@Dragonflygarden: Oh, thanks for that. I completely understand and support subsidizing those ridiculous things.
At my school, if you get free or reduced lunch, the school either pays AP fees in full or partially. It depends. The school also requires that free and reduced lunch students get free prom tickets. I said requires and not gives because the money comes out of the class governmentās pocket and not the schoolās. 23% of the school gets free and reduced lunch but not all seniors go to prom. On average there are about 10 tickets that the class ends up paying for. But thatās about 600-800 dollars depending on the year.
At our school you have to pay for all AP exams - $91 each one n last year n my daughter took 4 plus 1 college course at $225 for that credit. This year she is taking 5 APs n college Spanish each semester. So thatās $455. For APS N $325 per semester for Spanish. I may need free lunch afterwards bc I will be broke lol. I do not recommend tanking AP exams just because the school you are going to doesnāt give credit because you just do not know what the future holds. Suppose you end up having to transfer to another school? My S went to what he thought was his dream school n shortly into his first semester realized that he was very mistaken. He transferred home to a university near home to evaluate his next move. Those AP exam credits ended up to be an amazing boost to his transfer application n he is now a sophomore but credit wise he is 4 credits short of Senior status. That really helped when he wanted to get prime time football game tickets n quicker dibs on class registration, etc. so just because it may not matter to your chosen school life sometimes throws a few curves n it never hurts to have some great scores to your credit no matter what.
Our school system pays for our AP exams unless the student misses it and has to take a makeup.
There are make ups for AP exams? I didnāt know that.
Yes, sometimes IB tests fall on the same day as an AP so an IB student might have to take the āmake upā AP exam.
If students have more than one AP scheduled for the same time school schedules a make up test. 2 APs same day do not qualify. DD had one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Just if they are scheduled for the same time.
āI may need free lunch afterwards bc I will be broke ā¦ā Priceless, @lvmjac1.
$12 per AP exam for the fee waived students at my DD school.
$12. Man, I certainly must have qualified when I was a student. Iām going to have to check into how long these waivers have been around.
my S or D never had 2 scheduled for the same time. Many times 2 on one day different times. I guess that is what happened when my S n his teammate won first place in our state for their category in DECA n made it to the ICDC International competition in Atlanta. That coincided with the AP Calc BC exam so our district requested that they take it on another day. Stressful but worth it bc they came in the top ten internationally in their category! That was a proud moment.
Not sure if I mentioned this before, but if the college your DC chooses accepts CLEP test scores (from the College Board) and converts them into credits your DC might want to consider taking CLEPs. Easier than an AP or SAT Subject test, Iāve heard. Saves tuition!
@4kids2graduate D took ACT twice and can superscore her ACT to a higher composite score. I sent both her scores and had to pay two $12 for them. I have only sent one SAT score to each college, so I donāt know how that works.
We are paying about $650 this year for 4 IB exams and 2 APs. One IB (Theory of Knowledge) has no exam. I think last year we paid about $450 for several tests too. A lot of parents complained about the cost, but I always think that it will be thousands more to pay to colleges to take those similar classes!! So, I am ok to pay them now.
DD took 9 AP tests so far. We paid full price for all of them. This year she is taking 6 more AP classes. No school will give her credits for all those classes. She also has 14 college credits for DE classes. Depending were she gets in we will see if she needs to take any AP tests this year. It is mandatory at our school to take test if student takes AP classes, but since they donāt pay for them we will try to get out of it this year.
@waitingtoexhale - I think it makes no difference to Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown if one were to apply to regular program and then choose to do engineering because they are not really declaring a major upfront. It does make a difference at Columbia, Penn and Cornell to expect to move to a different school after being admitted to one of their schools.
So true that it saves thousands in college credit cost but something I learned since my son transferred with 37 or 39 AP credits (n his 2 plus semesters of college credits) your D or S may have to double major n or minor bc at some point with too many credits n not nearing graduation yet the federal government will want to stop giving financial aid. Itās so frustrating they want to get you one way or another.
Houston ISD started paying for all AP and IB exams for all students when they got a new superintendent about 5 years ago. He is leaving in March and we have to see if they continue.
@Ivmjac1 Thanks. Yes, they always try to get you one way or another. Oh well, I guess that is something to consider.
Our high school used to pay for AP tests, but approx. 4-5 years ago they stopped that and students had to pay. My understanding is there were too many students that werenāt motivated, didnāt take the test seriously, etc. and therefore there were many who scored poorly. Students campaigned for a compromise, and now the school reimburses the fee to students that score a 3,4 or 5 on the testā¦the student pays up front, then just needs to print out scores late summer and submit to school for reimbursement. I think it is a win-winā¦the school isnāt paying up front, and the students have an incentive to do well (which helps the student and the school). Thankfully we have gotten reimbursed every time for D14 and S16 (and they paid the fee out of their personal savingsā¦so extra incentive)!