AP Exam Leaks Drip Into Stuyvesant

This May, AP exams have flooded Stuyvesant once again. Each day, students disappear from classes and file into their designated testing rooms with wooden pencils and protein bars in hand. Throughout the halls, the College Board’s grip on Stuyvesant feels stronger than ever, particularly among the junior class, who face the pressure of sending scores to colleges in the fall. With the addition of AP Precalculus, the test load for juniors is at an unprecedented high. This, along with the increased circulation of leaked AP exam papers online, has made for a dangerous combination.

On May 14 at 8:00 a.m., the majority of the junior class filed into the sixth floor gym for the AP English Language and Composition Exam. While they were gone, English teacher Kim Manning stumbled upon a troubling discovery. “I was searching for memes to try to see what type of things were on the exam, and I saw something posted about a leak being real,” Manning recounted. The post showed an image of a page leaked from the multiple choice section of the AP English Language and Composition exam, containing a passage and the corresponding questions. “As I scrolled further through TikTok, I saw images from days ago of that [same] page either being identified as a leak […] or being sold as something that you could buy to cheat on the exam with,” Manning continued. She was still unsure of whether the leaks were real after viewing multiple posts, so she consulted her students after the exam. “I mentioned what the passage was about, and everyone recognized what I was talking about and [had seen] it on the AP exam,” she said.

The AP English Language and Composition Exam leak was not unique. “Every single AP test is being massively leaked on social media [including] Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, [and] many Chinese sites,” Anonymous Junior A (AJA) revealed. Along with Reddit users selling via direct messages, AJA explained that sales of leaked exams they had seen were mainly on Chinese apps. “They are basically another version of EBay [where] you can just buy a file,” AJA explained. AJA reported seeing prices ranging from 100 to 1000 RMB (Renminbi), which is roughly equivalent to 14 to 140 U.S. dollars.

Though AJA has not purchased one, AJA first heard about the leaks outside of the AP Psychology Exam. “Right before we entered the gym, I was hearing people talk about certain questions, but I thought [they] were practice problems,” AJA recalled. “After I went into the test, I was like hold up, this name [of the character in the FRQ question] was mentioned 20 minutes ago. Then I knew something was off. There's no way they're getting the exact same name except for leaks.” After the test, another student sent AJA a leaked file containing the exact same test they had just taken, confirming their suspicions.

A friend of Anonymous Junior A, Anonymous Junior B (AJB), explained how tempted they felt to buy a leaked exam. “Yeah, why not? [My friend] right here has a Chinese credit card. so they can buy it for me, send me the link, and then I can just pay them back in cash. I would just take a look at it,” they said. While AJA has largely encountered tests for sale on Chinese sites, The Spectator has found a substantial number of US TikTok (and other social media) accounts that claim to be selling exams using American currency. In response to AJB’s concern that people were differentiating between the early and late exams, AJA stated, “There are four forms: two earlies and two lates. One for our side of the globe. They all are getting sold, it's all subjects and all versions.”

Stuyvesant is not alone. Anonymous Sophomore C revealed that their friends at other specialized high schools are purchasing AP exam leaks. “My friend at Bronx Science sent me screenshots of a leaked AP Biology Exam paper the day before her test to ask me my opinion on a problem since I took the test last year,” they said. “I was shocked and tried not to answer her, but she seemed so chill about it.”

When asked how they felt about the situation, AJA immediately responded: “It is an unfair advantage. It’s free fives.” They also suggested that the College Board make all AP exams digital so they can randomize questions and enforce greater security. The College Board has already started to do this with some exams, such as the AP Mandarin and AP African American exams. In May 2025, nine AP exams will be administered online and another six will be added in 2026.

As the proctor reads at the start of every AP exam, the moment one tears open the plastic covering of the exam booklet, the student is beholden to the College Board terms and conditions which explicitly prohibit “obtaining, or attempting to obtain, improper access to the AP Exam.” Yet, this early access seems to be growing. It remains to be seen whether or not this year’s AP Exam leaks will prove to be a serious enough threat for the College Board to take disciplinary action.