I cannot afford the AP exam that my school is suddenly forcing me to pay.

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>I am taking several AP classes this year, which is my junior year (I took two last year). However, I am failing AP Biology. I have been getting terrible grades on the tests, but the teacher plays with the grades so it’s hard to ever know what’s going on. We also get a bonus 10 points on tests if we do these long study guides for each test, and I have done all of them. Anyway, my teacher said that he had not put all of those in when he gave the grade report for our twelve week progress report.</p>

<p>I had a 69 on it, and in my county, anything under a 70 is failing. Normally this is fine because I can improve my grade, but it turns out my school uses the grade that you have at the twelfth week to determine if they will pay for your AP exam or not. Since I am failing by a point, they are requiring me to either pay $87 to take that one exam, or pay $13 to not take it. What the hell do I do? I can’t afford that, and I know my parents can’t afford such a trivial and big fee for something so stupid. </p>

<p>What sucks is that I started looking for study guides and videos and whatnot of the older chapters last week in order to prepare for the exam since I just don’t feel like my teacher really does well enough to really teach his students (my friends who do the best in class never listen to his lectures which is just him writing on his overhead, and instead just read all the chapters for the test the night before). As bad as I’ve done this year by just not trying my hardest, I was determined to do well on the AP exam. However, I have no idea what to do now, and when I got the note from the counselor’s office today, it just really crushed my soul and I’ve been worrying about it since. The lady in the counselor’s office said that I had until Monday to bring a check for it, and that perhaps I can get something resolved by then. I told her my teacher had not put all the grades in, but she said the teachers knew about the grade at the twelve weeks determining whether or not you pay for the exam. I have no idea what to do, and I just feel so… destroyed and beaten down. God damn it.</p>

2

<p>Tell them to **** off, and don’t take the AP test.</p>

3

<p>The note said they wouldn’t let me graduate if I don’t pay some sort of fee :/</p>

4

<p>It’s normal that you have to pay to take the exam, I’d never heard that you have to pay when you don’t take the exam. In my school, when you want to take an AP class you have to sign an agreement that you have to take the exam.</p>

5

<p>This reminds me of that one case in California earlier this year.</p>

<p>If you go to a public school, they can’t force you to pay. Contact a local lawyer for more info.</p>

6

<p>If you don’t really want to take the test, you could get a lawyer, etc. or you could bake cookies, sell them for a buck each, and raise the thirteen dollars with a lot less effort.</p>

<p>But if you still want to take the test and do well on it, then I suggest you either contact a lawyer, or work with your teacher and guidance to get him to enter the grades and have the school somehow pay for it.</p>

7

<p>If you plan on using the score to try and get college credit or an exemption AND you think you’ll score high enough to do so, I would try and scrape together the money to pay. The credits themselves are a lot more expensive. At my kid’s school, the parents pay for the test although there are scholarships available for kids who qualify for free or reduced lunch.</p>

<p>If you don’t think you’ll score high enough to get the credit, either ask the school to waive the $13 if it truly is a financial strain or just pay it.</p>

<p>You could also file an appeal based on the fact that you pulled your average above 70 after the cut off point.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>