My inbox has been filled with many questions in the last few days regarding the current uncertainty. Here is my advice, my response, and indeed my non-response to COVID-19, and how it relates to AP Chemistry 2020.

Let’s prioritize. First and foremost do what ever you can to protect yourself and others, by following federal, state and local guidelines. Also, keep an eye on the College Board information regarding AP exams. Outside of those things, my thoughts are these.

1. Assume that the AP Chemistry exam WILL be taking place on May 7th 2020 as scheduled. It is certainly possible that will NOT ultimately be the case, and your school may decide to opt for late(r) testing, or any number of other possible scenarios at this stage, but either way, making the opposite assumption can only hurt you. Making the assumption that the exam is going ahead ‘as normal’, is only going to help. The College Board have millions of dollars invested in this process, not to mention the logistics already in place, so my advice for now is to assume AP chemistry 2020 will occur.

2. Following on from concerns over the administration of the exam in schools, there are questions surrounding the reading (grading) of the exams. Will it be possible/wise for thousands of people to gather for that? Those are legitimate questions, connected to very real concerns, and ones that could derail the whole situation, but for now see #1.

Other than that, many teachers will be utilizing several e-learning options. As you probably know, my presence in the online learning environment has been cemented literally for years and years. As such, my response for opportunities for teachers and students (here and here) is simply ‘business as usual’, i.e., there essentially is no ‘response’! Teacher and student online courses have NOT been specially set-up for these extraordinary circumstances, rather they were organized months (and years) ago for 2020, have always been in place, and will continue to be available.

What is different, and as such is a ‘response’ to these unprecedented circumstances, is that I will offer a number of free resources for AP Chemistry students in the coming weeks. I will essentially be offering free ‘tutorial sessions’ that will cover some of the important areas of the AP chemistry material, and I’ll be happy to take questions relating to those topic areas as well. I’ll announce the details on the website, and via social media, so stay tuned. Expect further news on this on Monday.