There is no doubt about it. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is rapidly adjusting everything we know about education and academic testing. It has massively impacted our community, as every person has had to change personal habits or activities due to the spread of the virus. In the education field, universities such as Harvard, UCI, UCLA, and USC have decided to close their campuses for the rest of the year in order to contain the spread, converting to online classes for the rest of the semester. Furthermore, high schools in the Los Angeles area have temporarily closed (with some of the schools extending their Spring Break), impacting the pace that teachers and students are going through the curriculum in the classroom.
What does this all mean?
As this is an article focused particularly based around high schools (and the impact it has on students), I will be focusing on the virus’s impact on education. It is hard to state exactly all of the changes that the College Board (the company that creates the AP and SAT exams) will make. So far, the March and May SAT exams have been cancelled in order to protect students. It has become apparent that with the progress of the virus, it is best that everyone tries their best to distance themselves and socially isolate.
Note that in this current time where there is a lot of misinformation and rumors floating around regarding the coronavirus, Royal Education does not want to present any misinformation that could be perceived as predicting the future, including in regards to what the College Board will do next. Currently, the College Board has an official statement that the makeup exams for March along with the May exam will be cancelled. The next anticipated date for the SAT will be June 6th, along with the AP exams happening from May 4th - May 15th.
When it comes to the AP exam, the College Board has made the following announcement on Twitter:
While it is not guaranteed that the College Board will administer the AP exams online, it seems that the College Board will entertain it as a possible option if the coronavirus situation gets worse with no mention of postponing or canceling the exam. In this regard, it may be alarming to students that are currently taking AP classes and plan to take the AP exams & SAT Subject Test of the respective topic. With the AP curriculum being extensive and thorough, any deviation from the pacing on these exams will only negatively impact students when it comes to being prepared for their AP exams and associated SAT Subject Tests as students will either not have: (1) finished covering all content for the AP exams, or (2) practiced enough in order to be prepared for the exam. This will then impact the possible score that students should be getting on the AP and SAT Subject Tests.
What is Royal Education doing?
In the case that schools in the area temporarily shut down, we have already made plans to adapt to the circumstance that is occurring. We have created our own personal system in which to conduct online classes and tutoring sessions in order to support students during this time. We will be having online classes in the various AP topics (AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP European History, AP United States, AP English Language, etc.) and SAT Subject Tests (Math II, Biology, Chemistry, US History, etc.). The intention of these classes is to prepare students for the AP exam, by reviewing old concepts and pushing forward into newer concepts to ensure that students are still on track towards being prepared for the AP exam.
We are committed to having classes conducted online in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The online class sessions will be conducted in a manner in which the students can still interact with the instructor, to ensure that students can still maximize on their learning. At Royal Education, we will do our best to continue being vigilant of the news, adapting to the circumstances as we go. By doing so, we believe that we can ensure that students still are progressing forward during these difficult times while building towards a brighter future. Feel free to reach out to us through the following outlets if you have any questions about our services, or about anything else:
Website: www.royaled.net
Phone Number: (818)-275-3424
Facebook: www.facebook.com/royaleducationinc
