I’ll have to ask S if his AP Bio teacher allows discussion of religious objections to the topic of evolution. I don’t think his freshman bio class spent any time on that, but I may have just forgotten it. He definitely knows some students who don’t believe in evolution for religious reasons, but evolution is the topic taught in his classes.
@melvin123 Wow, you hear about “creation” being taught in schools in the South, but it’s still hard to believe it happens today in 2017. But thank you for passing along your D’s bio class experience.
One way to put a buffer between you and CB is to advocate for the school to pay. Our school district pays for the AP exams. I imagine this means I am paying through taxes, but I also imagine (since I don’t actually know) this large school district can negotiate prices. Students are then free to take AP classes if they want to, but they go into it knowing that they are required to take the test. They are very serious about that - no skipping. The result has been a lot of students taking AP tests and a relatively high pass rate (at least at S’18s HS).
We don’t have to pay AP test fees early, but do have to pay IB test fees this week. It’s $290 for one test! Our school didn’t have a dual credit or AP biology 2 class so this was only option for D.
@sushiritto
I may have missed it, but in the example from @melvin123 it did not sound like creationism was being taught, but rather discussed. I think it is helpful to know what people who don’t agree with me think.
(Not that I doubt there are instances where it is “taught”)
@DavidPuddy I’m more close-minded on some topics. But sounds good.
I don’t know that it’s just a southern thing @sushiritto; I grew up in Pennsylvania and back in the day my biology teacher addressed creationism. Not as science to be taught or tested, but as an alternate belief with the reminder that in her class evolution would be the topic. I also knew students in my class who did not believe in evolution. My experience sounds like @melvin123 described. @melvin123 can chime in to correct the record, but it sounded to me as if evolution is what is taught and tested in her D’s class although the teacher acknowledged there could be students who did not believe in it.
Well, I am sure that it is obvious which side of the fence I am on when it comes to the College Board…
Back in the day when the SAT was an “apptitude” test and not an “acheivement” test it had value.
Of course that was back when we, as a country, assumed that kids did not graduate from from HS without solidly learning the basics; back when we trusted HS/States to do the job of educating; before we as a society pushed and pushed and pushed our kids to be college graduates before they even graduated HS; before we started allowing schools to inflate grades to make our kids “look good” to an admissions board/rep; before some people started paying for test prep courses so their kid had the upperhand (let’s not sugar coat it, because that is exactly what test prep is about); back when a kids walked into the test cold, got the score that they got; the SAT had meaning. Now it’s just another test to be studied for. It is part of a profit driven machine. A prime example of that, as someone pointed out, if it is free to send the test scores prior to the score release, then it should be free after. Where else would you willing wait weeks and weeks for a “product” that was promised on a certain date, that doesn’t arrive on time, without asking for a refund/discount? Somebody needs to hold the college board’s feet to the fire. So no, actually I do not see the real value in it.
Why have both an SAT score and AP/SAT II score? How about submit an SAT/ACT OR an AP/SAT II score for Math, English, Science and Social Studies, no need for both. The cost of these tests should be covered by the high school.
Frankly, a superior SAT score is not necessarily a stellar indicator of potential collegiate success either, IMO. I know plenty of perfect and near perfect score kids (and yes more than just a handful) that have struggled mightily in college or ended up dropping out. I know plenty of B average kids with middling scores that are doing just fine, and even excelling, in college. Clearly, there are schools out there that believe they can find great students without test scores and have gone test optional.
Do I think that there needs to be a universal standard so schools are judging apples to apples? Probably. Do I think that the SAT/ACT model is achieving that, comparing apples to apples? Absolutely not.
Right now the college board is simply another hoop that you need to jump through to play the game.
@sushiritto Not just in the south… there are some schools that do similar things in the bay area, apparently thoughtfully done within the context of accepting a wide variety of viewpoints
@traveler98 I’m a native of the SF Bay Area public schools. So it all sounds strange to me. 
The teacher didn’t actually teach creationism, but she did say that evolution was one theory and creationism was another, and she did give the kids a homework assignment to explain their views and why, and then she helped to facilitate a discussion about both during one class period. She also said that the kids need to be respectful of each other’s beliefs, and she would not tolerate anyone putting anyone else’s thoughts/opinions down. I thought she did a masterful job with a topic that was filled with landmines. Since I’m originally from the north and had never met anyone who did not believe in evolution, it was shocking to me to meet people who thought differently.
So maybe I’m crazy…but I don’t see why creationism and evolution can’t co-exist, maybe even have the same beginnings. So God created in a “day” but who’s to say what a “day” was in God’s world, maybe that was 100 million years. People defined a day as one sun rising. It’s obvious that “evolution” exists today in some form…there are physical differences in humans over the last couple hundred years, there are intellectual differences, emotional differences, changes in what we need to do to survive. Why do we no longer need wisdom teeth?? In fact, most people’s jaws can’t fit them. I tend to think they were for a time when people were hunter-gatherers and needed them to eat the types of food they had then. @melvin123 that sounds awesome how the teacher handled it. People do need to be respectful of other’s beliefs and draw parallels where they may exist.
On another note…how many of your seniors are actually going to take the AP tests? Do you think it matters? So at DS school, they only offer two AP in 11th - APUSH and AP Language Arts. Both are mandatory, they don’t offer any other level of those classes. In 12th, they only offer AP Calculus and AP Environmental Science - again the science course is mandatory, only level. AP Calc is the only calc, but it is not mandatory. I can see how taking the AP Calc class is helpful, needed for college and he should take the exam, but I’m thinking my son shouldn’t waste his time with Environmental Science. It’s not something he needs for college and he’ll already have selected his school by the time the test comes. Interested in other’s thoughts on this.
@melvin123
Nice details, thanks.
MyD16 took 14 AP tests during HS and got 5s on all of them which got her 68 credits to start off college. Not all of them counted towards her degree but they knocked off most of her core (English, arts, history, etc) and also calculus, chemistry, etc. so she started off with a head start. We did have to pay for all of her AP tests at $93 each during high school but that was cheaper than her taking the classes in college and now she is able to finish Electrical Engineering in 4 years and she just added Computer Engineeting as a 2nd/double major and can finish both in 4 years with all the credits she had starting with 68 credits from her AP credits. She thinks the AP classes were worthwhile. Our school actually only offers 7 AP classes so 7 of them were online classes she took while attending high school that we made arrangements with our school to take through Gifted Learning Links through Northwestern University. D18 is doing the same for courses like AP physics and AP calc BC because our high school doesn’t offer these AP classes at the school.
Not sure what S will do this year. In his school seniors in good standing are exempt from final exams. In other grades the only way to be exempt from a comprehensive finals exam is to take the AP exam. Students in grades 9-11 still have to do something for a grade but if they take the AP exam they get a project or assignment that is usually fun and always graded very leniently. So he’s taken AP exams for every AP class up until now, even ones that won’t help him for college credit. This year Bio, Government, Econ and Stats would help him for college. Calc BC probably won’t because he’s likely to retake calc in college regardless of AP credit, so he might not bother with that exam.
“On another note…how many of your seniors are actually going to take the AP tests? Do you think it matters?”
In my D’s case, this is almost entirely dependent on where she decides to go to college. She is currently taking 5-6 AP classes. (I think just 5, but I can’t remember!) Anyway, if she ends up enrolling at a college that gives credit for AP exams, she absolutely will take them. If not, then I’m not sure.
DS is taking 4 APs this year, and I expect he will take the exams. Probably less of a focus though than in the past. Likely schools will give credit for AP exams, but at least 2 maybe 3 may not count toward his degree/major requirements.
For our DD’18, most of her APs are AFTER her high school graduation!
I’m not sure what my D will do with AP exams. If she’s anything like me, then she’ll “finish what she started.” 
S will take two APs this year, Lit and Calc, bringing his total to 6. I’m super glad we didn’t have to pay for them at the beginning of the school year on top of senior pics, the senior package, and the skybox we plan to get for graduation.
The senior package is pre-paid admission to all senior events and perks (trips, dances, yearbook, cap / gown, etc.) with a very nice discount for paying upfront.
About the skybox - sigh! It seems totally extravagant to get a skybox for graduation, but they have AC, and temps on graduation day will be 105 - 110 degrees. There’s no way any of the grandparents (all four of them) who want to attend should sit that long in the heat and the sun.