AP Exam EARLY Sign Up Deadlines This Year!

[easypeasy]

Maybe this has already been posted, but just in case, here's my PSA!!! Many schools are requiring FALL signs ups for the AP Examinations this year! Apparently this is part of a pilot program. Some schools' deadlines were November 2nd (had to be signed AND paid for by the 2nd), while others are making exceptions until the 15th.

We wouldn't have known except the AP Coordinator from the school we usually use emailed me on Friday. Their deadline had been the PREVIOUS Friday, but she squeezed us in and I have to go over there and pay before the 15th!

Worse, they don't offer one of the APs we need, so now I'm scrambling to find something. The one high school I found who offers AP Music Theory had a deadline of the 2nd and that coordinator says "no late add-ons." So, I've sent out about 6 reacher emails and will do more later today.

So - even if you have a "regular" school where you sign up for AP exams... check with them NOW  about their deadlines AND their offerings instead of waiting until after the New Year like we usually do! I guess some schools might still be on that after-Christmas sign up schedule, while others are signing up now? I'm not sure...

(I'd heard about this pilot program last year, but only one local school was mentioned, so I thought it wasn't far-reaching! Apparently they either added to the list, or they just didn't mention the school that we usually use in that article!)

And %#*&@% College Board for not letting us sign up for these online and them providing us with location options like they do for the SAT... ?

Edited November 8, 2018 by easypeasy

[3andme]

Thanks for the heads up on this. Looks like the College Board may have plans to roll this out to all schools next year. (see this note). This is such a blatant  money grab to boost enrollment and fees. What rationale is there to sign up almost 6 months in advance for an exam? The current 2-3 months is sufficient for administrative purposes. Allegedly, the College Board is testing this because they believe students will be more committed to taking the test for their AP classes if they sign up early and face a financial penalty for cancelling or registering late. I suspect they just want to lock in revenues earlier and force students who are on the fence to commit now rather than to opt out later. I don't really think this will substantially change actual test results as the students themselves don't feel the financial penalty - either the schools absorb the cost or the parents pay for it.  Overall, this is a takeaway for many students as it reduces flexibility.

College Board's statement on new registration policy.

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by 3andme

[easypeasy]

Agreed! There were one or two APs that my kids were on the fence about. Having to decide *now* vs in Feb or March (when they’d have a more solid feel for those classes and their expectations for a test...) led them to make decisions that are different than I feel they will have made later  ?

And what about kids who move midway through the school year? 

Ugh. Bureaucracy.

[Penelope]

Yes, next year it will be all schools, but I guess there are lots with early signups. I was told that later might not have been too late if they still had room, but that there are hefty late fees. 

Edited November 8, 2018 by Penelope

[klmama]

I think this is a really dumb move that will encourage more people to switch to CLEP exams, if the colleges they want accept them.  

[alewife]

I think this policy will accomplish nothing other than to increase the coffers at the not-for-profit College Board. In other words, this policy will meet the College Board's unstated, but ultimate, goal.

 With a March registration deadline, many students in the past were able to determine whether or not they were going to pay to sit for the AP exam based on whether or not the college they would be attending awarded AP credit for the course.  With a November registration deadline, very few kids will have received college decisions yet, making it more difficult to know whether it is worth it to pay to take the exams.  Many of these kids will err on the side of caution and have their parents pay to register for the exams just in case their eventual college of choice will award credit.  

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

20 hours ago, klmama said:

I think this is a really dumb move that will encourage more people to switch to CLEP exams, if the colleges they want accept them.  

I don't think CLEP exams are on the radar of most high school students.  

 

[Penelope]

7 hours ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

I don't think CLEP exams are on the radar of most high school students.  

 

I think so, too.

Some school districts do pay for the AP exams. There is such a push to offer the classes and have certain numbers taking the exams as a measure of how good a school is.

I agree it seems like a money grab. They will also gain some students who might otherwise have dropped the class due to poor grades, transfer to other schools, etc. 

[kirag714]

Oh jeez, I just saw this. I hope this does not mean we'll be shut out. Last time I did this a few years ago I didn't make any arrangements until February. My DD is a senior, so it probably matters less than if this happened earlier in her HS career, but I would still like her to have the opportunity to get credit for these classes.

I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

[Arcadia]

Spoke to my kids favorite AP exam proctor and she confirmed that they would be switching to the November deadline. 

From CollegeBoard page 5 of 6 https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/new-ap-resources-coming-2019-20-school-year-brochure.pdf
“Preferred Deadline (October)

This is the recommended deadline to submit May 2020 exam orders.

Final Deadline (November)
This is the deadline to order exams for all full-year and first-semester AP courses.

Spring Course Orders and Fall Order Changes Deadline (March)
This is the deadline to order exams for second-semester courses, and to update the exam order with any late orders or canceled exams.

Alternate exams taken on late-testing dates can be ordered after this deadline, if needed. A $40 per exam late-testing fee will apply in specific circumstances.”

[Roadrunner]

So I need to figure out how to beg our local school on my knees. I am not looking forward to this at all. 

[Arcadia]

On 4/21/2019 at 11:09 AM, Roadrunner said:

So I need to figure out how to beg our local school on my knees. I am not looking forward to this at all. 

 

2020 AP exams dates, in case your children want to pick subjects based on test dates. Mine tries to avoid Monday mornings.

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/exam-dates-and-fees/exam-dates-2020

[SoCal_Bear]

I'm not here yet...but it is making me wonder whether or not people will bother with the hassle of it at all and just do SAT Subject exams instead because access to that isn't a problem.

Edited April 25, 2019 by calbear

[Roadrunner]

47 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

2020 AP exams dates, in case your children want to pick subjects based on test dates. Mine tries to avoid Monday mornings.

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/exam-dates-and-fees/exam-dates-2020

 

How do I even find out who the AP Coordinator is at the local school? Is there a directory somewhere on College Board I can look up? 

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, calbear said:

I'm not here yet...but it is making me wonder whether or not people will bother with the hassle of it at all and just do SAT Subject exams instead because access to that isn't a problem.

 

School students are the main clientele and AP courses help them for weighted GPA. It would be weird to take AP courses and not take any AP exams I guess. Besides SAT subject tests is held on Saturdays and AP exams are during school days. Some students also want the credit (e.g.  https://local-resources.ucdavis.edu/local_resources/docs/APIBCharts/APCurrent.pdf) that good AP exams scores give though that depends on which colleges they are applying for.

[Arcadia]

50 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

How do I even find out who the AP Coordinator is at the local school? 

 

For my school district the AP coordinator is listed on the school’s webpage under AP exams registration instructions and also listed on Total Registration’s webpages for the respective high school.

ETA:

The AP course ledger website is so slow for me right now that I can’t check. 

https://apcourseaudit.inflexion.org/ledger/search.php

Edited April 25, 2019 by Arcadia

[Sebastian (a lady)]

11 hours ago, calbear said:

I'm not here yet...but it is making me wonder whether or not people will bother with the hassle of it at all and just do SAT Subject exams instead because access to that isn't a problem.

The two exams are not the same level.

Subject tests are designed to test high school level mastery. AP tests are designed to test at the college level.

Subject tests are a 1 hour multiple choice test. AP exams are around 3 hours with multiple choice and free response sections (short answer, essay, and multi step problems).

Although I will say the shift in scheduling exams along with the general difficulty in finding exam spots along with the APUSH redesign have left me concluding that we will not do APUSH next year.  I would rather my youngest have time for his science and math pursuits rather than a very consuming US History course that seems to have focused more on minutiae even as it claims to have moved to analysis. 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

11 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

 

How do I even find out who the AP Coordinator is at the local school? Is there a directory somewhere on College Board I can look up? 

I usually just call and ask to speak to the AP coordinator. 

[Roadrunner]

1 hour ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

Although I will say the shift in scheduling exams along with the general difficulty in finding exam spots along with the APUSH redesign have left me concluding that we will not do APUSH next year.  I would rather my youngest have time for his science and math pursuits rather than a very consuming US History course that seems to have focused more on minutiae even as it claims to have moved to analysis. 

 

I would love to hear more about APUSH redesign. Do you have any link to any discussion. My friend’s kid really struggled in study volume in AP World and is planning on taking APUSH next year, which she was under the impression is a much easier course. 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

1 hour ago, Roadrunner said:

 

I would love to hear more about APUSH redesign. Do you have any link to any discussion. My friend’s kid really struggled in study volume in AP World and is planning on taking APUSH next year, which she was under the impression is a much easier course. 

There were a lot of articles when it was rolled out a couple years ago. Many objections were based on frustrations with who and what were included in the course framework. 

I'm just tired of doing AP History courses that feel like I'm constantly rushing to get to the next set of factoids. It doesn't feel like it has life in it. 

Also my last kid is heavily involved in science and engineering. He is much better served with a different style of history study than the AP framework. 

[Roadrunner]

21 minutes ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

There were a lot of articles when it was rolled out a couple years ago. Many objections were based on frustrations with who and what were included in the course framework. 

I'm just tired of doing AP History courses that feel like I'm constantly rushing to get to the next set of factoids. It doesn't feel like it has life in it. 

Also my last kid is heavily involved in science and engineering. He is much better served with a different style of history study than the AP framework. 

 

May kid is similar. We planned on APUSH because we were strongly advices by somebody familiar with admissions processes to absolutely plan on it if DS wants to shoot for UCs or even semi competitive schools. I can’t imagine him enjoying this class. 

[Arcadia]

17 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

How do I even find out who the AP Coordinator is at the local school? Is there a directory somewhere on College Board I can look up? 

 

2 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

We planned on APUSH because we were strongly advices by somebody familiar with admissions processes to absolutely plan on it if DS wants to shoot for UCs or even semi competitive schools. 

 

The AP Coordinators’ name aren’t listed but you can filter by subject and city for list of schools. https://apcourseaudit.inflexion.org/ledger/search.php

ETA:

e.g. 

Edited April 25, 2019 by Arcadia

[Arcadia]

The marketing poster 

[Mbelle]

I noticed this too and wondered if students really have to sign up by fall.  It was on some info ds came home with yesterday.  I won't have another student in an AP class for at least 8 years!  Who knows what it will be like by then.  

[Arcadia]

7 minutes ago, Mbelle said:

I noticed this too and wondered if students really have to sign up by fall.  

 

My favorite AP coordinator says she can accept last minute up to beginning of November. That tallies with page 5 of link https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/new-ap-resources-coming-2019-20-school-year-brochure.pdf

[luuknam]

Argh! Thanks for this thread. My oldest has been *really* into economics lately, so I was contemplating whether he might or might not be able to take the AP Macro/Micro exams next year. I'd already noticed the unfortunate change to a Nov 15 deadline, but based on what some of y'all are saying I might have to talk to schools in October?

[Arcadia]

36 minutes ago, luuknam said:

 I'd already noticed the unfortunate change to a Nov 15 deadline, but based on what some of y'all are saying I might have to talk to schools in October?

 

I think NY academic year starts after Labor Day? That’s when you need to talk to schools’ AP coordinator. If possible, I would call the school’s main line and find out who is the current AP coordinator since it is AP exam week now (May 6th to 17th). October might be too late to find out which schools are willing to host homeschoolers. I paid in early January for this year’s March deadline.

[luuknam]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

 

I think NY academic year starts after Labor Day? That’s when you need to talk to schools’ AP coordinator. If possible, I would call the school’s main line and find out who is the current AP coordinator since it is AP exam week now (May 6th to 17th). October might be too late to find out which schools are willing to host homeschoolers. I paid in early January for this year’s March deadline.

 

Yes, after Labor Day... I honestly have no idea yet if I'm completely crazy to be contemplating AP exams next year, so maybe I'll just look into CLEP instead since they have a later deadline? At least I guess I have the weekend to think things over, since schools aren't going to be answering their phones till Monday anyway. Are there any negatives to signing up for an AP exam in 7th grade (12yo) and then later deciding to not take the exam after all or taking it and getting less than a 3? (Other than obviously the money wasted, which isn't a huge concern).

[Arcadia]

7 minutes ago, luuknam said:

Are there any negatives to signing up for an AP exam in 7th grade (12yo) and then later deciding to not take the exam after all or taking it and getting less than a 3? (Other than obviously the money wasted, which isn't a huge concern).

 

Scores can be deleted so I won’t worry about bad scores. The only thing to consider is whether you think your child is emotionally ready for it. The nice thing about the Macroeconomics and Microeconomics exams is that each exam is only 2hr 10mins long and they are on Wednesday and Thursday (unlike Physics C exams which are consecutive on the same afternoon). An exam fee is charged for each economics exam so you would pay twice the amount if he wants to take both.

[luuknam]

3 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

Scores can be deleted so I won’t worry about bad scores. The only thing to consider is whether you think your child is emotionally ready for it. The nice thing about the Macroeconomics and Microeconomics exams is that each exam is only 2hr 10mins long and they are on Wednesday and Thursday (unlike Physics C exams which are consecutive on the same afternoon). An exam fee is charged for each economics exam so you would pay twice the amount if he wants to take both.

 

Thanks. I'll think things over this weekend and call the AP coordinator next week to see what needs to be done and by when to sign up for that around here, and then worry about it when that time comes. 

[Caroline]

On 5/10/2019 at 6:50 PM, luuknam said:

 

Thanks. I'll think things over this weekend and call the AP coordinator next week to see what needs to be done and by when to sign up for that around here, and then worry about it when that time comes. 

Don’t call the AP coordinator next week. He or she will he way too busy to take your call, and if she does, she will probably be short with you. Our AP coordinator is dealing with 2000+ exams for 700+ kids over two weeks time. 

Also, schools don’t have much information on how things are going to work next year. That is going to be rolled out in June.