Monica Chin, The Verge:

Nick Bryner, a high school senior in Los Angeles, had just completed his AP English Literature and Composition test last week. But when he snapped a photo of a written answer with his iPhone and attempted to upload it to the testing portal, it stopped responding.

The website got stuck on the loading screen until Bryner’s time ran out. Bryner failed the test. He’s retaking it in a few weeks.

In a nutshell, this is about the default file format for iPhone photos, which is HEIC, which brings higher quality images in a smaller file size than JPG. The fault here is with College Board not recognizing this issue in the first place.

This is a dumb mistake on their part. At the very least, they should have simply allowed the files to be submitted, flagging them as unreadable perhaps, but they could have solved the HEIC import problem after the fact and those test takers could have gone on to complete their tests.

Or, just saying, they could have spent a minute to test their system using an actual iPhone, which would have shown them the error of their ways.

That said, good to be aware of the iOS setting that lets you change from HEIC to JPG, in case this sort of thing ever happens to you. Head to:

Settings > Camera > Formats

You’re likely set to High Efficiency (that’s HEIC). Your other choice is Most Compatible (that’s JPG).