Starting in the 2026-27 school year, the College Board will overhaul all six of its Advanced Placement (AP) world language exams — Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Chinese — introducing a new research-based project that will account for 35 percent of a student’s total exam score.

The centerpiece of the redesign is the Project Presentation, worth 20 percent of the total exam grade, in which students receive a research topic months before the exam, investigate it independently and deliver a three-minute spoken presentation on test day. Students may bring a written outline, called a Personal Project Reference, to use during the presentation. Afterward, they will answer four pre-recorded follow-up questions in a section called the Project Q&A, which is worth 15 percent. Together, the two components replace the current cultural comparison and conversation tasks.

While the changes help address current problems, they also raise new ones. For teachers, a major concern is how to uphold academic integrity.

“The College Board seems to be pretty confident that they are going to be able to identify things that are written by AI, that are written and memorized by the student and regurgitated on the exam,” said Nancy Marmion, J.J. Connolly Master Teaching Chair and AP Spanish Language and Culture teacher. “I just don’t know if there are enough guardrails in place.”

The integrity concern is compounded by the fact that guidelines on AI use and the extent to which teachers may assist students remain unclear. The College Board has yet to issue specific rules on either front.

Despite those concerns, teachers see potential benefits in the new format, especially for non-heritage speakers who have historically faced a disadvantage on open-ended cultural comparison questions that reward background knowledge.

“If you are a heritage student or a student who has spent significant time in a target language country, then if you are thrown one of those cultural comparison questions from left field, you have more to draw on than a student who’s only studied in the classroom,” Marmion said.

Gene and Alice Oltrogge Master Teaching Chair Janet Lin, who teaches AP Chinese Language and Culture, echoed that view, adding that the project gives all students a more level playing field, provided that they put in the work.

“In general, I think the changes are beneficial for both the teacher and the student: we will no longer have to guess what the question is supposed to be in the official test,” Lin said.

Still, Lin raised a concern specific to Chinese: the College Board’s push to align all six languages under the same assessment format may not account for the language’s steep learning curve.

“For Chinese, it’s not really fair because (students) will need more time,” Lin said. “To reach the same proficiency level when comparing Chinese to other languages, it takes around four times longer.”

Both teachers will attend training sessions and workshops this summer to prepare for the changes. The College Board is expected to release the Course Project Manual and revised Course and Exam Descriptions in the coming months, which will likely address the concerns from students and teachers alike.