Newsletter – May 8, 2026
I’m proctoring AP tests this week for local high school students seeking Advance Placement for college credit. If they make a top score of 5 they have one less requirement to complete in their college career.
I complimented one student on her crisp new Stanford sweatshirt and asked if she had already been accepted. She had and was very pleased to hear my congratulations.
I hope her parents didn’t have the same reaction as my mom when I said I got accepted to the University of Southern California for grad school. “So far away?” she asked with disappointment. I appreciated her wanting me nearer to home, but really wanted to hear that congratulations.
Proctoring exams takes a bit of training to be aware of sophisticated methods used to cheat. No longer do students sneak crib notes cradled in the palms of their hands. Nor do they write answers on their arms or their jeans. No we’re talking about technology here.
“Everyone must place all electronic devices on the table at the front of the room. Powered down. Not silenced or in Airplane Mode. This includes tablets, smart watches, and phones.” (I expect by next year they’ll include “smart glasses” on that list.)
The students use a laptop to take the test, but the software will cancel the test immediately if a student leaves the Bluebook Platform for any reason before the test is completed.
The second part is a written component collected by the proctors.
I wonder if any of them were told to practice their penmanship. I remember reading years ago about an experiment where educators were asked to evaluate an essay. Some were given a version with poor handwriting and some were given a version with good handwriting. Same words in both cases.
Want to predict the outcome?
You’re right. The essays with good handwriting were universally evaluated with high scores while the ones with poor handwriting were lower. Same essay.
My wife and I are currently watching “Suits” on Netflix and those high powered lawyers are all dressed to the nines in every episode. Their clients trust the well dressed lawyers because they look successful. I can’t help but compare that to the penmanship experiment.
On the second day I was the only proctor in a small room of three and I read aloud all of the instructions with very few stumbles. I’m pleased to be able to say my speech is slowly improving, especially in comparison to my Father Of The Bride speech a year ago. I’ll take the win.
TTFN
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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles
Eric Margerum 