Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle iPhone photos
<https://twitter.com/collegeboard>
Students failing college AP test due to unsupported HEIC iPhone photo format.
THEIR FAULT – THEY KNEW THERE WOULD BE A PROBLEM – THEY DIDN’T TEST ENOUGH AND CHANGE THEIR HORRIBLE TECHNOLOGY TO ACCOMMODATE STUDENTS.
THEY MAKE $100.00 PER TEST! TOTAL #FAIL
https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams/tips-avoiding-problems
Higher Education Professionals
Email: ap********@co**********.org
Students
Email: ap********@in**.org
AP exams require longform answers.
Students can either type their response or upload a photo of handwritten work. Students who choose the latter option can do so as a JPG, JPEG, or PNG format according to the College Board’s coronavirus FAQ.
But the testing portal doesn’t support the default format on iOS devices and some newer Android phones, HEIC files.
To flip the switch from HEIC to JPEG is buried in settings, and something that no one is thinking about going into the test SO YOU TIME OUT AND FAIL THE AP EXAM !!!!!
High school students are failing their college entry exams when uploading photos shot with an iPhone or iPad and photos saved in HEIC format, forcing many students to retake the exams. the upload would timeout. Once the test timer reached zero, students would auto-fail, and were told they could retake the test in three weeks.
HEIC files are smaller than JPEGs and other formats, thus allowing you to store a lot more photos on an iPhone. Basically, only Apple (and, more recently, Samsung) use the HEIC format — most other websites and platforms don’t support it. Even popular Silicon Valley-based services, such as Slack, don’t treat HEICs the same way as standard JPEGs.
#FAIL Why doesn’t the site provide an immediate “File format not accepted, please upload .gif, .jpg, or .png” message?
what 99% of sites are doing is
<input type="file" accept="image/png, image/jpg, image/jpeg" />
If you do that, Safari will convert the HEIC image to a JPEG automatically when you try to upload it.
What they did instead was to poorly reinvent the accept header in Javascript as follows:
<input
type="file"
...
onChange={async e => {
const split = file.name.split('.')
const fileType = split[split.length-1].toLowerCase()
const isAllowedExtension = extensions.includes(`.${fileType}`)
}}
/>Bryner says many of his classmates also tried to submit iPhone photos and experienced the same problem. The issue was so common that his school’s AP program forwarded an email from the College Board to students on Sunday including tidbits of advice to prevent submission errors.
File extensions have terrible usability. People changing the extension expecting something to be fixed is a classic misunderstanding. Many people do this every day, decades into personal computing.
If you want to submit a photo of a handwritten AP Exam answer from an iPhone or iPad, make sure to change your camera settings so your photos are saved as JPEGs, not HEICs.
Go to Settings > Camera > Formats > Select “Most Compatible.”
AND