[Notice] 2027 AP Exam Start Time Changes for the Korea Region (10:00 AM / 2:00 PM)
2026-07-24
Hello, this is the Korean-American Educational Commission (KAEC) Testing Center.
Starting with the May 2027 AP Exams, exam start times will be updated for several regions worldwide. This is a global security measure by the College Board to prevent potential security issues and exam content leaks across different time zones.
Students and parents planning to prepare for and take AP exams in Korea from 2027 onwards must review the following changes.
Terminology Update: The previously used terms ‘Morning’ and ‘Afternoon’ exams will be replaced with Session 1 and Session 2.
Standardized Time Basis: Unlike the past, where local times were uniformly applied, starting in 2027, start times will be assigned based on each region’s UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) offset as of May.
Korea falls under the UTC +09:00 time zone. Accordingly, starting with the 2027 AP Exams, the start times for all test centers in Korea (including the KAEC Testing Center) have been confirmed as follows. Please note that the times have been pushed back by 2 hours compared to the previous schedule (8:00 a.m. / 12:00 p.m.).
Session 1 (Formerly Morning Exam): Local time 10:00 a.m.
Session 2 (Formerly Afternoon Exam): Local time 2:00 p.m.
US Region Standards: Most schools in the 48 contiguous US states, Hawaii, and Washington D.C. will continue to start exams at their local time of 8:00 a.m. (Session 1) and 12:00 p.m. (Session 2) without any changes. (However, times for Alaska will change to 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.)
Grace Period Policy: To account for unforeseen circumstances, the existing College Board policy allowing exams to start up to 1 hour after the official start time remains unchanged.
An online lookup tool that allows schools and test centers to verify exact AP exam start times is scheduled to launch this fall. Once the tool becomes available, KAEC will review the details and provide further guidance if necessary.
For more detailed original announcements and the full 2027 exam schedule, please refer to the official College Board website links below.
Original Announcement: 2027 AP Exam Start Times
Full Exam Schedule: 2027 AP Exam Dates
If you have any further questions, please contact the KAEC Testing Center. Thank you.