As AP U.S. History students filed out into the commons after their exam May 10, their chatter wasn’t restricted to the predictable “I think it went fine?” or “I’ll be lucky if I get a 3.”
Instead, due to construction on the B-gym roof that morning, students’ post-exam conversations sounded more like, “Did anyone else have white particles raining down on their head?” and “What in the world was making that noise?”
Loud drilling noises frequently interrupted the pre-exam brief that morning, causing administration to delay the exam until nearly an hour after the standardized start-time of 8 a.m. In certain areas of the gym, the construction sent drywall dust falling on student’s heads and papers.
Whether the drilling persisted when the exam eventually began is disputed.
Guidance counselor Heather Neese coordinated the exam and watched the situation unfold. Mrs. Neese worked with administrators to halt the briefing when the noises became too disruptive and to postpone the start-time until they could shut down the construction.
Mrs. Neese said the drilling had ceased when the first section of the exam began.
But several students claim the noises continued – albeit quieter and less frequently – after they unsealed their test packets. Some said they were unhappy with their score when the College Board released results July 8. They believe the noises may have been detrimental to their performances.
“I was disappointed when I saw my score,” senior Evan Poynter said. “I think that if there wasn’t any drilling or construction during parts of the test I would’ve been happier about how I did.”
Poynter said the noises he heard during the exam distracted him from the questions in front of him. He walked into the B-gym already unconfident about the test, but the drilling made him “more and more nervous.”
Senior Mariam Quaizar, who also said the noises didn’t stop after the briefing, did feel prepared and clear-headed before the noises started. However, the drilling steadily “broke [her] focus.”
“Every time I take a test, there’s always complete silence. Every time I study, there’s always complete silence,” Quaizar said. “Having drilling noises was definitely not my normal.”
Quaizar passed the exam but had hoped for more before she saw her results. She said she was “irritated” throughout the test.
Senior Audrey White didn’t recall any noises during the test, but she said the interruptions during the briefing portion lessened her confidence.
“It was really disruptive. It was bad,” White said. “They were actually doing [the construction] right above me. I was getting dust on my head and on my table.”
Despite students’ dissatisfaction following the score release, Mrs. Neese said no students or parents reached out to her with complaints. When she talked to APUSH teacher Keith Baker recently, he said there was no significant deviation between this year’s scores and those of previous exams.
Still, some students wonder whether their score could’ve been better.
“I was really disappointed, especially because I had studied so hard for it,” Quaizar said. “I watched all of ‘Heimler’s History.’ I was mentally prepared. And then, all the sudden, I had ceiling particles raining down on me, and everyone around me in the room started panicking.”