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Advanced Placement Exam Commiseration thread 2016


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Yes, it's that time of year again to begin your search for seats for your student's Advanced Placement exams.

 

You can utilize the AP course Ledger or check the course catalogs of schools close to you to see if they are offering the exams that you need. This is sometimes more reliable than the Course Ledger.

 

This year, we are looking good with three of the four exams we need as they are offered at schools where ds tested last year and they said in writing that they'd be happy to have him this year. Hopefully nothing has changed. The emails have been been sent, but locally there is no school today.

 

I have two potential schools for Comparative Government. One of them has already opened registration and it closes February 12th. Keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck to everyone.

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Three schools, 2 districts, none of which is our own, but I've scored them all, including the Comparative Government exam. 

 

What a relief!

 

I don't mean to be pushy, but if some of you aren't working on this, do it. Two of the three schools we are working with close their registration in TWO weeks. If you are an old pro at this, then never mind.

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I don't mean to be pushy, but if some of you aren't working on this, do it. Two of the three schools we are working with close their registration in TWO weeks. If you are an old pro at this, then never mind.

 

Ds is planning to take calc AB. I wrote to the guidance counselor who had helped us get him set up for the PSAT. She said it was way too early for them and to write back in April. On the one hand, this is a small town, I've interacted with her before, and he's not taking anything unusual, so I think it will work out fine. But on the other hand, waiting until April makes me just a little nervous. Trying to :chillpill:

 

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Ds is planning to take calc AB. I wrote to the guidance counselor who had helped us get him set up for the PSAT. She said it was way too early for them and to write back in April. On the one hand, this is a small town, I've interacted with her before, and he's not taking anything unusual, so I think it will work out fine. But on the other hand, waiting until April makes me just a little nervous. Trying to :chillpill:

 

 

The final deadline for the schools to order their testing material is April 15th.

 

Some schools handle AP exams on an individual basis and others are handled by their district. 

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Yes, it's that time of year again to begin your search for seats for your student's Advanced Placement exams.

 

You can utilize the AP course Ledger or check the course catalogs of schools close to you to see if they are offering the exams that you need. This is sometimes more reliable than the Course Ledger.

 

 

 

Newbie here, so please bear with me...

 

I have two potential schools that told me to check back in Feb. I will do so Feb. 1st.   ;)  

 

I looked at the AP Course Ledger, but don't understand the codes. What does a 1 or 2 mean? Sorry if I've missed something obvious. This is all new to me. 

 

Thanks for the thread!

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Our local public high school will not allow homeschoolers to take the exam there. There are some private schools that are willing but most of them don't offer a lot of AP's and they will only allow homeschoolers to take the exams they were already giving.

 

You might want to contact the College Board about that. Although schools do not have to offer all of the A/P tests, they are supposed to open up the testing to students from other schools and homeschoolers.  If they refuse based on anything except possibly limited seating space, the College Board can discontinue allowing the school to administer the test. 

 

Before you contact the College Board, I would make sure that you have talked to an actual school counselor about taking the test rather than believing either the person who answers the phone or rumors. While some schools cover the cost of the tests for their own students, you would have to pay for the tests.

Edited by DebbS
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Newbie here, so please bear with me...

 

I have two potential schools that told me to check back in Feb. I will do so Feb. 1st. ;)

 

I looked at the AP Course Ledger, but don't understand the codes. What does a 1 or 2 mean? Sorry if I've missed something obvious. This is all new to me.

 

Thanks for the thread!

The 1 or 2 (or 3!) refers to the number of syllabi approved for that particular subject. Sometimes multiple teachers in a school submit their own syllabi for approval ( >1). A 1 can mean either only one teacher uses that syllabus or that the entire department uses the same syllabus.

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I have officially given up on AP's. In our tri-county area, the vast majority of schools are not offering them anymore because DE is actually cheaper. It is getting to the place that I have to travel 2 hours one way to find seats for some of these exams, and the last time we studied AP Comp Sci never did get a seat, and I was literally looking afar afield as a six hour round trip. GAH.

 

The two ds's have online DE courses from U of MI Flint this year. So much less angst!

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I was worked enough about AP Latin that I lined up our testing spots in November.

 

There is only one school in the state that I can find doing Latin. After four years of really hard work there was no way I was letting that one slide.

 

I can sort of understand schools picking DE over AP. It doesn't rest on an exam score, so there isn't an issue of doing ok all semester then doing poorly on the exam. Also they are college level because the college says they are. There aren't audits and course revisions to keep up with.

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Having read similar threads in past years, I was gearing myself up for an uphill battle to schedule DS's first test.  Fortunately, my local PS is willing to offer any AP exam, whether they offer it to their own students or not.  They also subsidize the cost for their students, and decided to pass that benefit to us as well.  Happy dance!

 

 

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You might want to contact the College Board about that. Although schools do not have to offer all of the A/P tests, they are supposed to open up the testing to students from other schools and homeschoolers.  If they refuse based on anything except possibly limited seating space, the College Board can discontinue allowing the school to administer the test. 

 

Before you contact the College Board, I would make sure that you have talked to an actual school counselor about taking the test rather than believing either the person who answers the phone or rumors. While some schools cover the cost of the tests for their own students, you would have to pay for the tests.

 

Thanks for posting this. I always sort of wondered about the College Board's statement of accessibility when it can be so tough for homeschoolers to find a seat.  Our district meets at the beginning of March with all of their AP numbers, seat those kids, and then look to see how many seats are left to open up. This doesn't happen until after spring break the third week in March.  They have a building dedicated to this kind of testing, so something like 6 high schools test all at once. A missing test in ds's AP English Language test kept the over 150 students there for an extra hour after test. I've always been curious to know if this is more effective then the next district over where each school administers their own tests. Ds loves testing through them. No more than 40 kids in the library. Great conditions.

 

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Our local public high school will not allow homeschoolers to take the exam there. There are some private schools that are willing but most of them don't offer a lot of AP's and they will only allow homeschoolers to take the exams they were already giving.

 

Is there only one public high school in your area?  What about other districts?

 

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You are correct - usually there is one A/P coordinator, but I have always found that person to also be a counselor in all of the public schools that I've called about the testing.  I guess it wouldn't have to be. You just want to make sure that you aren't working with a receptionist who doesn't know what he/she is talking about. When you call, you want to be especially nice and start out with something like, I'm wondering if you can help me. Many studies show that if you start out asking for help, most people will actually go out their way to help, so always start with asking for help. Next you are going to want to know if the school will be administering such and such A/P test this year?  You might not want to mention immediately that you are a homeschooler.

 

We had a local public school that wasn't making accommodations for students from other schools and homeschoolers. They almost lost the ability to be a test site. To remedy the situation, they assigned a new A/P coordinator and now will give any test requested even if there is only one student taking it and even if that student is a homeschooler.  So, the College Board will come down on schools that don't attempt to accommodate. If it is the schools policy to discriminate against homeschoolers specifically, this is something that you will want to notify the College Board about for sure.

 

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I am so incredibly thankful that we have a nearby local public school that offers a gazillion AP test choices and are more than happy to host homeschoolers for the exams. I've already checked in with their AP coordinator and am checking back with her in 3 weeks when they open registration (which we can do online now! I don't even have to drive there!).

 

 

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This is ONE reason I hope we can remain here in Italy for a long, long time...I don't have to worry about this.  I don't really have to worry in VA much either -- except for some schools don't offer the tests.  The only test we can't take here any year is the AP Computer science one.  

 

Hoping you all find what you need!  I can only imagine what you must be going through!

 

 

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I'm going to make some calls too, to get an idea before taking the class- I'll have him DE instead if not. But don't really want to have to drive to town for him twice a week for classes on top of everything else going on.

Our actual small district has a nice guidance counselor who was great about the PSAT who might order it for us, or the local private school. Schools around here only offer the basics- bio, english, etc so they'd have to order one they don't usually give, just for us.

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DS has his exams scheduled so doing a happy dance. He will do Calculus AB and Computer Science. He needs these AP exams badly so very relieved he is sorted.

 

Things are looking pretty grim for dd's exams. New exam coordinator at the school who does not wish to accommodate outside students who are doing exams not planned by the school. We are all an odd combo of relieved and sad. Glad because it will make a busy couple of weeks easier....house guests and a couple of days filled with major outside events for both DC. But sad for Dd because she has been preparing for Latin. Calculus BC was the other which I can't figure out why she can't take it with the other calculus exam takers. Oh well, we are trying one other place but aren't optimistic. For her these are extra so not getting upset. She is happy not to be testing on her birthday this year. :lol:

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Whew! Just got an email that we are registered.

 

We've had a lot of snow closures and the final deadline was February 1st. I had emailed the testing coordinator twice, but hadn't heard back.

 

Off to put the check in the mail...

Edited by G5052
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I can not believe it....there are more than 15 high schools in Orange County, CA which offer AP Computer Science A exam. But none of them is willing to order test for outside students. Collegeboard is too passive, no help at all. They just would give out only 3 high school contacts at a time after 30+ minutes hold time,and that too generic schools not filtered for Comp Science. It is getting hopeless and helpless :-(

 

I will take any help I get, please.

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I found that the CB info was pretty useless, too. Have you tried private schools?

 

Orange County seems to have a pretty extensive home schooling community. Have you tried posting to your local group to see if & where others have done it?

 

I can not believe it....there are more than 15 high schools in Orange County, CA which offer AP Computer Science A exam. But none of them is willing to order test for outside students. Collegeboard is too passive, no help at all. They just would give out only 3 high school contacts at a time after 30+ minutes hold time,and that too generic schools not filtered for Comp Science. It is getting hopeless and helpless :-(

 

I will take any help I get, please.

 

 

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I can not believe it....there are more than 15 high schools in Orange County, CA which offer AP Computer Science A exam. But none of them is willing to order test for outside students. Collegeboard is too passive, no help at all. They just would give out only 3 high school contacts at a time after 30+ minutes hold time,and that too generic schools not filtered for Comp Science. It is getting hopeless and helpless :-(

 

I will take any help I get, please.

 

I would look in San Diego County. I believe Sebastian was able to arrange tests at some of our private schools -- you might want to PM her for details. I believe she used one of these services:

 

http://aptestservice.com/

 

http://www.totalregistration.net/

 

The best private schools (ie the ones with the most APs) in SD would be The Bishop's School in La Jolla, Francis Parker in Linda Vista, and La Jolla Country Day School. You might also contact Torrey Pines HS, La Jolla HS, and public HSs in the San Dieguito Union SD. Best of luck!

Edited by SeaConquest
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I found that the CB info was pretty useless, too. Have you tried private schools?

 

Orange County seems to have a pretty extensive home schooling community. Have you tried posting to your local group to see if & where others have done it?

 

That is an excellent idea.. I will try that. .thank you :-)

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I would look in San Diego County. I believe Sebastian was able to arrange tests at some of our private schools -- you might want to PM her for details. I believe she used one of these services:

 

http://aptestservice.com/

 

http://www.totalregistration.net/

 

The best private schools (ie the ones with the most APs) in SD would be The Bishop's School in La Jolla, Francis Parker in Linda Vista, and La Jolla Country Day School. You might also contact Torrey Pines HS, La Jolla HS, and public HSs in the San Dieguito Union SD. Best of luck!

 

Thank you for the info. I will try these out. Thanks :-)

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You might want to contact the College Board about that. Although schools do not have to offer all of the A/P tests, they are supposed to open up the testing to students from other schools and homeschoolers.  If they refuse based on anything except possibly limited seating space, the College Board can discontinue allowing the school to administer the test. 

 

Before you contact the College Board, I would make sure that you have talked to an actual school counselor about taking the test rather than believing either the person who answers the phone or rumors. While some schools cover the cost of the tests for their own students, you would have to pay for the tests.

Are you sure about this?  I am having trouble this year getting AP Music Theory.  Two local high schools offer the course and exam, but will not allow anyone but their own students to take it.  When I contacted the College Board I got zero, I mean ZERO help.

 

 I would love to have some recourse.

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Every year when I see this thread I want to chime in and suggest that if you really need AP for your situation (e.g., DE is not possible), it may be worth travelling for.  We're fortunate in that we don't have to search for a site, but less fortunate in that our site is a 5 hour drive away.  So last year DH and DS took two separate trips out, each time staying at a hotel the night before.  We consider it part of the cost of living here.  They had some good man-to-man conversations en route. :)

 

We were back in the US one year when DS needed the AP Comp Sci exam, and we found a lovely Christian school willing to let him take it there even though there were no other students taking it.  I wonder if private schools are more ready to help homeschoolers out.

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I have a very good news. Finally, I contacted the Orange Unified district office, and they called around, found a school which can accomodate my Daughter. Hurray! Thank you so much to all for helping me out :-)

 

That's awesome.  

 

Last year, we had a short notice move over Christmas break.  I was trying to find a European History exam site in Hawaii, where few schools offer the course.  Each time I was told no by a school, I asked them to recommend somewhere that could assist me.  Eventually I ended up being referred to the state AP coordinator (all of Hawaii schools are in one state wide district).

 

I explained what I was looking for.  She went through her list of schools and I noted which ones I'd already contacted.  Several schools listed as having AP Euro had dropped it in favor of other courses or IB programming.  She eventually drew a blank.  But she did give me a contact at one of the major public schools and said to tell them that she'd referred me.  It turned out that she'd given me the contact number for the dean of students for that school.  They were super helpful and had no problem letting us test with them.

 

So a couple lessons for this.  Try to get the person saying no into a position where they want to help you.  

Don't be afraid to contact all kinds of schools.  Public, private, on the other end of the county.  It can be hard to predict who will be welcoming and who doesn't want to be bothered.

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Are you sure about this?  I am having trouble this year getting AP Music Theory.  Two local high schools offer the course and exam, but will not allow anyone but their own students to take it.  When I contacted the College Board I got zero, I mean ZERO help.

 

 I would love to have some recourse.

 

I don't think that CB cares at all about high schools providing access.

 

Do you live in a state where the law says you should have access to testing?  For example, VA revised their law a few years back such that public schools are required to allow access if space is available.

 

Do you register as a homeschooler with the local school or with a district contact?  I would not hesitate to contact the district and ask for help in finding a place to test.

 

 

For courses that meant a lot to us, I have been willing to travel to get to exams.  For morning exams where I was worried about betting through traffic, I was willing to book a hotel room for the night before.

 

If you have already been shut out locally, I don't think you have anything to lose by contacting principals, district superintendents or school board members to ask why they don't support students living in the district.

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"I don't think that CB cares at all about high schools providing access."  I agree!

 

We live in CA; I wish there was a law similar to that in VA and many other states, but there isn't.  In CA, we don't register with any local schools or districts.  I am going to try calling a local charter school to see if they will allow testing for some of the courses, although I already know they don't offer AP Music Theory (which requires special equipment), so I will still have to find someplace to do that.

 

I think the principal is a good idea.  One of the AP coordinators that said no is the coordinator at a school for which my daughter has participated in their spring musicals.  At this particular school, they put big money into their theater program and for the last two years my daughter has volunteered as the piano/keyboardist for the orchestra, including being the keyboardist for Les Miserables (which, if you know, is majorly dependent upon the keyboard).  I found it ironic that the coordinator could have no problem turning down someone who has contributed to her school on three seperate productions  (they make big money on these productions as well - six performances each year, all completely sold out once they started bringing in the live orchestra).  I know the theater department staff would speak on her behalf, but am hesitant to ask.  I'm thinking the principal might be the place to go...

 

Edited by learners4life
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"I don't think that CB cares at all about high schools providing access."  I agree!

 

We live in CA; I wish there was a law similar to that in VA and many other states, but there isn't.  In CA, we don't register with any local schools or districts.  I am going to try calling a local charter school to see if they will allow testing for some of the courses, although I already know they don't offer AP Music Theory (which requires special equipment), so I will still have to find someplace to do that.

 

And the CB will lead you astray. They led me to believe that I could register mine in March. We nearly didn't find an AP Latin test in 2014 because of that.

 

Some schools within the metropolitan area actually register in December because of state testing.

 

The high school mine would attend wants you to make a reservation in December so they can be planning, but the final deadline is February 1st with payment due by February 15th. 

 

Then, by law, they are not required to give a homeschooled kid a test that they are not already offering one of their own. Nor are they required to test out-of-district students.

 

Private schools make up their own policies, but one I found in 2014 wanted a proctor fee that I couldn't afford at the time, two references, a criminal background check, and for me to sit in the guidance office the entire time during testing.

 

Thankfully I found a public school that was doing out-of-district testing that year for any test. So my AP Latin student did it there in the guidance office, alone with the proctor, and they only asked for a $15 proctor fee. They even got him a soda and had snacks :hurray: .   But that school now has the more restrictive policies -- you must want one they are already offering and must be in that district.

Edited by G5052
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Do schools have a bit of leeway with exam times? I thought they were 8 am and noon, but I've noticed slightly different times listed at some schools. Do they have an hour time-frame during which the exam must start, but no universal start time?  In other words, can exams start between 12pm and 1pm, say 12:30pm or 12:45pm instead of starting at noon? 

Edited by Woodland Mist Academy
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Do schools have a bit of leeway with exam times? I thought they were 8 am and noon, but I've noticed slightly different times listed at some schools. Do they have an hour time-frame during which the exam must start, but no universal start time?  In other words, can exams start between 12pm and 1pm, say 12:30pm or 12:45pm instead of starting at noon? 

 

Several years ago, I was told no leeway.

 

That said, they told everyone to be in place 30 minutes ahead of time. So for an 8am test, they wanted you there at 7:30.

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Interesting. I wonder why I'm seeing different start times? I've even read that at some schools the arrival time is noon and the start time is 12:30. They are all within the hour range - from 8-9 or 12-1. I wish I would have bookmarked the sites. I've looked at a zillion AP sites over the past few days, so I don't remember where I read the varying times, but I do remember they weren't all in the same location.

 

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It's hard to tell. Maybe, maybe not. I contacted several schools and here were the responses:

 

no response 

she can't test at our school, but here are possible schools to contact

registration is in Feb

registration is in March

 

All of the schools that responded were polite and helpful. I picked the Feb one for a few reasons, not the least of which is that the March one seemed late to me. I still have the information as a back-up in case the Feb. one falls through.

 

I would recommend calling March 1st if you go with the school you mentioned. Had I waited until mid-Feb to call our school, it might have been too late. I would probably call other schools to see if anyone registers earlier. The more options you have the better. (At least that's how I felt.)

 

Good luck.

Edited by Woodland Mist Academy
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I just contacted our local school and the secretary said to call back in March. They don't do sign up until then. Is she giving me a hard time?

 

I would call again and ask to talk to the AP coordinator for the school.

 

Ask if they think they will have room for the tests you are looking for.  Some tests aren't offered at all schools.  Other exams are so popular that school do have problems with having extra spots for outsiders.  (I had the first problem with Comparative Government and the second problem with US Government and with US History.)

 

The secretary may know what the general timeline is, but might not be in a position to predict if having spots open is actually likely.

 

I'm always antsy about waiting until March, because other options might have closed at that point.

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