AP Tests Try New Devices

Searching for a way to facilitate tests on technological devices, for first time in the school’s  history, Chromebooks were allowed to present the voice recording portion of AP tests.

For first time, the school used chromebooks during the AP tests. Chromebooks are advanced computers that have integrated microphones and speakers, which simplifies voice recordings for users. Thanks to this, the newly bought devices, made the tests run easily and less people experienced issues than last year.

“On the 8th of May, the [Spanish Language and Culture] AP exam was carried out, which requires a spoken portion for the college board. This year they permitted for first time Chromebooks to take on the activity. We installed devices in the rooms for all the students, and because of the Chromebooks it was much easier and fast for students to present the exam,” said Nasly Vélez, head of the Tech 911 team.

Chromebooks have integrated high quality speakers and microphones, all features that helps with the speaking part of the AP test. Also, no additional programs or softwares had to be installed, which made the test preparation less complicated.

“These Chromebooks are computers that come with a good quality recording device and speaker. This facilitated the tests a lot, both for students and for us, who had to be constantly helping them fix problems in previous years,” mentioned Vélez.

In previous years students had to use Dell computers in the recording portion of the test, which had no integrated microphones and very poor speakers. Consequently, with the help of Tech 911, students had to wire up headphones, microphones, and speakers, which many times created distractions and problems.

“The test was very easy to take on due to the computers having such great microphones, which made it very helpful because they were not recording your classmates voice instead of yours. This allowed you to move on quickly and not having to repeat stuff over and over,” mentioned Julian Camacho TCS Student.

The Chromebooks are not only better and faster than Dell computers, but also allow students to record their own voice without any complications of overlapping with other voices from classmates, which was a major problem in past years were computers without built in microphones were used.

“I would really like the school to keep improving and getting better devices when it comes to tests and exams, this helps and facilitates in big ways students performance. I wish I could have done my tests with the new Chromebook technology” said Simon Pelaez, a TCS student who took the AP Spanish exam last year.