QQTD: are you or your DC still registering (and paying) for the AP exams for this May?
We are. Even with NMSI funding, which gave 50% discount on science and language tests, we paid around $420. Too bad We had to pay for two tests for physics C!!
S17 told me last week he may take up to 3 AP exams in May. He would like to use the AP exam scores to advance to higher level courses.
D17’s school stipulates that if your child registers for an AP class, he or she must pay and sit for the AP test. We don’t have a choice in the matter, so she’ll be taking all 4 (the maximum allowed by the school) in May.
QOTD - D is taking all but the AP English Lit exam. So that’s 5 AP exams (plus1 IB). She got a 5 on AP English Lang and the credit awarded for Lit is the same (which I find odd, but it is what it is).
Paid a ton. Don’t remind me! But can’t complain as she’s using all her AP credits in college.
JOTD for @GrandMAC
Chuck Norris ordered a Grand Mac at Burger King and got one.
QOTD:
All IB and AP tests are paid for by the school except a small amount of the fee…like $10.00?
You aren’t required to take the AP test if you are registered for the test, but you do get some sort of course grade for taking it.
D is taking four IB tests and AP Calc BC. The IB tests are like two two days each. It’s going to be a brutal few weeks.
Registered/paid for 4. Can use 4 AP courses for credit with 5s. So that’s 1 of these 4. AP weighting in courses only if they take the test, which of course is a moot point now since GPAs are frozen with first semester grades. Not sure what happens with Val/Sal if they skip their AP exams.
Same here at our school we are required to take AP exams. DD is taking 5, so we paid for that
@sincerelove QOTD:
No, DS is not taking his 3 AP exams In May. If they were classes that would fulfill elective credits, he would. Not choosing to accelerate the recommended course progression in his college major.
@chillkitty Requiring to take the AP test is tough! Taking the test was what DS and I had both assumed he would do. Then as time went on we realized that he was taking it because he thought I thought it was a good idea, and I was going along with DS taking it because I thought he wanted to take it… when we talked about it together, we both felt it was completely unnecessary, so why take it? I’m glad he has the option!
i’m surprised by schools that require taking the AP exam. D decided at the very last minute to sign up to take the two AP exams for Physics C. Yikes. We’ll see how that goes! I guess it can’t hurt, except to my pocketbook!
D17 goes to a private school, so maybe this AP testing rule is rather esoteric. We were billed for all the tests in late fall and were “reminded” then that all bills must be paid in order to graduate. A little coerision for sure, but we were told up front about it, so we’re not complaining.
My D’s school also requires taking the AP exams if you took the class. She has 5 tests this year (it would have been 6, but she decided to take English as a Syracuse DE course instead of AP Lit, as she took AP Lang last year, and most colleges won’t give credit for both Lang & Lit anyway.)
Our local HS is so small there is no middle ground “honors” level between AP and regular track for the vast majority of subjects, so there’s not a whole lot of choice for top students if you want to be even reasonably challenged in most courses.
At DS’s school if enrolled in AP class must take exam - so taking 4-5 (Calc BC, Physics C (M & EM), Econ - macro & maybe micro, AP Lit). But once we determine his college, he’ll decide what’s important for credits / advancement purposes. Already took AP Physics 1 (and a Physics 2 course at a local college), AP Lang, US Hist, AP Comp Sci. Some schools give generous credit and others hardly any. So how much effort to prepare will be connected to value - I think. DS tends to be a bit of a perfectionist - hoping he’ll be practical!
We already registered and paid for 4 IB tests as she is going for the full diploma.
I am agonizing over AP (both econ, Chem and English Lit) because if she goes to St. Andrews they don’t count for anything.
Drop dead date is Mar 17. Maybe she will decide by then. If she goes to Cal Poly SLO they will help a lot with GEs.
AP exam costs: $93/exam here, paid by the family, with assistance getting a fee waiver for those on free/reduced lunch. No requirement to take the exam if you took the class, but it’s strongly encouraged.
Requiring AP exams: Such policies are, I suspect, in many cases a direct result of the stupid, stupid “Challenge Index” Jay Mathews of the Washington Post came up with as a ranking mechanism for high schools some years ago.
@dfbdfb Our AP exams are $112. why is there a price difference? If I ever win the lottery I am putting a team of great lawyers together to sue the College Board. I seriously hate them.
@dfbdfb, I think you’re absolutely right about the totally made up Challenge Index created by Jay Mathews (a non-educators) influencing the number of AP tests taken. I don’t know why anyone puts any stock into his system. He ranks the school’s based on number of tests taken and ignores the scores! College Board must love that guy!
I think our AP exams are $98 or $93? No requirement to take them, D17 is taking calculus and environmental science in May, skipping Lit and Art History.
D is taking either 5 or 6 AP exams because taking the AP Exam is necessary to get a senior final exam exemption which she really wants. The only one she isn’t sure about is AP lit since she got a 5 on lang last year, and she won’t get credit for both. So, she has to pay for that exam herself since she’ll only be taking it for the senior exemption.
Luckily, she’ll be done with all her classes by the time AP exams roll around, so she’ll have plenty of time to study.
Ours is also $93 a test, up from $92 last year!
DH told her she needs to score good on German, so that she can pass foreign language requirement. We’d rather pay study abroad in Germany, than German class in college.
@itsgettingreal17 , I will ask D to check out the AP literature…she might not have to take it then!