More Changes to Advanced Placement

[Sebastian (a lady)]

College Board has been piloting a different registration system and timeline this year.  They are set to roll out the new timeline for all schools in Fall 2019.

Info on the changes here.  https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/news-changes/ap-2019?excmpid=SM068-PR-1-LI

I don't know how this will affect homeschoolers.  At the least, it will shift the time for finding a hospitable test site to much earlier in the year.  You might need to be calling around in spring or summer in order to fine a place that will accept outside students.  

I'm concerned that this will be a big issue for students who either take AP courses online or who do AP studies at home, whether they use an approved syllabus or not.

For families who create their own AP syllabus and go through Course Audits, that seems to be shifting to spring before the course is offered.  I don't know if there will be continued access for homeschools under the new system.  (The announcement doesn't address it one way or the other.)

I can say for our family, having had two mid-year moves in high school, the new timeline would have severely impacted our access to AP exams.  I have one kid remaining in high school.  I will probably be looking more at community college dual credit courses for him.  Securing a test site is already uncertain.  I think the new process is likely to decrease access for students who don't attend the school offering the test, to include homeschoolers, charter school students, and students who want to self-study for a course their school isn't offering.  

[alewife]

 

Wow! Better hope our kids don't get sick around exam time or have any other emergency come up that prevents them from taking the exam.  

"Schools have found, and we’ve verified in our pilot, that having a meaningful stake in the year-end goal of the AP Exam encourages students to persist through a challenging class, do their best work, and take advantage of the opportunities they have earned. That’s why we’ve introduced two fees, a $40 additional fee for each exam ordered after the final deadline in the fall, and a $40 final fee for any exam that is ordered but not taken."

What a money grab.

Edited December 2, 2018 by alewife

[chiguirre]

That new fee makes the CLEP even more attractive for homeschoolers. If you get sick on the one day that the AP is administered you're out more money than you'd pay for a CLEP that can be scheduled at any time (although you have to make an appointment with the college's testing center but they're pretty flexible).

We're truly fortunate that our CC waives tuition for DE students, they only pay fees. For the same amount that I'd pay for an AP exam, Trinqueta gets a CC class plus access to the tutoring and writing centers, a subscription to Microsoft Office, gym facilities once she's 16 and free access to the NY Times and a bunch of magazines. That's a very solid deal for us compared to AP testing.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

2 hours ago, chiguirre said:

That new fee makes the CLEP even more attractive for homeschoolers. If you get sick on the one day that the AP is administered you're out more money than you'd pay for a CLEP that can be scheduled at any time (although you have to make an appointment with the college's testing center but they're pretty flexible).

We're truly fortunate that our CC waives tuition for DE students, they only pay fees. For the same amount that I'd pay for an AP exam, Trinqueta gets a CC class plus access to the tutoring and writing centers, a subscription to Microsoft Office, gym facilities once she's 16 and free access to the NY Times and a bunch of magazines. That's a very solid deal for us compared to AP testing.

That is a nice deal.  We've never lived in an area that waived tuition or at least not for homeschooled de students.

My concern with CLEP is over the perceived quality of the exam and the study it would represent. I don't think that CLEP is viewed the same way by selective colleges that that AP is.  (By selective here I mean the larger body of colleges who accept less than 50% of applicants, not just elite highly selective colleges.)

On the other hand views of AP are shifting somewhat. There have been schools dropping AP and colleges saying that more aren't necessarily better.

I think my youngest will end up with more de than his brothers in part because of the type of coursework he needs.  I can whip up an AP English course easily. I'm not going to do that with chemistry or calculus. 

[Farrar]

The CLEP is definitely not seen as positively as AP's are. They're not accepted for credit everywhere, I'm pretty sure. Of course, neither are AP's.

Charging for missing the exam is just absurd. Framing it as if it's for the student's own good is downright offensive. Not that I expect anything else from the College Board.

[RootAnn]

We don't really have access to APs where we live (although I suspect that the school district one over which let my dd take the PSAT would move mountains to try even though they don't currently administer any AP exams). Since dd#1 is down to three colleges, I looked at how they treat the Calc CLEP vs AP Calc AB. None are elite colleges. (One admits around 50% of applicants & the other two let in more.)   None of them accept the CLEP in lieu of Calc I but all will let the student waive the first semester of Calc for a 3 or better on the AP exam.

I also looked at AP foreign language vs CLEP and found the AP results give far more credit. (DD is going to just take departmental placement exams instead of either the AP or CLEP.) So, YMMV. I wish CLEPs were accepted better for those of us who don't have access to APs and for whom DE is limited and full cost.

[Matryoshka]

45 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

We don't really have access to APs where we live (although I suspect that the school district one over which let my dd take the PSAT would move mountains to try even though they don't currently administer any AP exams). Since dd#1 is down to three colleges, I looked at how they treat the Calc CLEP vs AP Calc AB. None are elite colleges. (One admits around 50% of applicants & the other two let in more.)   None of them accept the CLEP in lieu of Calc I but all will let the student waive the first semester of Calc for a 3 or better on the AP exam.

I also looked at AP foreign language vs CLEP and found the AP results give far more credit. (DD is going to just take departmental placement exams instead of either the AP or CLEP.) So, YMMV. I wish CLEPs were accepted better for those of us who don't have access to APs and for whom DE is limited and full cost.

It seems so darn variable.  Our state Flagship has some weird policies on APs vs. CLEPs.  For example, no getting out of Freshman Writing for even a 5 on AP Lit.  Sorry, nope.  They will give credit for 5 on AP Language, but virtually no high school in our state even offers that exam (really).  So I guess mostly out-of-state students get out of that.  But they will give credit for a decent score on the English CLEP.

Our next-biggest State U (part of the same system), which my other dd attends, has completely different policies on which APs and CLEP scores it accepts.  It'll accept a 3, 4 or 5 to get out of two semesters of Freshman Writing, but also takes the CLEP.  But... a 4 on a foreign language AP will get you out of four semesters of foreign language at the flagship, but only two at the other school.  Even though the flagship has more rigorous foreign language classes and much broader/deeper language majors.  

[chiguirre]

Both of our state flagships are very generous with their acceptance of APs and CLEPs. They even accept SAT IIs for some classes. They're considerably more generous awarding credit for test scores than the CC that Trinqueta attends. It depends so much on what state you live in. It would be nice if there was a bit more uniformity but I'm glad I live in a state that has good public universities with generous testing and transfer policies.

[alewife]

4 hours ago, Farrar said:

The CLEP is definitely not seen as positively as AP's are. They're not accepted for credit everywhere, I'm pretty sure. Of course, neither are AP's.

Charging for missing the exam is just absurd. Framing it as if it's for the student's own good is downright offensive. Not that I expect anything else from the College Board.

Plus considering the College Board's pilot program just was implemented at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year (less than 3 months ago), it is quite impressive that the College Board has already been able to draw conclusion that,   

"Schools have found, and we’ve verified in our pilot, that having a meaningful stake in the year-end goal of the AP Exam encourages students to persist through a challenging class, do their best work, and take advantage of the opportunities they have earned."

I wonder if this same team that was able to miraculously verify results of a pilot that began a few weeks ago was also the team responsible for devising the SAT/ACT concordance tables for the new SAT-- the concordance tables that the ACT refused to endorse for lack of reliable data, but the colleges still used  when evaluating applicants and awarding merit awards, and the College Board later revised when actual data proved the original tables to be wrong.  Many students in the Class of 2018 lost thousands of dollars in merit awards due to those faulty concordance tables.

[RootAnn]

1 hour ago, alewife said:

Plus considering the College Board's pilot program just was implemented at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year (less than 3 months ago) . . .

Actually, they did a small pilot last year 2017-2018. It was a much smaller group of schools, but they do have data from one year of testing from a very small sample. They expanded the pilot this year before rolling it out completely next year.

With that said, I completely agree with everything else you said. And I think they are wrong with their assumptions from the little data they have.

[easypeasy]

Charging $40 for a missed test is ludicrous.

What surprises me is the fact that:

a) College Board wants more money as evidenced by these recent changes, so....

b) WHY DON'T THEY MAKE IT EASIER FOR HOMESCHOOLERS TO REGISTER FOR THE AP EXAMS??

We are still scrambling to find a location for one of dd's AP exams since the school we usually use doesn't offer it.

Why is it that I can easily sign up for an SAT exam through the College Board website (where they pop up a nice window that shows me what locations are offering the test on that day and allow me to select which location I prefer)? Why on earth aren't APs the same way? If a high school is giving an AP exam, they can enter in how many open seats they have.

Easy Peasy.

[Farrar]

I get that registration way ahead of time might help some students feel more invested. But I actually think it takes maturity and intelligence to look at the test and admit to yourself that you’re not going to do well enough to take it.

Not to mention that this punishes kids who were sick or moved. Like, your life got ipended by an illness, the College Board would like to now charge you extra for that.

[alewife]

I know that the College Board would like us to believe that registering earlier for the AP exam makes the students more invested in the class, but I wonder if that is really true.  From what I have seen at least in my area, kids are invested in the grade that they receive in the AP class, not the actual AP exam score.  My public school has had a policy for at least as long as I have been involved in AP testing with my kids (so  10 years now) that every student must sit for the AP exam in order to receive a final grade in the AP class.  I believe that the school has this policy because a school's rating depends on how many AP exams its students take each year (the actual scores are not used in these national rankings nor are the exam scores used when factoring in the final letter grade awarded for the class.). 

This new policy of requiring early registration and then charging an additional $40 fee for not sitting for the exam that was already paid for, in my opinion, does nothing but add to the coffers of the College Board.  I really see zero benefit to the student.

Edited December 2, 2018 by alewife

[...................]

This is terrible for homeschoolers.  It is extremely difficult, as it is, to get a testing site in my area for AP.  THere is one school in a 30 mile radius that allows them with open arms.  And there is a private school that allows some for a hefty fee.  But you usually head over sometime in March and make a few phone calls.

Having to register in the fall when the school itself doens't even have its act together yet would make it even more difficult to find schools that allow homeschoolers.  

The student is busy with life and learning the material.  No student is going to be more invested because they register for something.  They're invested in the class because that's the kind of student they are.  Not because they paid 40.00 ...

It's just more control and shenanigans from the college board.

[...................]

12 hours ago, easypeasy said:

Charging $40 for a missed test is ludicrous.

What surprises me is the fact that:

a) College Board wants more money as evidenced by these recent changes, so....

b) WHY DON'T THEY MAKE IT EASIER FOR HOMESCHOOLERS TO REGISTER FOR THE AP EXAMS??

We are still scrambling to find a location for one of dd's AP exams since the school we usually use doesn't offer it.

Why is it that I can easily sign up for an SAT exam through the College Board website (where they pop up a nice window that shows me what locations are offering the test on that day and allow me to select which location I prefer)? Why on earth aren't APs the same way? If a high school is giving an AP exam, they can enter in how many open seats they have.

Easy Peasy.

 

Well, I suppose the high school has a whole bunch of AP exams going on, and all on different dates, and they probably choose a room and location that matches the number of kids they expect.  Whereas with SAT, they expect hundreds, and prepare for that...

But then again on the flip side if it was set up like the SAT, the school would know how many are registered and plan accordingly. 

[RootAnn]

What happens if a school has a kid move away? Who pays the $40?

Do you think the school would put someone else in that student's place? Do they have to assign names to the tests in the fall under the new setup? What would happen if they stuck a substitute in to take the test (under the original kid's name if they had to name them)? Imagine the crazy that might follow . . . 

If they don't assign names, would this open up a slot for another student to be able to take the test if one of the original kids had moved or got sick at the last minute? Either way is a bit crazy.

Edited December 2, 2018 by RootAnn
Eta: I read further & they have to assign names.

[alewife]

3 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

What happens if a school has a kid move away? Who pays the $40?

Do you think the school would put someone else in that student's place? Do they have to assign names to the tests in the fall under the new setup? What would happen if they stuck a substitute in to take the test (under the original kid's name if they had to name them)? Imagine the crazy that might follow . . . 

If they don't assign names, would this open up a slot for another student to be able to take the test if one of the original kids had moved or got sick at the last minute? Either way is a bit crazy.

I would think that they would have to assign names at registration, otherwise, it would be very difficult to enforce the $40 penalty.  My guess is that if a student didn't end up taking the AP exam he had already paid for, he would be solely responsible for paying the additional $40 penalty.  

This fee for be relatively easy for both the school and College Board to enforce:  For those students who would like to send their AP score report to their intended college, the CB would not send the report until all fees were paid.  If the student didn't want to send an AP report anywhere, the high school could refuse to send a final transcript to his college until the fees to the CB were paid.

[RootAnn]

Do you think the CB would allow the student who moved to take the test at their new school? 

[Farrar]

Do you think if a student had a doctor's note, they could at least get the extra fee waived? The whole thing is just insane. I understand not refunding and while I don't like it or think it's necessary, I even understand moving the registration date up, but adding a penalty is just bonkers. Not that the monopoly of the CB cares how it looks.

[yvonne]

Are they charging $40 for a missed test _in addition to_ the regular registration fee?  Or is the $$$$ regular registration fee refunded except for that $40?  (Guess I could go poke through the site, but maybe someone already knows...)

ETA:  And WHAT exactly could possibly  be the rationale for tacking ANOTHER $40 on to the already ridiculous cost of ~$100 for each AP exam??  In what way does NOT taking the thing affect the CB's work involved?

 

Edited December 2, 2018 by yvonne

[Penelope]

25 minutes ago, yvonne said:

Are they charging $40 for a missed test _in addition to_ the regular registration fee?  Or is the $$$$ regular registration fee refunded except for that $40?  (Guess I could go poke through the site, but maybe someone already knows...)

ETA:  And WHAT exactly could possibly  be the rationale for tacking ANOTHER $40 on to the already ridiculous cost of ~$100 for each AP exam??  In what way does NOT taking the thing affect the CB's work involved?

 

 

From the College Board:

”Exams canceled after this deadline and by the spring course orders and fall order changes deadline will incur a cancellation fee of $40 per exam. The original exam fee will be removed from the invoice. This fee won’t apply to exams originally ordered for students who transfer out of the school.”

So it is not additional, it is $40 that you won’t be refunded if you cancel. They already have late exam administrations for all exams for cases of sickness or other emergencies.

Edited December 2, 2018 by Penelope

[alewife]

16 minutes ago, Penelope said:

 

From the College Board:

”Exams canceled after this deadline and by the spring course orders and fall order changes deadline will incur a cancellation fee of $40 per exam. The original exam fee will be removed from the invoice. This fee won’t apply to exams originally ordered for students who transfer out of the school.”

So it is not additional, it is $40 that you won’t be refunded if you cancel. They already have late exam administrations for all exams for cases of sickness or other emergencies.

Ok, so it is not as bad as I had interpreted the policy to be.  I thought it meant that the student had to pay an additional $40.  So now, if you have to cancel, the CB is going to keep a little less than half of the testing fee.  Still not ideal, but not as ridiculous as I thought.

[yvonne]

Well, that's not so bad. At least the CB is refunding most of the money for the registration if a student doesn't take the exam.

[Roadrunner]

Do schools usually pay for AP exams? In our district the school picks up all the costs. I find it improper for CB to be appropriating public funds under the guise of a penalty. 

I think the entire thing is a money grab. Kids should be able to decide closer to the exam if they feel they are ready to take and have a choice to opt out. Sometimes best of intentions don’t pan out. Maybe the class is too hard, maybe the teacher isn’t good, maybe a lot has happened at home. Whatever the reason, kids may not feel prepared and ready for the exam, and moving registration deadline so far out adds more stress. And now those penalty fees really make me look elsewhere for options. DE seems so much more appealing. 

Edited December 3, 2018 by Roadrunner

[madteaparty]

12 hours ago, alewife said:

I know that the College Board would like us to believe that registering earlier for the AP exam makes the students more invested in the class, but I wonder if that is really true.  From what I have seen at least in my area, kids are invested in the grade that they receive in the AP class, not the actual AP exam score.  My public school has had a policy for at least as long as I have been involved in AP testing with my kids (so  10 years now) that every student must sit for the AP exam in order to receive a final grade in the AP class.  I believe that the school has this policy because a school's rating depends on how many AP exams its students take each year (the actual scores are not used in these national rankings nor are the exam scores used when factoring in the final letter grade awarded for the class.). 

This new policy of requiring early registration and then charging an additional $40 fee for not sitting for the exam that was already paid for, in my opinion, does nothing but add to the coffers of the College Board.  I really see zero benefit to the student.

Our school has the same policy. But maybe the school has no way to enforce that and CB decided to align itself with the schools...

[madteaparty]

51 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Do schools usually pay for AP exams? In our district the school picks up all the costs. I find it improper for CB to be appropriating public funds under the guise of a penalty. 

I think the entire thing is a money grab. Kids should be able to decide closer to the exam if they feel they are ready to take and have a choice to opt out. Sometimes best of intentions don’t pan out. Maybe the class is too hard, maybe the teacher isn’t good, maybe a lot has happened at home. Whatever the reason, kids may not feel prepared and ready for the exam, and moving registration deadline so far out adds more stress. And now those penalty fees really make me look elsewhere for options. DE seems so much more appealing. 

I think what your school does is the exception. Here parents pay the $90 or whatever via link, school prints out list and orders test booklets. 

[easypeasy]

12 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

 

Well, I suppose the high school has a whole bunch of AP exams going on, and all on different dates, and they probably choose a room and location that matches the number of kids they expect.  Whereas with SAT, they expect hundreds, and prepare for that...

But then again on the flip side if it was set up like the SAT, the school would know how many are registered and plan accordingly. 

 

Yes - that's exactly my point. Why isn't it set up like the SAT? The SAT is offered, what, 4-6 times per year? And that warrants schools allowing non-school students to take the SAT at their facility if the school is giving the SAT on a traditional date. So... for a test that is only offered ONE TIME A YEAR... the College Board should have the registration set up similar to the SAT.

[alewife]

8 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

Do schools usually pay for AP exams? In our district the school picks up all the costs. I find it improper for CB to be appropriating public funds under the guise of a penalty. 

I think the entire thing is a money grab. Kids should be able to decide closer to the exam if they feel they are ready to take and have a choice to opt out. Sometimes best of intentions don’t pan out. Maybe the class is too hard, maybe the teacher isn’t good, maybe a lot has happened at home. Whatever the reason, kids may not feel prepared and ready for the exam, and moving registration deadline so far out adds more stress. And now those penalty fees really make me look elsewhere for options. DE seems so much more appealing. 

The kids in my area pay for the AP exams.  I think it is unusual for a school to pay for these tests.

[Penelope]

8 hours ago, easypeasy said:

 

Yes - that's exactly my point. Why isn't it set up like the SAT? The SAT is offered, what, 4-6 times per year? And that warrants schools allowing non-school students to take the SAT at their facility if the school is giving the SAT on a traditional date. So... for a test that is only offered ONE TIME A YEAR... the College Board should have the registration set up similar to the SAT.

 

 

I think there is a difference. AP exams are given every day for about two weeks on school days when all students and staff are there and most are not taking the exam. AP exams are also linked to classes given in that school and are not required of prospective college students the way SAT is. I am grateful for the schools that are open to homeschoolers taking AP tests at their facility, but I understand why not every school wants to, just like not every school wants to be a site for the SAT. 

I do agree that they should set up registration the same so we could see the schools allowing it directly on the website. It would save all of the calling around to find out whether a school will allow it and which tests they actually offer during a given year. Maybe with the changes and the newer online registration for AP, they will move toward that.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Penelope

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Without going through the coordinator's guides I'm going g to guess that the space between students might be different for AP and SAT. 

There have been cases where AP scores for an exam or a school's whole swathe of exams was cancelled because they didn't use one of the allowed seating arrangements. 

I think that College Board doesn't see it's goal as certifying mastery of material or even the excellence and rigor of the course taught by a high school teacher at college level. I think there is a goal of molding content, scope and sequence (not only of AP but of courses leading g to it), course availability, and access.

 

The AP model just fits our situation less and less well.

[alewife]

1 hour ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

Without going through the coordinator's guides I'm going g to guess that the space between students might be different for AP and SAT. 

There have been cases where AP scores for an exam or a school's whole swathe of exams was cancelled because they didn't use one of the allowed seating arrangements. 

I think that College Board doesn't see it's goal as certifying mastery of material or even the excellence and rigor of the course taught by a high school teacher at college level. I think there is a goal of molding content, scope and sequence (not only of AP but of courses leading g to it), course availability, and access.

 

The AP model just fits our situation less and less well.

I agree.  If the CB did care about mastery of material, many of the public schools in my area would not be able to continue to use the AP designation year after year when their students are unable to score higher than a 2 on the exam.  

[daijobu]

14 hours ago, Penelope said:

 

 

I think there is a difference. AP exams are given every day for about two weeks on school days when all students and staff are there and most are not taking the exam. AP exams are also linked to classes given in that school and are not required of prospective college students the way SAT is. I am grateful for the schools that are open to homeschoolers taking AP tests at their facility, but I understand why not every school wants to, just like not every school wants to be a site for the SAT. 

I do agree that they should set up registration the same so we could see the schools allowing it directly on the website. It would save all of the calling around to find out whether a school will allow it and which tests they actually offer during a given year. Maybe with the changes and the newer online registration for AP, they will move toward that.

 

I agree with Penelope.  Many of our high school campuses are closed and tightly controlled against outsiders.  After I walked my dd to a classroom for her AP exam and I was walking back to my car, I was approached more than once by faculty who asked to "help" me.   In particular, I think the private schools are less accommodating to outsiders who aren't paying their steep tuition.  The public schools seem to be more oriented toward serving the public, I've observed.  

But still.  I hated calling and emailing and waiting for replies.  We have a couple of locations that host AP exams that aren't even regular high schools.  They are more like after schooling centers and independent study centers.  I only learn about them through word of mouth.  How much nicer it would be if I could see easily who was open to outsiders taking the exam and registering online.  

[easypeasy]

15 hours ago, Penelope said:

I think there is a difference. AP exams are given every day for about two weeks on school days when all students and staff are there and most are not taking the exam. AP exams are also linked to classes given in that school and are not required of prospective college students the way SAT is. I am grateful for the schools that are open to homeschoolers taking AP tests at their facility, but I understand why not every school wants to, just like not every school wants to be a site for the SAT. 

I do agree that they should set up registration the same so we could see the schools allowing it directly on the website. It would save all of the calling around to find out whether a school will allow it and which tests they actually offer during a given year. Maybe with the changes and the newer online registration for AP, they will move toward that.

 

The college board should definitely set up online registrations for the schools who ARE willing... there's just no reason this can't be an option (except laziness on the College Board's part)! Let those schools add a $25/test fee for testing at their facility! I'd pay it! 😁

These kids have to turn in their photos and show IDs for the SAT... same could be done here without any issues. We use CLEP tests for several things and I'll mention in my counselor's letter that it's because finding an AP-testing site for this-or-that particular test was impossible. I think that's ridiculous!

The school we usually go through doesn't even test on their own property! One year, they leased a large warehouse type building nearby and last year they used a school for developmentally disabled children (I didn't even know this school existed, but it relatively new and spectacular!). I know that their AP coordinator would LOVE if I could just sign up online without having to call and email with her back and forth a dozen times while she cycles through the stuff I need to know!

Whereas, dd took the SAT at a local high school and we never even had to speak to the people there. That. Was. Lovely. They ordered her test. She sat down at her spot. And she took the test. So easy! 🙃

Edited December 4, 2018 by easypeasy

[Sebastian (a lady)]

20 hours ago, daijobu said:

 

I agree with Penelope.  Many of our high school campuses are closed and tightly controlled against outsiders.  After I walked my dd to a classroom for her AP exam and I was walking back to my car, I was approached more than once by faculty who asked to "help" me.   In particular, I think the private schools are less accommodating to outsiders who aren't paying their steep tuition.  The public schools seem to be more oriented toward serving the public, I've observed.  

But still.  I hated calling and emailing and waiting for replies.  We have a couple of locations that host AP exams that aren't even regular high schools.  They are more like after schooling centers and independent study centers.  I only learn about them through word of mouth.  How much nicer it would be if I could see easily who was open to outsiders taking the exam and registering online.  

My experience with public vs private is the opposite.  The public school won't give me the time of day. They not only won't permit AP testing, but also no PSAT testing.  They took 6 months to return a signed copy of my last notice of intent (with frequent phone calls). They never acknowledged receipt of annual proof of progress letters.

The private schools have been very accommodating, including referring me to other schools if they were full or not offering an exam.

[teachermom2834]

This AP testing for homeschoolers is so aggravating. My current high schooler will likely take an AP science class next year just because it is the most appropriate level for him and the best class fit. But I don’t think he’ll have access to an exam. I really prefer to use a mix of standard, AP, and de classes to cater the education to the kid. Sometimes the AP class is the best fit but we don’t have test access. So aggravating!

[Roadrunner]

There are number of Homeschool organizations nationwide. I really wish they could lobby on behalf of homeschoolers for better access to AP exams. This has been a continuous problem and there is no reason everybody couldn’t come out as a winner - CB makes more money, homeschoolers get an exam, school districts could charge proctoring fees and make some $ as well.