Throughout the year, hundreds of students at Hart will be working hard toward taking the infamous AP tests at the end of the school year in May. Teachers will continue to work vigorously to prepare students for these rigorous assessments through assignments, tests and writing practices. It was during my sophomore year that I enrolled in my first AP class. It was the first year back from COVID-19 lockdown, and I honestly had no idea what to expect from an AP class. I took AP World History: Modern with Mr. Williams, for which he assigned many free-response and long-essay questions. Both of these are common writing assignments AP teachers give to their students throughout the year.

Normally, students write out these assignments by hand, with pencil and paper. This is a very annoying task to complete. There were many times I found it difficult to write fast enough to keep up with the speed of my thoughts. On top of this, nothing is more frustrating than your hands getting tense as soon as you’re on a roll with your writing. These instances were only the major annoyances I experienced while writing AP essays by hand. Sadly, others have experienced worse: pencils running out of lead, not having a pencil, writing in pen and then having to erase; the list goes on. Because of this, AP writing assessments should be on a computer instead of being written by hand.

Later in my AP career, I enrolled in AP English Language and Composition during my junior year with the amazing Mrs. Mohsen. At the beginning of the academic year, she informed her classes that we were all going to pilot the new digital version of the AP Language and Composition test. Instead of writing three essays by hand, we would type them. After completing the exam, I can attest that this version of the test was much easier and efficient for both students and teachers.

Taking into consideration the differences between writing three essays and typing three essays, it is obvious that typing makes it so much easier for students to complete their exams. This would improve test scores, student confidence in their writing and their endurance. The only logical option is that more AP tests be taken on computers instead of by hand.