Palo Alto High School administration has been working hard to prepare for the upcoming Advanced Placement (AP) testing. AP testing will begin on Monday May 4 and will continue for two weeks up until Friday May 15.

According to the assistant principal, Victoria Kim, a lot of preparation goes into AP testing even though it may not seem like it.

“After all the prep work in getting the word out about AP exam registration (deadlines, process, fees, etc.), we held AP pre-administration sessions during the week after we returned from Spring Break,” Kim said. “That week, there were three sessions held.  After the three sessions, my staff cross-referenced all students at the session with all students registered for an exam.  They were able to catch some errors — some students attended pre-administration sessions but never registered for the exam itself; others did not attend a pre-registration session.”

There have been many problems with the AP pre-administration sessions and the administration has been working to ensure that ensure that the two weeks run smoothly.

“Even with the three sessions offered, there were many students who didn’t attend the sessions (with a variety of reasons ranging from ‘I can’t make it because of this, this and this and all three of those days’ to ‘I forgot’),” Kim said. “So, in an effort to get all the students fill out the appropriate paperwork, we “invited” all appropriate students to go to P-5 for a make-up session the following week (four available time slots).  As of Friday, my staff has been able to confirm all students for the exam.”

Since a few of the AP exams involve the use of technology, the administration has also been working to prevent any technical difficulties from happening.

“The tech team on campus has met twice to discuss plans for implementation of any exam that requires technology –– mainly the language exams,” Kim said. “Not only does the tech team have to prepare all the necessary hardware for the exams, but they also had to host practice sessions for those students taking a language exam but not enrolled in a language class.  The two practice sessions were offered last week.”

Currently, the administration is working on room assignments for the nearly 1,600 AP tests will be taken by students during the two weeks.