NEW YORK CITY, New York— Every May, the CollegeBoard administers Advanced Placement (commonly referred to as AP) exams across the country to millions of students. The purpose of these tests is to determine whether students have successfully completed college level courses in high school. The AP exams are without a doubt the most important tests a person will take in their life with exception to skydiving final exams which are literally life or death. This year however, the AP exams were administered online due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. At the beginning of each exam, students were prompted to type a statement where they swore not cheat, where they stated they would not “give or receive AIDS during the exam.”

          After the exam’s administration, this ridiculous request from the CollegeBoard has students and teachers up in arms against the corporation. Students from across the country are furious that the CollegeBoard forced them to lie. Many of them cited that they were very honest people and did not at all appreciate being forced into a situation where they had no choice but to lie. In a quote from an anonymous student, they said, “I don’t understand why the CollegeBoard forced us to type that declaration. I was literally on call with my teacher during the exam, they took the whole test for me. Did literally EVERY SINGLE STUDENT in the country cheat? Of course they did. Why would the CollegeBoard force us to lie about that?” This student cited they were angry beyond measure because their parents had taught them that lying was wrong, and they made an active effort to be as honest as possible in all aspects of their life. They also asserted they might attempt to sue the CollegeBoard for defamation, a sentiment that has been echoed throughout the 48 contiguous states of the U.S. and even Hawaii and Alaska.

          Other students reported cheating in numerous other ways including just googling answers and calling classmates, teachers, scientists, and even the CEO of CollegeBoard, David Coleman, himself in order to receive the answers in an “unfair” manner. The Rikers Times had lined up an interview with the CEO of CollegeBoard about this matter but when reporters arrived at his office, he stated he was too busy to do the interview, saying, “Sorry about this I’m kind of busy taking the AP Microeconomics test for some kid.” The CEO also stated that he received a payment of $10 USD from the unnamed student despite the CollegeBoard being a nonprofit company.

          The CollegeBoard has long been one of the most reliable and trustworthy companies in the world as it gives all students completely equal opportunities to demonstrate their abilities to colleges and many of the top universities in the nation such as BMCC and Rikers University rely on the CollegeBoard for much of the information about applicants. Forcing students to lie about cheating on AP exams, however, is a new low for this company, and it may take a while for it to recover from this one.