Grantmom Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 If your local or nearby schools don't offer the AP exams you want to take, are there any other options? Have some of you traveled to take an AP exam? How far did you go? Was it worth it? Did you go and stay in a hotel? Did you have problems getting the school to let you take the exam? Also, by when do you need to sign up for them with the school? Is it early in the year? After spending all this time trying to figure out our best AP plan for the next few years, I just looked on the school website and it looks like they don't even offer several of the ones we were going to take, like AP Physics C, for example. Would a school be able to order a separate exam for you, even if the course wasn't taught at that school? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 There's a good thread here. In it there's a link to the AP Course Ledger web site, which at least helps you find the exams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Thank you so much! That link is awesome! That is exactly what I needed. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Yes, some schools are willing to proctor exams even if they don't have classes. Just need to do your research. Sometimes they charge a proctoring fee. If it is possible I'd try to establish a good relationship with a school and use them for several years. Be sure to give plenty of notice that you want the exam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Yes, good luck. We had a horrible time last year trying to find a school to give an AP exam. The local public schools will only give it to a homeschooler if they're already giving it to some of their own. The deadline is early January. None of the local private schools who were offering it would take us. One of the Catholic schools an hour away would do it, but had a significant proctor fee, required a criminal background check of the student, and the parent had to stay on campus during the exam (but not in the room). There were public several schools 45 minutes away who were already giving it to some of their students, but the deadline had passed when I called in January. We ended up at a public school over an hour away. I had corresponded with a lady via email here and there about her classic cottage school, and she gave me the name of the AP coordinator and gave the coordinator a heads-up that I needed help. I had to drive the deposit out there that day (the deadline had actually passed). Mine was the only student they had for AP Latin, but they were lovely. Unfortunately because of budget cuts, they only do that for in-county folks now. Now I start calling in November, although thankfully both of the ones I need next year are offered every year locally at the public school. Whew! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 There's a good thread here. In it there's a link to the AP Course Ledger web site, which at least helps you find the exams. Thank you for this! My dd did all the leg work for her AP test. I really lost my right arm when she went to college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaTotaler Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Our local school doesn't offer the Latin exam so I offered to pay for proctoring. I have to pay $60 for proctoring plus $91 for each exam. He plans to take English Lang, Calc AB and Latin. Over the years I have tried to build a decent relationship with the school with ds taking the AMC, PSAT there. I contacted the school early in January, a week after classes started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyS Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I'm driving 1.5 hrs each way and paying $200 in total (includes a proctoring fee). It was literally the best situation I could get. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I am traveling 2 hrs. one way. Each exam is $91. Call around fast. Most schools I talked to wanted their $$ by the beginning of March. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 My local public school has proctored AP exams for my son when the class has not been offered at the high school and no other students are sitting for the exam. The school has also never charged us an extra proctoring fee. Hopefully, your public school will be as accommodating as well. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Q Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Our public schools also would not give an AP exam that they were not already giving to their students. It turns out that AP Human Geography is not an easy exam to find where we live - wish I'd investigated a bit more before investing all of the time and effort (not to mention the cost of materials) to create a College Board-approved syllabus and teach the class. If your child needs any accommodations to take the exam, it can be even more difficult to find a school willing to administer the AP exams, and the College Board was not particularly helpful when I contacted them for assistance. Not to be too negative, but I'd recommend doing your research on where to take the exam well in advance of deciding to do an AP class as a homeschooler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 There's a good thread here. In it there's a link to the AP Course Ledger web site, which at least helps you find the exams. Be aware that the Ledger is a list of approved AP course providers. Some schools still offer the exams but don't bother with the course approval part. see this post for a phone number to call: <http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/538564-annual-search-for-ap-exam-site-commiseration-thread/?p=6124457> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I live in a largish city (200,000), we have 4 high schools. They actually use the local convention center, and all the high schools come together and take the exam at the same time, every single exam is given every single year. They are totally open to outsiders. Homeschoolers, private school and even kids from some of the local smaller communities come and take the test there (they actually seat the kids by groups, so the homeschoolers are together, students from high school A are together etc, so my son said it was very obvious how many different places these kids are coming from). I was amazed how open they are for the testing because they are absolutely horrible about working with homeschoolers in any other capacity. But it's given me a glimpse of how easy this could be for everyone if people just didn't get so caught up in the politics of letting "outsiders" in. I pay $110 per test so there is some proctoring fee there but not too bad. Hope you are able to find somewhere that is accomodating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Be aware that the Ledger is a list of approved AP course providers. Some schools still offer the exams but don't bother with the course approval part. see this post for a phone number to call: <http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/538564-annual-search-for-ap-exam-site-commiseration-thread/?p=6124457> And being an approved AP course provider doesn't mean that they're actually giving it this year. The local high school mine would attend is listed for Latin, but they haven't given an AP Latin exam in 5 years because they haven't actually offered AP Latin in that long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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