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Online Misconduct

Cheating Accusations from The College Board’s Online AP Exams

By May 27, 2020April 6th, 2022No Comments

One of the most notorious parts of AP classes in high school is the dreaded The College Board AP Exam. 

Each AP course has a corresponding intense and proctored AP Exam, but the question for high schoolers in the past few months has been how these exams would be administered in light of the coronavirus.

Now that testing has begun, however, there have been cheating accusations that may require some students to take their test a second time — and some whose scores may be canceled altogether.

How the AP Exams are different this year

For just the Spring 2020 semester, The College Board AP Exams will be conducted online as 45-minute tests. The College Board is providing two testing windows — the original which is currently taking place (late May), and the make-up testing period, which will take place the first week of June. 

These tests are open book/open note, but students should have no communication with others during the test — including via sharing sites and documents. Similarly, all submitted work must be the work of the student. 

Technically, students are allowed to search the Internet for answers, but due to the nature of the tests, these searches probably will not help their score and may end up being a waste of time.

In order to prevent cheating, The College Board has developed plagiarism-detection software that will review each exam. Similarly, each exam will also be reviewed by a teacher. Students accused of cheating (or when the software detects cheating), scores will be automatically canceled. 

If students are caught cheating, though, The College Board has indicated that their high school counselors and university admissions officers will be notified. Even though it’s traditionally the student’s choice to share their scores with colleges or not, if caught cheating, they would not be able to stop The College Board from reporting their name to college admissions officers.

Accusations of cheating

The Senior Vice President of The College Board tweeted on May 10 that they discovered “a ring of students who were developing plans to cheat.” They cancelled those students’ registrations for the exams and continued to investigate others.”

However, The College Board has refused to give any more details about the cheating ring or how they discovered it. 

Similarly, The College Board provided little information as to how plagiarism or other forms of cheating would be detected via their cheating detection system.

Obviously, the problem of cheating online is causing big questions for students and administrators alike — not just at the high school level, but for colleges and universities, too.

If social distancing rules remain in place or online exams become more of a norm, schools will need to lay out more distinct regulations as to what counts as cheating and how students can be sure to avoid making mistakes that lead to a cheating accusation.

Hire DC Student Defense to help you with your cheating accusation

If you or your child has been accused of cheating online, you don’t have to go through this process alone. Contact DC Student Defense today to get started.

Shan Wu

Author Shan Wu

Shan’s professional and personal background gives him a unique understanding of academic institutions and the criminal justice system. A former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., he is at home in D.C. Courts and very familiar with all of the Washington, D.C. law enforcement agencies, especially the Metropolitan Police Department. His parents were university professors so he grew up in a university environment. He understands the mindset of academic institutions. As a prosecutor, he supervised in the misdemeanor crime section. This is the section of the Washington, D.C. prosecutor’s office that handles most college student cases. His understanding of charging decisions and how judges view these cases is invaluable to his student clients and their families. Shan served as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia for over ten years. During his tenure there, now Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. appointed him to supervisory positions in the Misdemeanor Trial Section and also in a police corruption task force. His outstanding legal work in the government was recognized through numerous Special Achievement Awards from the Justice Department as well as awards conveyed by law enforcement agencies and community groups. From 1999-2000, Shan served as Counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno, advising her on criminal and civil investigations, E-Gov, E-Commerce (electronic signatures, internet gambling, internet telephony, privacy & public access issues in electronic court filings), congressional oversight, and legislative review. His responsibilities included serving as liaison to the FBI, DEA, Criminal Division, Executive Office of United States Attorneys, National Institute of Justice, and White House Counsel’s Office. Shan serves on the D.C. Bar Association’s Hearing Committee of the Board on Professional Responsibility and is a past president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association for the Greater Washington, D.C. area. He is a 1988 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated Order of the Barristers, edited two law reviews, and was Co-Director of the Moot Court Program. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from Vassar College as well as a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Following law school, he clerked for the late Hon. Jerry Buchmeyer, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, and the late Eugene Wright, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and Connecticut.

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