AP tests are now mostly online. Here’s what some Minnesota schools have noticed.

In preparing students for Advanced Placement (AP) tests this year, Minnesota teachers had to ask a few new questions: Do you know your username? Your online password? Is your laptop fully charged?

That’s because the College Board, the national organization responsible for the courses’ standardized tests — which allow high school students to earn college credit — has transitioned most of its AP exams online. For 28 of the 36 AP subjects, bubble sheets requiring a No. 2 pencil are a thing of the past.

“Anytime you’re relying on technology, there are risks,” said Kevin Nelson, the AP coordinator at Bloomington’s Kennedy High School. “But this, far and away, has been the smoothest year.”

The widespread adoption of online testing platforms began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person testing was limited. Now, it’s become almost routine, say school leaders. Even after coming back to school after distance learning, many schools continued using online platforms for lessons, assignments and tests, which students complete on their district-provided laptops.

It’s what kids are used to, said Jessica Lange Brar, the assessment coordinator for Eden Prairie schools.

“They’re actually more comfortable testing online,” Brar said of the exams, which were administered this week and last week. “Paper makes them feel like it’s more official and raises their stress a little.”

Students use a digital testing app called Bluebook — the same platform students use to take the SAT, which is, as of last year, also entirely online. The app closes all other applications to prevent cheating.

Some “hybrid digital” AP exams for courses that require solving equations still include a paper booklet for some answers. But the shift to digital means school staff have less paperwork to order, store, count, sort and mail.

In previous years, Nelson said he’d have “boxes and boxes and boxes” of test booklets.

“Most of the job was just sorting piles of tests, making sure everything stayed secure, making sure students put the right labeling stickers on their test,” he said. “Now there’s just less chance for error in the process.”

Students were often anxious about filling in a bubble sheet with their name, worried about messing up before even starting their exam, Brar said. Now they can get started faster and don’t have to listen to half an hour of instruction about labeling their test booklet.

The online testing platform also monitors time, which makes it easier to offer additional time or breaks for students who need accommodations.

“It feels like they are less following our schedule and more that they are following the schedule of their exam,” Nelson said.

Still, there are new logistical considerations with the online tests. Students often bring their school device, but schools still need to have space and additional technology to make sure sometimes hundreds of students can take the exam at once.

Osseo Area Schools had to purchase additional power strips and cords to ensure students’ laptops didn’t die during the test. District spokeswoman Kay Villella said the reliance on technology means that if any major technical glitches happened, students would need to take a late exam on a different day.

The testing has gone smoothly in Osseo, but training the proctors and ensuring all students had an updated laptop and access to the testing app took a lot of front-end work, Villella said.

At Kennedy High in Bloomington, the only hiccup came after a phishing attempt to district email addresses left a few students unable to open their inbox for a message they needed to access Bluebook. It was an easy fix, Nelson said, but it did cause him to wonder about the headaches of a broader tech problem on testing day.

Ideally, the new system allows students to log in and “get to spend more time and energy on the exam instead of jumping through the hoops needed to start the exam,” Nelson said.

“But it’s still weird to think that these kids maybe haven’t seen a bubble sheet.”