The SATs, the CSS profile, and AP examinations. The College Board is infamous for its jargon of alphabet concoction acronyms and its notorious standardized exams, almost all of which used the dreaded 100+ question scantron. Until they didn’t.
This year, the College Board introduced digital and hybrid exams (a digital MCQ set and a FRQ booklet). People had their skepticisms and questions, but throughout the month of May 2025, students across the country (and world!) sat for their computer exams.
But AP Psychology couldn’t. Their exams crashed during their May 16th exam.
Angelina Vidair, a current senior, described how a fellow test taker “kept on getting this error that was saying there was something wrong with the internet.”
Vidair went on to describe how numerous students were unable to log in and how even proctors or teachers “didn’t know what to do.”
The clock kept ticking. Their testing time was shortening.
Vidair was in the gymnasium during the exam crash. However, Sarah Yeong, another 12th grader, was in the Annex building. Students were still unable to take it, regardless of where they were. Eventually, the exam was cancelled.
In fact, the issue was not just in Francis Lewis High School. It was across America.
“The Bluebook crash hit the entire system of anyone who was taking an AP exam at that time,” AP Psychology teacher Jennifer Miller said. “In the Eastern and Central time zones, it impacted AP Psychology. In the Mountain & Pacific time zones, AP Physics 1 got hit.”
Despite how large-scale the issue was, according to Mrs. Miller, “there were pockets of students across various schools who were able to access the exam. There were a few students at Lewis who were able to get in and complete the exam.”
But what caused it?
Some, like Yeong, speculate that it is to do with the hosting service Bluebook uses. Amazon Web Hosting, a widely used service, may have been the root of the issue in consideration of how many were impacted.
“[The] College Board has been very dodgy and vague with their response to the whole situation,” Mrs. Miller said. “It wasn’t posted anywhere in an official capacity for many hours. They stated that they had ‘technical issues’, but didn’t go into greater detail.”
Regardless of the cause, countless students were affected by what happened. Some students were relieved, a handful heartbroken, and others indifferent.
Elva Mou, a fellow AP Psychology student, felt that she did not care as much, being a senior while knowing her future college does not accept the credit regardless.
Yet students, like Vidair, scheduled their personal life around the AP Psychology exam. The abrupt interruption heavily displaced her and other students’ expected timing for work, extracurricular activities, and other commitments.
In addition, students prepared for the exam using resources online such as AP Classroom. When weeks of practice and months of learning a course suddenly get off track due to a technology issue, students are not necessarily encouraged.
Students that talked to FLHS News feel that it is important for the College Board to have backups for their digital exams or more thorough preparation for exam day. These concerns are understandable, especially since this is the inaugural year of digital examinations. Students overall have mixed opinions about the transitions from paper to digital, but digital does not seem to be going anywhere.
What about making up the exam? Dates for retakes conflict with other AP exams or the senior trip FLHS seniors were looking forward to. The nebulous next steps for students added more stress to the situation, and made the future of their college credit exam unclear.
But Mrs. Miller believes students should not worry too much.
“I was angry and sad about it all through the weekend, but now I’m trying to have an optimistic outlook on the situation,” she said. “I’m hoping that we can use the next few days before the retake as an opportunity to move possible grades up. So, what would have been a 4 on Friday, will now be a 5.”
“Now we are better prepared,” she continued. “It’s just a matter of perspective, we (the students and I) can let it trash us and let it cook us, or we can use it as post-traumatic growth and we will eat the next exam!”
