At our school, those taking APs miss a few of their regular classes, so then have to make up the work on their own/schedule time with teachers to learn new material that they missed.
For our school, most of the AP exams except for a couple are given at another location which is about 30 minutes away from the school. I guess there are too many students taking the exams and they have to be administered in the same room. Itās a huge pain and transportation is not provided. In previous years, I drove S and friends and carpooled with other parents. However, for tomorrowās physics exam, he wants to drive himself and a friend. Iām worried about it and was worried he might not have everything he needs, but he assures me it will be fine. He said, āIām not 4. I know how to drive somewhere and be preparedā. I said, āWell, you also eat all the cookies and leave an empty container for me to do deal with, so you never know!ā.
@elena13 Same here. Most, but not all, APs are at convention center. I remember waiting for ny kid in the parking lot last year after an AM exam ran extremely late. At one point, about 2 new carloads of kids arrived at the lot. Clearly, not knowing that the AM test had not let out, they raced from the cars to the entrance. I found out later that they had come from morning APs at the school that had also run late. But they had the added pressure of driving 20+ minutes to another location thinking everyone was waiting for them. I feel for all the students. May is a rough month.
Sophomores at our school are allowed to take one AP class, AP Economics (not sure if macro or micro). DS did not take econ last year. All of the sophomores who did take econ were excused for the day.
Last year at this time, DS was the understudy for a fairly major role in the play. DS had lost the part to a kid who isā¦ not that bright. And a bit of a screwup, to be honest.
So last year on the day that the AP Econ test was given, screwup missed class. He came in the next day and said that he was absent because he had been taking the AP test. The teacher nodded his head and went on with class for a short while. But later it dawned on the teacher that if screwup wasnāt bright enough to maintain a passing grade in theatre class, it wasnāt likely that he had qualified for placement in AP Econ.
Sure enough, screwup had been skipping oodles of classes pretending that he had AP tests. Screwup was booted from the play and my kid took over the part.
And that is my story about last yearās AP exams.
Thanks everyone for your comments about having no lunch in between double testing, and Iām glad if I can at least serve as a warning for some of your kids who may have to deal with this too.
We got a call back from the VPrincipal in charge of AP testing this morning- profusely apologizing (sounded frazzled, like she fielded many of the same calls). She said the kids were supposed to be warned that they only had a few minutes to move on to the next classroom for test 2. D has double testing again tomorrow and will wolf down her lunch in between since she now knows. Ours is a large suburban public school that is very AP driven- I am sure there were many complaints about it 
I would keep in mind that your school chose to set up the AP timing that way. It is not required to be like that for the college board. I would continue to pressure them to investigate alternatives so that kids have adequate time for lunch and a small break.
@SunnyFlorida22 That AP schedule is horrible! I am not sure what they do at our school if there are two AP exams on one day - Iāll have to ask D. I know during regular exam week they have half days and the kids can often end up with two exams in a row. They give them a shorter lunch break - I think 15 minutes? - and the PTA sells pizza and drinks since the kids donāt have time to buy lunch. We set up about 6 tables and a million kids come rushing over to grab a slice or two to eat before the next exam. A quick lunch for the kids and a fund raiser for the school all at once.
My proctoring experience yesterday for AP Psych was interesting. Our school didnāt allow kids to have a cell phone in the room, even if it was turned off and kept in a backpack that was itself kept far from the students and inaccessible during the test. To me, this seems silly. How on earth could a student benefit from having the phone, when it is obviously not being touched during the test, and is on the opposite end of the room in a backpack, and they are being closely observed by five adults during the test? Instead they made the students declare their phones, confiscated all of them, and took them to the front office after scolding the group for bringing their phones. So today, as silly as it seemed, I made D keep hers at home for her AP Spanish test. It continued to be over-the-topā¦labels were removed from water bottles, hats had to be removed, snacks had to be kept in clear plastic bags, and the best of all: mechanical pencils were confiscated. āBecause they could stuff something in them.ā Seriously? A student is going to write microscopically on a tiny piece of paper, shove it into a pencil casing, then pull it out and read it during the test, undetected by the five roaming proctors? I understand that modern teenagers sometimes use texting and the internet to share information and therefore cheat, but this all seemed a bit much. We also had a buffer zone around the gym cordoned off with caution tape and the windows were covered. So. Serious.
My guess is that the student who was allowed no lunch break experienced this because the school simply wasnāt thinking about doubled-up kids. Of the 152 students taking Psych yesterday, only 3 had taken chem that morning. Iām sure those three kids had a rough transition because we started Psych at the stroke of 12:00. Really a lead proctor should be mindful of kids in those situations, if no one else is.
Two more tests for me to proctor, both next week. Iāll be curious to see if procedures change slightly ā I think maybe the counseling team was just a bit cuckoo yesterday since it was the first day of testingā¦
Most if not all of those rules are established by College Board, @SDCounty3Mom. I am sure they have seen just about everything. And @mom2twogirls is absolutely right: the school can choose to have a lunch break if they wish. They may be trying to cut down on proctor time if they pay their proctors, which would be a shame for the kids.
As @BorgityBorg so thoughtfully pointed out yesterday, according to the AP site there is plenty of time given for lunch to be possible between tests, so Iām hoping there was just massive confusion (not usual at our school) on the first day of testing and they will be more aware of the issue for the rest of the testing period.
Also @4MyKidz - my younger daughter has Type 1 Diabetes as well! Hoping your son is cared for more thoughtfully with the 504 in place- mine also has a 504 and is always offered special needs testing, which she always turns downā¦ I think for more important SAT, ACT, AP testing for her in the future I am going to insist she participates in that.
@mathmomvt My oldest just finished his first year at McGill; absolutely loved it. My youngest (HS junior) has his sights set on McGill as well. UVM is definitely in the mix for him as well.
@4MyKidz @SunnyFlorida22 Coincidentally, Iām also a T1D mom! My 11-year-old was diagnosed ten years ago as a 1-year-old. Weāve never had a 504 through elementary school but I may need to pursue that as academics become more formal and sheās in more testing situations. Sheās the reason Iām a stay-at-home mom nowā¦there was no way I could be in the paid workforce with a pre-verbal baby with diabetes, and getting her situated in both preschool and the early elementary grades was a project too. It has eased up now that sheās 11 and can do much more self-care, and I feel like Iām still recovering from those gnarly early yearsā¦! But my hatsā off to both of you ā itās not an easy gig, this diabetes world! One day at a time.
Hugs to you, @SDCounty3Mom ! Wow, having a baby with T1ā¦ now that is tough. Actually, lol, I am also T1 myself for 35 years now. My younger D was diagnosed at 6 and is turning 13 next week. I absolutely recommend the 504 to you. Yes, even if not needed now, you will be very thankful for it later on. We are very lucky to be in a very supportive school district that fully takes care of and protects the kids. The 504 is mandatory.
And just to put a final period to my no lunch story, an announcement was made at school today that moving forward, the kids will have a 1/2 hour lunch break between tests. Happy ending 
Iāll add that our AP exams are normally given in an off-site location, primarily to avoid distractions for the kids. But this year they had to have them at the HS because the off-site location was under construction. DS was quite concerned about the distractions that bells and kids moving through the halls would pose, but he didnāt complain after the test, so I guess it wasnāt that bad.
Whenever kids miss school, they are responsible for making up the content. That didnāt dissuade any of them from taking the āearnedā afternoon off after AP Chem. 
Hey all! Wow been gone for a few days and have almost six pages to catch up on. All I can say is Iām glad my son is taking no AP exams this year. But next year heāll have six IB exams, so that will be fun!
We saw Muhlenberg and Lafayette over the weekend and I know that a few people wanted to know what we thought so Iāll write it up in two different posts.
Lafayette - we had an appointment at 11:00 for the information session and then the tour. There were a lot of people there for the session so they moved it to the chapel. Beautiful chapel in the middle of the campus. Let me say first off that Lafayette is gorgeous!!! Wow! The information session lasted about 40 minutes. Halfway through my son says to me - hey I think I have met the woman who has was doing the information sessionā¦ (remember this for later)ā¦ There were a lot of tour guides that came in after. They ended up splitting us into two to three families per tour guide. We ended up with one other family - a mom and her son. Our tour guide was a freshman! And honestly freshman should NOT be tour guides! She knew nothing! She was a computer science and theater major. She asked my son and the other boy what majors they were interested in so that she could customize the tours. So my son says Neuroscience and she says - whatās that! At that point we should have bailed! The other child shrugs his shoulders and says I donāt know I just want to see the football field and the gym! So there you have itā¦ She took us by the dorms and in a few academic buildings. We walked by construction of a new academic building forā¦ Neuroscience! LOL!! She was likeā¦ hmmm there is a going to be a Neuroscience building! Since neither boy was interested in engineering we didnāt go in that building. We went in the library then down to the football field and the rec center. Then we found another building that housed the Neuroscience program. After that we went to the student union and saw two of their dining facilities. She talked to us about their career services which starts from day 1. They also have a great freshman program that sorts the freshman into five communities in order to bring them together. There was a lot of talk about all the clubs and things to do on campus. The school was really pretty and my son was very impressed. Oh and the other student bailed on the tour after the student union because he wanted to go to the bookstore and buy swag. My son was very impressed with the school and the things they offered. He liked everything that they said. So we walked back over to the admissions office because he wanted to find out if the admissions officer was at a local high school college fair and that is where he met her. So we go inside and I went to the front desk to get the area academic officer card and she was standing right there. So I said I wanted the business card for Maryland and she says ā oh thatās me, here is my card. So I said āOh my son thought he might have met you at the local high school college fairā ā¦ and I turn to my son and he isnāt there! Now Iām like what happened to him. My Mom was there and she says he walked away to the bathrooms! Doh!! Anyway he comes back and they realize that the did meet at the fair and they talked a bit. Thenā¦ we go to leave and I shake her hand and tell her that we enjoyed the tour and really liked the school. Then my son says - āByeā! He didnāt shake her hand. I was boiling inside. Iām thinking I even modeled it for you and this is the person who is going to read your application! This is the person who would advocate for you. We walk outside and out of sight and I turned to my son and was like - are you kidding me! You shake her hand and say thank you, nice to see you againā¦ whateverā¦ So he waits a beat then goes back in, I stayed outside. He comes out with a school newspaper and says he went back and asked her a few questions, got a school newspaper, shook her hand and said thank you! Ugh!
As a final note to this - the next morning we found out that a few hours after we left a student at the school had apparently threatened to blow up the school and kill all the liberal Christians because he had joined ISIS. Google it, if you havenāt heard but wow - the school was on lock down until early Sunday morning and they found out it was a hoax. But very scary. My son said it didnāt change his mind about the school and itās around #2, behind William & Mary,
There are about 2800 students but the school felt much bigger than that. My son said he felt that students looked laid back and you saw students all over campus. Really liked the feel of the school and I could see my son going there.
Muhlenberg ā We went to Muhlenberg after Lafayette. We did not have a tour or information session. There were a few reasons we wentā¦ 1) it was only 1/2 hour from Lafayette, 2) It was also a small school so we were able to do a direct comparison and 3) my son applied to a Neuroscience brain camp which he is still waiting to hear if he was accepted. If he is accepted he will go there for a week in July. He would stay on campus and attend classes and do research with professors. So we were curious about the campus. Fingers crossed he is accepted! Oh and then one final reason to see the school - my father went there for two years and flunked out! LOL! (a side note, he did get it together and eventually graduate from another PA college).
We drove around the campus and ended up parking on the street right next to the chapel. I think Muhlenberg has about 2300 students. The campus is very different from Lafayette. It was definitely smaller and more intimate. We ate lunch in one of the cafes, then walked to see the Neuroscience building. We saw some dorms along the way. We walked all through the Neuroscience building. There were students everywhere! Lots of people outside with laptops studying. We went in to the Library and walked by the theater. All in all we like the school. We definitely felt the size difference. But my son liked the campus and is looking forward to hopefully spending a week thereā¦
S19ās first AP is APUSH on Friday. Yet this week he has a calculus test (a practice AP that will be graded and entered into the grade book) and a ton of writing due in AP Lang. And, hereās the kicker, a super cool āUnder the Lightsā track meet for FUN tonight. Not sure if you can all read into that last sentence that Iām being sarcastic. All of these juniors are freaking out because they have so much going on this week and the coaches planned this all-conference āfunā meet and itās required. There will be music and cute prizes. And kids who just want to be home studying for their AP tests. Itās raining todayā¦S19 is hoping for a rain out and a reschedule for after APs.
In AP Lang, theyāve started to write college essays. Thatās great and all but the problem is that S19ās ideas are somewhat personal and the teacher has the kids peer-grading them. So, it ends up that S19 will do the assignment but wonāt write what he really wants to write because heās not comfortable having other kids read it. Heās going to talk to the teacher today about his dilemma. Maybe he will let S19 out of the peer grading part and he can just write what he wants. From what Iāve heard, this teacher is on the ball. Everything S19 is saying about this assignment makes it sound like itās right on point with how to approach the essay. S19 has already brainstormed 15 ideas and, after sitting with them for a few days, decided that most of them are trash.
Trying to figure out what you want the AOs to know that they canāt see from the other parts of your app is hard. I like the idea that heās most excited about - it shows him as a sensitive and vulnerable teenager whose got his friendās back in a pretty hairy situation. S19 is pretty moved by the story and wants to write about it. He knows he needs to think about how the situation affected him and not have the story be about the friend. Itās a work in progress, obviously, since he just started writing it last night. I think choosing the subject is hard because, like all kids, there are probably dozens of things that S19 would like AOs to know about him and the essay canāt be all over the place. The kids really have to choose one important trait and then add detail to the story. Some of the other ideas he has had so far were interesting but just didnāt have as much meat on the bones as this one. They all seemed a little shallow or cliche in comparison. Yes, he could talk about art or running but he hasnāt yet found an interesting angle for those essays. And the AOs can see his accomplishments in the application. Part of the reason that I think he likes the small schools is because they are small communities so I can see why the essay that seems most important to him has to do with friendship. Iām very curious to see what his teacher will think. S19 starts working with this AP Lang teacher one-on-one in June.
@Kona2012 Bring on the reviews!
@homerdog Your comments about trying to figure out what AOās want to know goes along with what I read last night about why schools are bringing back the interview. They said that with the thousands of applications its hard to discern the differences from kids when they all basically have high GPA and rigorous courses and great essays but the interview gives one more perspective. I found the like to the article on Lafayetteās interview web page. It was an interesting read and Iām going to have my son read it too so that he can understand the purpose of the interview.
@Kona2012 S19 will interview wherever they allow it. I think an interview would only be a positive thing for him. He definitely needs to interview at Lafayette. The question will be whether we trek out there from Chicago to do it or see if he can Skype or meet someone locally. Thanks for the heads up about the article. Iāll look it up.