On May 2, 2023, AP Chinese Language and Culture test-takers around the nation faced a system failure that hindered them from completing their exams.

Throughout the year, students were prepared to complete two listening and comprehension sections, an oral interview, and a cultural presentation in the span of three hours.

Jackson-Reed students were initially able to log in to the exam application, but no one made it past the exam’s first section before experiencing a frozen screen followed by an application closure. After attempting to resolve a loss of connection by moving from a second floor classroom to the school library, the group was still unable to resume testing and dismissed from school.

Prior to the incident, AP Chinese teacher, Yin Chang, expressed concerns about technical difficulties due to issues with the test in previous years. Chang belongs to an online community of AP Chinese teachers from whom she learned that test-takers in the western region of the US did not have issues taking the exam. Further, test-takers in the central region of the US initially faced issues similar to those faced in the east, but they were resolved within hours and testing continued. Tests in the eastern region of the US, including JR’s, were postponed.

The College Board did not assume direct responsibility for the failure, but did “apologize to any students and educators affected” via Twitter. They also established a second late testing date, May 24th, in addition to the original late testing date, May 18th. However, some remained unsatisfied with the situation. 

Junior Dana Clocker was frustrated when her computer crashed on the original testing date because it ruined her test-taking “momentum.” After reviewing the released exam prompts on the College Board website, Clocker felt that the May 24th test prompts were harder than the original prompts. “I wish I had been able to do those because they would have been easier for me,” she said. 

On the other hand, some were pleasantly surprised by the rescheduling. Junior Kinzly Gootman’s computer was the last one to crash during the original test. This meant she was able to make it through nearly the entire first section. Upon reflection, Gootman felt that the failure of the first testing day provided her with an opportunity to gain a better understanding of what the test was like, so she performed better when she took the test again on the 18th. 

Elizabeth Levenson, Jackson-Reed’s AP Coordinator, said that College Board did not send any details regarding the situation, but was told to file an Incident Report. This action is expected to be taken given any AP exam irregularity.