Confirming Accommodations for Digital AP Exams

AP coordinators assigning a student with approved accommodations to a digital exam need to take some additional steps in AP Registration and Ordering to confirm students’ accommodations.    

• It’s recommended these steps be done at the same time the AP coordinator confirms a digital exam for a student—but these steps can also be done after March 15 if needed. This should be done as soon as possible if you haven’t already done so, and must be done no later than 2 calendar days before the scheduled digital exam date.  

• When moving a student with an existing order for a paper exam to a digital exam in AP Registration and Ordering, you’ll be prompted to review the accommodations information for the student. Work with the SSD coordinator and the student to confirm whether any changes are needed to the accommodations that will be used for a digital exam. 

Note: This screen will include a statement that you’re changing the exam date; this will appear even when moving a student from paper to digital during the regular exam administration, because this change is selected from the Exam Date field of the student roster.   

To confirm a student’s accommodations after moving them to a digital exam:  

1. Go to the student roster in AP Registration and Ordering.  
2. Click a student’s name to go to their Student Details page.  
3. On the Student Details page, click Digital Exam: Special Format next to the student’s digital exam subject. 

4. On the next screen, review the accommodations the student will receive on their digital exam, which is based on their approved accommodations on record through College Board SSD Online. Accommodations will be automatically shown as selected based on the student’s approvals. 

• Accommodations correct and no changes needed: No further action is needed. 

• Student wants to waive accommodations: Follow instructions below for waiving accommodations. 

• Additional accommodations required: If a student requires additional accommodations for a digital exam that they’re not already approved for, the request for accommodations must be submitted by the SSD coordinator through SSD Online as soon as possible. 

• Accommodation not listed: If you don’t see an accommodation listed that the student is already approved for and should receive on the digital exam, contact the College Board SSD office as soon as possible. Note:

  • Requests for accommodations may still be in the process of being evaluated by the College Board SSD office and therefore not yet shown in AP Registration and Ordering. Work with the SSD coordinator to verify whether the student’s accommodations have been approved. You can check accommodations in AP Registration and Ordering at a later point once a student’s request has been approved.   

•  Multiple-day testing: Multiple-day testing is not automatically selected—the AP coordinator must indicate this accommodation. Later this spring, instructions will be sent to schools who have students with approved accommodations that make them eligible for multiple-day testing.   

Updates for the 2024 AP Exam Administration

• On this screen, all of a student’s approved accommodations that are applicable to the digital exam subject will be shown, including accommodations that aren’t delivered through the digital testing application (such as accommodations for food/drink/medication or permission to test blood sugar). 

• Students approved for a human reader accommodation will receive a digital exam formatted to work with screen reader applications; you’ll see “screen reader/text-to-speech” displayed as the accommodation.  

• Students approved for a writer/scribe accommodation will receive a digital exam formatted to work with speech-to-text applications; you’ll see “dictation for digital tests” displayed as the accommodation.  

• If a request was submitted and approved for a student to take their digital exam with a human reader or human writer/scribe, rather than using assistive technology (screen reader or speech-to-text applications), you’ll see “human reader for digital tests” or “scribe for digital tests” listed.  

Reminders:  

After you move students with approved accommodations to a digital exam, you’ll be able to use the Accommodations filter on the student roster to view students with specific types of accommodations for digital exams.

If you’re moving multiple students at a time from paper to digital exams in AP Registration and Ordering, you’ll be prompted to review details for any students with accommodations, but the alert won’t indicate the specific students. It’s important to have a list of the students with approved accommodations to reference so you can navigate to the appropriate Student Details pages.  

If you previously submitted an order for a special exam format (e.g., large print, braille), the special format exam materials will be removed from your order when you move the student to a digital exam and submit the update to your exam order. For instance, if you previously ordered a large print exam format for a student you’re now moving to a digital exam, the large print exam order will be removed because those exam materials are no longer needed for a digital exam. 

Waiving Accommodations   

If a student determines they no longer want to test with some or all of their approved accommodations, they can request accommodations to be waived for the digital exam. For instance, a student who normally needs extended time for writing longhand might determine they don’t need extended time when working on a computer. Accommodations can be waived through AP Registration and Ordering after March 15 if needed. This should be done as soon as possible if you haven’t already done so and must be done no later than 2 calendar days before the scheduled digital exam date.    

If a student wants to opt out of using any or all of their approved accommodations, the AP coordinator should:   

1. Get a letter from the student stating their intent to waive their approved accommodations. The letter should specify which accommodation(s) the student wants to waive and for which digital exam subject(s). Keep the letter on file at your school. 

   • Students under age 18 must have their parent or guardian sign the letter acknowledging this waiver.  
   • Students 18 and over must sign the letter acknowledging this waiver.   

2. Update the student’s accommodations for the digital exam in AP Registration and Ordering. Because digital exams will be enabled based on the student’s approved accommodations on record, removing the accommodation in AP Registration and Ordering is necessary so those accommodations are removed from the student’s digital exam.  

   • Go to the student’s Student Details page in AP Registration and Ordering.   
   • Click Digital Exam: Special Format for the applicable exam subject. Note: If a student wants to waive accommodations for multiple exams, the AP coordinator needs to update the accommodations information for each exam the student is taking.   
   • From the next screen, deselect the accommodations the student wants to waive and click Update at the bottom of the screen.