embedded Desmos calculator: Available onscreen for calculator-allowed questions.
Reference: Allows students to view standard mathematical formulas.
Notes: For digital note-taking; students also receive scratch paper.
Highlighter: Available for making text, questions, and answer options.
Line focus: Uses masking to guide students equally they read.
Strikethrough: Allows students to eliminate answer options.
Zoom in/zoom out: Enlarges the text and images on a exam folio.

Discover out which additional tools are bachelor for students approved to test with accommodations ."

— quoted from College Board digital testing overview hither: https://digitaltesting.collegeboard.org/digital-preparedness/testing-system-overview

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It's interesting that this digital PSAT eight/9 testing guidance says students can flag questions and go back to review them, as opposed to the current digital AP guidance which says the exam application "restricts students from returning to answered questions or moving back and forth between unanswered questions."

Information technology is also interesting that the online PSAT tests immune students to employ iPads but the 2021 online AP tests practice not allow iPads. Higher Board as well says schools should not assign the same device to multiple students for the digital AP tests. How will that work for schools who rely on students using reckoner labs or chromebook carts, or students at home who share a computer with a sibling?

Remaining questions and concerns

Will the Higher Lath allow third political party tracking and sharing of student data during the online AP examination?
What proctoring software will the digital AP exam use?
Will students yet need to submit a photo ID?
Will students' keystrokes be logged, screens exist recorded?
Will the Higher Board let disabled students the same approved accommodations for paper compared to digital exams?
Finally, the elephant in the room: why must kids who study hard all year, accept to agree to College Board's (constantly changing) terms of service that allows the company to sell and market their data and strips students of their rights via a forced mediation clause?

Forced consent is not consent, and these provisions appear to be the visitor's deceptive and legally dubious attempt to go around the laws in 21 states that bar school vendors from selling student data.

Source: https://studentprivacymatters.org/did-college-board-change-its-mind-about-requiring-cameras-on-this-years-online-ap-exams-what-security-software-will-the-online-ap-require/

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