<p>So, I always thought you could have NOTHING on your desk during testing except for pens/pencils/calculator and the booklets provided by the AP testing service. Well during testing, abunch of kids were sneezing and caughing and the proctors wouldn't allow them to go to their bags to get tissues/caugh drops etc but did allow them to get water from the fountain.... which is what I expected. Well after the break a girl(who was not caughing, etc) showed back up with a water bottle and set it on her desk. She had gone to her backpack and gotten a bottle of water and left it on her desk throughout the ENTIRE second half of testing(drank out of it numerous times too). The proctors said nothing to her. I was shocked. Are you guys allowed water bottles/tissues/etc during the test? We aren't even allowed water bottles on our desk during school based tests so I was shocked that they'd allow it during the AP tests... kids used to cheat all the time by writing on the inside of water bottle labels which is why it was banned to have water bottles out of your backpack during class. Is that allowed by AP testing? or were our proctors crazy? </p>
<p>... really just curious because I don't think she tried to cheat but our proctors are normally crazy strict about following rules and I was surprised they let that slip.</p>
<p>Water bottles and other food are not allowed since they could be used for cheating purposes (e.g. notes on the bottle). As you pretty much stated, the only items allowed are writing tools, the actual test, and any other items required by the test (e.g. calculator on some sections)</p>
<p>Contact these guys if you observed that:
Office of Testing Integrity
P.O. Box 6671
Princeton, NJ 08541-6671
Phone: 800 353-8570 (toll free in U.S. and Canada)
or 609 406-5427
Fax: 609 406-9709
E-mail: <a href="mailto:tsreturns@ets.org">tsreturns@ets.org</a></p>
<p>Ok, not to be the one telling you to keep your mouth shut about possible cheating, bu-ut... if you're pretty sure the girl was simply unaware of the rules, not trying to cheat, be careful how you phrase whatever you say to the testing office people. Once it's a formal complaint, they may be required to take some action like invalidating y'all's (or at least the one girl's) test results, which could end up being pretty unfair.</p>
<p>Some schools do allow water bottles (sometimes also requiring that the caps/labels be removed) because it's a lot less distracting than constant coughing and/or requests to go to the water fountain. (And wouldn't it be simpler to cheat by leaving notes outside the room and looking at them on "water" trips than it would be to keep the notes in the water bottle?) Perhaps water is still cheating in the sense that it helps keep you awake, and not all students have that advantage... but it may simply have been a way, in this case, for the girl to prevent herself from coughing (constantly trying not to cough because you don't want to disturb people really isn't fun, as I've learned at piano recitals). You might want to talk to the proctor beforehand and hear his/her side of the story before calling CB... maybe the girl asked for permission and had the water bottle checked. You never know...</p>
<p>Yeah, no food or drink is allowed in the testing site. A kid in my class had to put his water bottle away. When another girl started coughing a lot, the proctor gave her a cough drop. I don't think it's a big deal..if you're really uncertain and tell, you're risking the entire class having to take the test over.</p>
<p>I'd say don't make a big deal over it. It's not like you can really put much on there to help you, and more than likely she was just drinking. I know I was really darn thirsty during my APWH exam, and probably could have focused more if my mouth wasn't dry... but I owned that test so it doesn't matter :P... Still, it's just water...</p>
<p>I've brought a water bottle to every standardized test I've taken. I just lay it under the desk. Never had any trouble. Didn't even know it was against the rules.</p>
<p>I would say that the responsibility of the test proctor is to make the test as fair as possible, so that everyone in the nation has the same level playing ground. In my opinion, even if the proctors had noticed the water bottle, they should have let her drink from it anyways. If she keeps coughing, then that wouldn't be fair to the other test takers. The water bottle I think actually enables everyone to be less distracted to make the test more fair.</p>
<p>The girl wasn't one of the ones caughing. She just got the watere because she was thirsty. I mean... I was thirsty too but didn't get the luxury of having water! I'm going to have a chat with my AP coordinator but does anyone know where on the AP site it clearly says to food or water? I don' mean to be a prude, but she's been a pain in my butt on every test because she follows the rules soooo closely and if she knowingly allowed the water(which I suspect she did being that it was CLEARLY in her sight) she was obviously in the wrong. The label was not removed and it was also ironic that it was allowed in the library because that is ALSO against school rules. I have a doctors note for myself during school hours to carry water because of asthma but I wasn't allowed to have water AND I asked the administration ahead of time. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>...also any comments on me reporting this would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Also to those saying that it wouldn't be fair to the other test takers to have caughing... I was kicked out of an ACT test because I had pneumonia and was caughing uncontrollably so life is not fair.</p>
<p>{I'm going to have a chat with my AP coordinator but does anyone know where on the AP site it clearly says to food or water?}
[quote]
3. Misconduct: When the AP Program or administration personnel find that there is misconduct in connection with an exam, students may be dismissed from the exam room, or the Program may decline to score the exams or may cancel the grades. Students involved in any exam misconduct will be asked to turn in their exam materials and leave the testing room. These students may not return to the testing room, and their exam grades will automatically be canceled. Failure to adhere to any of these policies and procedures may result in invalidation of AP Exam grades. Misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following: </p>
<p>Obtaining improper access to the exam, or a part of the exam, or information about the exam.
Referring to, looking through, or working on any exam, or exam section, other than during the timed testing period for that exam or exam section.
Using any prohibited aids. Taking food or drink into the testing room.
<p>I know..my teacher left us snacks and drinks during the break, but during the actual testing, the proctor told us to put our water bottles away. The only way I can think of this helping you is if you screwed up on the test and want to retake it over. I'd do that too, despite the whole class hating me. I really think we had more time than usual, but I'll just suck it up and wait for the bad test grade. Almost everyone that retakes the test does better. [url=<a href="http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ht/36.3/whitman.html%5DThis%5B/url">http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ht/36.3/whitman.html]This[/url</a>] is pretty interesting about how a whole class had to retake their apush test, but they all did really well, with no one scoring less than 4 I believe.</p>
<p>I really see no need to officially report it because I don't think it was done with the intent to cheat but I do want to let the coordinator know and that in the future, don't be surprised if things like that get reported(we have some very anal students at my school)... and why in the world would I want to retake the test?!??!</p>
<p>Lol... that seems crazy that you can't bring water into an exam. We're pretty much allowed to bring as much food and drink as we want into the state exams. I know someone who brought a full pizza into one of their Leaving Certificate exams, and I brought 2 litres of Diet Coke into one of mine... And I always bring some form of sweets into exams.</p>