On Wednesday, May 15, 2024, AP World History students entered their testing locations to take the AP World History exam. While the AP level classes are provided by the school, the exam itself is provided by a third party, College Board. However, with only seven minutes left on the exam, students were interrupted by a fire alarm.

“For as long as I have been teaching here (13 years) this has never happened before. It is of course an unfortunate accident that had severe consequences,” AP World History teacher Sorya Or said. 

While the incident was not any party’s fault, the school’s administration, proctors and staff did everything they could to allow the student’s test answers to remain validated. Students were not allowed to talk while they were evacuated from the building.  

“It’s so devastating to tell kids they need to retake a test,” AP World History teacher Taber Watson said.

Students remained outside the building and played silent games with English teacher Sibel Singleton and Algebra 2 teacher Shannon Gray. In the meantime, the Falls Church High School administration team worked behind the scenes to find a solution. 

“Ms Gray and I did our best to distract [the students], and what better distraction than a physical distraction,” Singleton said. “I think that it was definitely an awful situation but I think that [the] proctors handled it really well,” she added. 

Despite the interruption, students remained quiet throughout the evacuation and one of the school’s assessment coaches, Madeline Johnson, and assistant principal Sean Rolon bargained with College Board to give students an opportunity for a retake. 

“It was a challenge just to make sure that first of all, that every body’s safe and making sure that we’re following  the protocols set aside by college board to ensure that we are keeping the testing environment safe, with fidelity as best as we can and just making sure that we’re not impacting any of our kids negatively by not following through on College Board’s expectations,” Rolon said. 

Safety was the top priority of Falls Church’s staff. 

“I cannot speak for everyone since there are so many parties involved. However, the most important outcome, which is the safety of our students, was handled properly and everyone evacuated the premises in a timely manner,” Or said.

This was the first year the AP World History Exam was given out on a digital format. College Board gave students the opportunity to retake the test, but on paper. 

“Any makeup situation has to be done on paper because they don’t have another virtual version which confuses all of us,” Watson said. 

However, in class, students had only practiced writing document based and long essay questions in an online format instead of the paper format. Some students felt that this decision was unfair. 

“[College Board] made the retake on paper, and midway through the week a couple days before the exam, they further decided that the entire exam had to be [(retaken)] not just the part that was missed.” Angelina Taimouri (10) said. 

AP World History teachers also disagreed with the fact. 

“It’s… making them retake the test in a format we haven’t practiced all year; handwritten, with a week’s notice,” Watson added.

AP World History teachers Watson and Or had planned a final project for their students, a project in which they’d use their history knowledge to debunk or prove certain conspiracy theories. However, students who chose to retake the AP World Exam on paper are exempt from this project. 

“Mr. Watson and I had to make arrangements so that students who were done with the test could work on their final project while we helped the students who chose to retake the exams. Flexibility and fluidity became our motto,” Or said.

In the end, Falls Church High School has made the most of an unfortunate situation which is not any one party’s fault. 

“In the end it was just an opportunity to get a better score,” Taimouri said. 

“I think that’s what Falls Church is about, it’s these little community moments, and what can we do to improve the situation whether it’s academically or just as Falls Church,” Singleton said.