The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

    AP Spanish test ran long nationwide

    I would like to respond to Marsha Labunsky’s article about
    the AP Spanish Language exam (“Technical glitches delay AP Spanish Language
    exam”). 

    The article states that the AP Spanish Language exam is
    supposed to take a little over three hours, implying that the technical
    problems alone are to blame for the fact that some students didn’t finish the
    exam until .  However, I would like to point out that this
    exam (with its new format) couldn’t possibly be administered in a little over
    three hours, even under ideal conditions. 
    I participate in an electronic discussion group of AP teachers, and many
    teachers reported information about how the test administration went in their
    schools.  The shortest test time that anyone reported was four hours, forty-five minutes.  That was the time reported in schools where
    there weren’t five groups sharing a language lab, and where nothing went wrong.

    In some cases, students spent eight hours taking the exam;
    this happened in schools where a number of students were sharing tape recorders
    in order to record their speaking.  Some
    of those students couldn’t take the AP Statistics exam that day because of the
    length of the Spanish exam. 

    I do not mean to imply that Marsha Labunsky doesn’t have a
    good point in questioning the length of the exam.  Many of us in my listserv agreed that we
    didn’t have to take a five-hour exam to get our Master’s Degree!  It would be interesting to see how the
    College Board would answer the question of why the exam has to be so very long
    and arduous.

    Figuring out the logistics of giving this exam is a
    Herculean task; Mr. Church, Mr. Gragg and Mr. Santiago are to be commended for
    their hard work in making it all happen. 
    I look forward to next year when, hopefully, the day will be a bit
    shorter for the students taking the test.

    Sincerely,

    Margot Riemer

    Leave a Comment
    More to Discover

    Comments (0)

    All The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Activate Search
    The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School
    AP Spanish test ran long nationwide