Have you heard…the AP® Lang Exam is going digital! But, don’t worry because I’ve got some digital AP Lang exam tips to help you prepare.
The upcoming 2024 exam is going to be the last year for the paper version of the test, but some schools will be taking it digitally. In 2025, everybody will be taking the exam digitally.
Benefits of the Digital AP Lang Exam
Advantage #1 – It’s more efficient
If you’ve ever taken an AP exam with the paper version, you know that there are cellophane wrappers and stickers that make opening the exam a whole process. You won’t have to deal with that with the digital exam.
Advantage #2 – No more bubbling
You’ll be clicking answers instead of bubbling. This will save time for students who are meticulous about their bubbling.
Advantage #3 – Smoother breaks
Some teachers who gave the exam digitally last year have shared that the breaks were smoother between the MCQ and FRQ portions. I’m not sure how it’s that much smoother, but we’ll take their word for it!
Advantage #4 – Easier edits
For many students, typed essays are easier to edit. As teachers and AP readers, typed essays are easier to read.
Advantage #5 – Fewer hand cramps
Not having to hand-write three essays will help prevent hand cramps from so much writing.
Advantage #6 – Faster speed
For many students, typing an essay takes less time than writing the essay by hand.
Additional Digital AP Lang Exam Tips
- Typed FRQs are more like the writing and editing process in college. There are probably still professors who require hand-written essays, but for most assignments in college, students will be typing their essays. Since AP is like a college class, typed FRQs on the digital exam are more similar to the college experience.
- There’s a side-by-side view on the digital exam so you won’t have to flip between multiple pages. This will help to streamline the test-taking process.
- The testing platform is Blue Book. This is the same platform that the digital SAT uses. AP classroom is not the same as Blue Book, so if you’ve had trouble on AP Classroom, you shouldn’t face those same hiccups using Blue Book. Students and teachers who have used Blue Book have found it easy to use, so that’s a benefit.
AP Lang Digital MCQ Tips
- There’s a timer on the screen – if you don’t like to see a ticking clock, you can hide it. Depending on where you sit in the testing room, it may be difficult to see the clock, so having a timer is convenient if you need to know how much time is remaining.
- You can use shortcut keys – if you like to use different shortcuts and you’re taking the digital exam, it might be helpful to know and use these shortcut keys.
- The lines or paragraph referenced in the question will be highlighted. This is a benefit to the digital exam, because that doesn’t happen on the written exam. As a general test-taking tip, just because it references certain lines, it doesn’t mean that’s where the answer actually is. It’s still important to read the surrounding text for context clues.
- You can skip ahead to other MCQ passages and then go back.
- You can flag questions and then go back to them if you need to.
- If you like to use a pencil to trace under the words as you’re reading, that may be more difficult to do on a digital device. I would suggest to practice with some digital pdfs and practice reading on a screen.
AP Lang Digital FRQ Tips
- You can indent your paragraphs, but be careful with your tab key. Sometimes if you hit the tab key too many times, it can cause a glitch. There’s usually an indent button, so I would suggest using that. You can also simply hit enter twice between paragraphs.
- You can bold or italicize words. I would use this sparingly and make sure you’re only doing this in a meaningful way.
- Annotating will look different, but there are ways to annotate digitally. You can usually still highlight on a digital exam. If you like to take notes as you read, you can always type your notes and outline in the box and just delete them when you’re done.
- You won’t be able to copy the passage, so you will need to type quotes out as you find them. (Ctrl + c won’t work.)
- There is no autocorrect on Bluebook, so be sure to proofread your work. To be clear, spelling grammar are important but usually don’t factor into your score. These essays are viewed as a rough draft.
These are the best digital AP Lang exam tips I have gotten from students and teachers whose schools offered the digital AP Lang exam last year. If you took the exam last year and have tips I didn’t cover, please comment below or reach out to me on Instagram or TikTok @coachhallwrites.
