AP Students, Parents, and Teachers-- this newsletter serves to update you on all things regarding the May 2025 AP exams. Please review this information and reach out to your AP teacher if you have questions regarding your exam(s).

AP exam registration for Spring-only semester classes (Macroeconomics or Government) will open on Tuesday, January 7th. Here is the link to register & pay in Total Registration.

AP exam registration closes on March 7. AP exams will NOT be ordered after March 7th.

The AP Program is accelerating the transition to digital testing in the Bluebook app starting in May 2025.

Read this newsletter to find out which exams are fully Digital, which are Hybrid, get an overview of the changes, and discover study/practice resources.

Starting in May 2025, standard paper testing will be discontinued for 28 AP Exams—these exams will move to the Bluebook digital testing application.

• Students will take digital exams in the Bluebook app.
• For math, science, and economics exams that require graphing or symbolic notation, students will view free-response questions and prompts in Bluebook and write their answers in paper exam booklets.

Of the 28 digital exams in 2025, 16 will be fully digital and 12 will be hybrid digital.

Fully Digital Subjects

Students complete multiple-choice and free-response questions in Bluebook, with all responses automatically submitted at the end of the exam.

• AP African American Studies (U.S. schools only)
• AP Art History
• AP Comparative Government and Politics
• AP Computer Science A
• AP Computer Science Principles
• AP English Language and Composition
• AP English Literature and Composition
• AP Environmental Science
• AP European History
• AP Human Geography
• AP Latin
• AP Psychology
• AP Seminar
• AP United States Government and Politics
• AP United States History
• AP World History: Modern

Students complete multiple-choice questions and view free-response questions in Bluebook. They handwrite their free-response answers in paper exam booklets that are returned for scoring. Learn more about the free-response booklets.

• AP Biology
• AP Calculus AB
• AP Calculus BC
• AP Chemistry
• AP Macroeconomics
• AP Microeconomics
• AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based
• AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based
• AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
• AP Physics C: Mechanics
• AP Precalculus
• AP Statistics

Note: The exam delivery, free-response section, and portfolio submission for the following AP subjects remain unchanged for the May 2025 AP Exam administration:

• AP 2-D Art and Design
• AP 3-D Art and Design
• AP Drawing
• AP Chinese Language and Culture
• AP French Language and Culture
• AP German Language and Culture
• AP Italian Language and Culture
• AP Japanese Language and Culture
• AP Music Theory
• AP Research
• AP Spanish Language and Culture
• AP Spanish Literature and Culture

Students should expect a new experience when they take a digital AP Exam. It’s not just about clicking instead of bubbling, it’s about a more self-directed exam day.

Students should be ready to:

• Sign in to Bluebook with their College Board account.
• Read most instructions on their device—students will only hear a few instructions from their proctor before they start testing.
• Take their break (if applicable) when Bluebook notifies them to.
• Use their approved accommodations, if applicable.

Encourage students to try a test preview in the Bluebook testing app.

As soon as Bluebook is downloaded to a student’s device, and they have signed in with their College Board account, they should explore sample AP Exam questions and get familiar with the testing tools in the app.

Test previews are not timed or scored, and students won’t receive feedback on their answers.

Bluebook digital testing is user-friendly and designed to keep testing smooth and secure.

• Exams can be taken on Mac and Windows devices, iPads, and school-managed Chromebooks. College Board will provide schools with loaner devices and Wi-Fi supports as needed.
• Students only need to be connected to the internet to start the test and at the end to submit their responses. If the internet drops during testing, students can continue testing without disruption.
• After the proctor starts the exam, Bluebook controls the exam timing; exam responses are submitted automatically as soon as the exam ends.
• In case of a widespread internet outage for an extended period or another unforeseen issue that prevents automatic answer submission at the end of the exam, students have up until 4 days after the exam to find an internet connection and submit their encrypted responses.
• Accommodations such as extended time are provided in Bluebook.
• Students will have ample opportunities to familiarize themselves with digital AP Exams, including test previews in the Bluebook app (available in January 2025), AP Classroom practice assessments that closely mimic the look and feel of Bluebook exams, video tours of Bluebook features and tools, and more.

The basic requirements of the exams aren’t changing.

• The number of sections, number and type of questions, question choice (if applicable), and timing remain unchanged.
• Students can go back within a section or part to review or complete previous questions. Students may not return to parts within a section that have already been completed.
• Digital AP Exams allow students to highlight and annotate exam stimuli and questions, mark questions to revisit, and eliminate answer choices for the multiple-choice section. Students will be able to plan and outline on scratch paper provided by the proctor.
• AP calculator policies have expanded to include access to the Desmos graphing calculator within Bluebook, with the exception of AP Statistics.
• Reference materials, such as the periodic table, equation sheets, and Java Quick Reference, will be available in Bluebook.

Learn how accommodations will work for the 2025 digital AP Exams and find information about common testing accommodations.

Digital AP Exams Versus Paper Exams

Many accommodations work the same way for digital exams as they do for paper exams. For example, students who are approved for extended time will receive a digital exam enabled with their approved amount of extended time per section/or part of the exam.

Some accommodations differ for digital testing because of features available in the Bluebook testing app. For example, students approved for large-print test books won’t need separate exam materials. They can take the digital exam with an increased font size by zooming in to enlarge the content as needed.

Students don’t need to submit new accommodations requests to use a digital alternative for an accommodation they’ve already received College Board approval for. For example, a student approved for a human reader doesn’t require additional/new approvals to test using a screen reader with a digital exam.

Accommodations with No Exam System Requirements

Accommodations that don’t involve assistive technology or a change to exam timing or breaks don’t require a special format of the digital AP Exam. Examples of these types of accommodations include permission for small-group testing, food/drink/medication, and permission to test blood sugar. These types of accommodations can be used by students with approvals from the College Board SSD office.

Temporary Supports

A student who has a temporary medical or physical condition (e.g., a broken hand) may request temporary assistance if it's needed to complete the exam. This process should be used only for students who don't have a disability but who need support during the test due to a temporary physical/medical condition. Requests must be submitted in SSD Online.

The deadline for submitting requests for temporary assistance is 10 calendar days before the scheduled digital exam date.

Two Ways to Practice

Sign in to the Bluebook app, and head to the Practice and Prepare section, where you’ll find two ways to practice: test previews and full-length practice tests.

Test Previews

A test preview is a short set of questions that lets you experience digital testing and try out all the tools. You won’t receive scores or any feedback on your answers.

Test previews are untimed. On test day, a timer will be running.

You may use assistive technology with a test preview. If you’re approved for extra time or breaks, you’ll get them on test day but not in the test preview. If you configure your assistive technology settings during a test preview, you may need to repeat this step on test day.

Test previews are available for AP Exams and SAT Suite of Assessments.

Full-Length Practice Tests

Full-length practice tests are timed like real tests, except you can move forward from one section to the next before time expires.

If you test with College Board-approved accommodations, you can select your accommodation when setting up the practice test and see how it will work on test day. If you configure your assistive technology settings during a practice test, you may need to repeat this step on test day.

Full-length practice tests are scored. After you complete a practice test in Bluebook, your scores will be available on My Practice.

Full-length practice tests are available for:

• SAT
• PSAT/NMSQT and PSAT 10
• PSAT 8/9
• Note: Full-length practice tests are not available for AP Exams in Bluebook. You can find other practice resources in AP Classroom.

For questions regarding Advanced Placement exams, contact Mrs. Lyon at dlyon@fisdk12.net or see her in the AP Office.