2020 AP testing has been uncharted territory for everybody involved. The concept of changing traditional 3 hour AP tests to a single question, 45-minute test left many students and teachers upset. Given the circumstances in the world at the time due to COVID-19, the College Board was not left with many options.

Online testing has been criticized as many as being extremely unfair, as it is much easier to gain an unfair advantage on tests when you can take them at home. The CollegeBoard, determined to uphold the integrity of their tests, has implemented strict anti-cheating policies. One of the policies the CollegeBoard has released on their site is: "We will be monitoring social media and discussion sites to detect and disrupt cheating. We may post content designed to confuse and deter those who attempt to cheat."

The Birth of APTests2020

Reddit is a popular online discussion website, where users can enter "subreddits" to discuss specific topics. On May 10th, a new subreddit was created, titled: "APTests2020." This subreddit was created by the user "Dinosauce313." The description of APTests2020 identifies the subreddit as: "A community of students taking the 2020 AP Exams and wanting to use online resources while doing so."

Students immediately took notice of the resource, and developed suspicions as to why it was created. Students took to TikTok, Instagram, and various Discord channels to work together on developing theories as to who "Dinosauce313" was, and why he created this subreddit, clearly in direct violation of CollegeBoard academic integrity rules.

Is this a CollegeBoard sting operation?

The most popular student theory about the origin of the APTests2020 forum is that it was created by the CollegeBoard to trap students into cheating. Students have been investigating the accounts behind the creation of the subreddit, looking for a possible source. There have been no definite leads on the identity of the subreddit's sole moderator yet, but students are relentlessly searching for an answer to this theory. Students have gone as far as to reach out to Trevor Packer, head of the AP Department at CollegeBoard, to question the organization's involvement with the community. So far, all signs point to this subreddit is NOT being run by the College Board. Students should stay far away from this community, as it encourages students to commit academic integrity violations, and posting to this community or taking part in the discussions could jeopardize student exam scores.

What is going on within this cheating community?

Students have banded together within this community to use the platform to post jokes and images about the online AP testing situation this year. So far, there have been no posts of students attempting to cheat, or post AP Exam contents. The community has been overrun by students posting graphic images, many featuring names of employees of the College Board, or students ranting about a poor experience with 2020 online testing through explicit language.

What is happening with the community now?

As of Thursday, May 14th around 7:00 PM EST, the last post was made on the subreddit. Since that time, there have been no additional posts. It seems that the CollegeBoard may have stepped in to halt the issues that this community was causing for their test security measures. EarlyScores reached out to Dinosauce313 for comment on the subreddit. When asked if he would speak with us about the subreddit and the community that has formed behind it, they responded: "Do you have a Mitsubishi outlander?"

Sadly, we have not been able to contact him since.

UPDATE: Wednesday, May 20, 5:30 PM EST

As of now, it appears that the APTests2020 has been reopened. At 4:30 PM, Dinosauce313 posted a thread on the subreddit that reads "Up and running!". The most upvoted comment on the post, made by "yaboichenny" simply reads "Like if dino eats balls".

EarlyScores will follow this story and post new updates to this thread as they are discovered.

DISCLAIMER: EarlyScores does not condone cheating on the 2020 AP Tests, and is creating this article to present students with information about the landscape of testing in 2020, without needing to visit these cheating communities themselves.

Click here to report cheating to the CollegeBoard. Reports are anonymous.