College Board introduced a vastly beneficial new feature, AP Classroom, into its Advanced Placement program this academic year, as well as altering almost the entire system of sign-ups for the current AP testing cycle for the better.

Released and opened to users in August, AP Classroom enables students to join select digital “classrooms” after signing in to their College Board accounts for AP subjects, which includes a full timeline of significant AP-related dates, a set of resources exclusive to the course and the option for students to sign up for respective exams for the courses they are enrolled in. Additionally, College Board now requires students to select and purchase their AP Exams by Nov. 1.

Of these new assets, the addition of the resources proves to be the most beneficial to everyday academics of AP students, as it includes a variety of tasks and assessments for teachers to gauge students’ understanding of the subject. Such resources are invaluable to many, as, in years prior, teachers had to scour the internet in order to find credible assignments or resources for students. With the assistance of AP Classroom, such commodities are easily accessible.

AP Classroom offers users with College Board-recognized features including unit guides, which assist teachers with monitoring the pacing of content and topic organizations. It also includes the performance dashboard which enables teachers and learners to review student performance on certain areas of the course and a question bank containing official AP Exam questions including some that have never been released before. Additionally, it provides unit assessments that act as progress checks as well, all according to College Board.

Though some students may find AP Classroom assignments tedious or purposeless, College Board deems such tasks most relevant to the content that will appear on the AP Exam of the subject, therefore teachers are able to use these assignments to measure students’ knowledge of necessary content and skills.

AP Classroom proves to be a helpful addition to the Advanced Placement program just three months after its release and can serve as an excellent tool for resourceful teachers.