Since schools were closed during the COVID-19 outbreak, there have been many questions and concerns. Will there still be college entrance exams? What about advanced placement tests? What about getting credits to graduate? And then, what about high school proms and graduations?
The University of California and California State University systems are relaxing some admissions requirements in the wake of the pandemic which has added stress to everyone's life, including students trying to get into college.
Those applying to UC schools for the fall of 2020-2021 will not have to take a standardized entrance exam. UC and Cal State schools also are suspending any letter grades for students taking classes to get into college during the school closures and the resulting distance learning.
According to its website, the College Board said it surveyed 18,000 students to find out if they still wanted the opportunity to take Advanced Placement tests, which give students college credit and usually are given in May. The College Board said the answer was a resounding yes. So for the 2019-2020 AP exams only, the College Board is developing a secure, 45 minute online free response exam for each course. The content will focus on what schools were able to complete by early March. Students can take the exams on any device. They can even take it by hand.
The College Board said it would have more information about the plan for AP exams Friday.
As for standardized college entrance exams, the College Board's website said the next SAT is scheduled for the first weekend in June. The College Board is working with test centers and will decide whether it is safe to hold the tests. The College Board said it would be flexible in making the SAT available in school, or out of school, depending on the public health situation.
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What about prom and graduation? The San Diego Unified School District will meet Tuesday to decide on putting together a task force made up of students from each high school who can come up with a creative way to have virtual proms and virtual graduations.
SDUSD Trustee Richard Barrera said if schools are safe to open by July or August, schools could have real proms and graduations.
