Where to take AP exam???

[Srtepe]

My daughter is preparing for the AP Human Geography exam, but I can’t find anywhere for her to take it.  No local schools offer it, I’ve called countless schools in a two hour radius and only two offer it- and those two won’t let a homeschooler come in to take it 😠

I’ve emailed the College Board for help, but haven’t heard back yet. 

 

Would greatly appreciate any advice! I will feel terrible if my daughter has spent a whole school year on this course and can’t even take the exam 😢

Thanks so much!

 

[skimomma]

Not to be a downer, but this can be a real problem.  We had to travel out of state, which required an overnight hotel stay, to find a location for my dd to take an AP exam last spring.  I made over 100 phone calls and countless emails to find that place.  It was insane.  I found that all of the school within a four hour radius had no interest in helping homeschooled students.  It has changed my level of lifelong support for public education, frankly.

[Srtepe]

That is horrible. 

And it’s messing with my entire plan for high school. Argh!

Thanks for sharing, though! Good to know the reality of the situation. 

[kokotg]

It really is a big mess. We've managed to find somewhere close the past three years, but this year two of the three schools we've used in the past have turned us down and one more hasn't decided yet if they'll allow homeschoolers. The college board is pretty much a cartoon villain, as far as I'm concerned. You might hear back from them, but it won't be with any actual help, I'm willing to bet. All I've ever gotten from them is outdated, incomplete, and/or just flat out wrong lists of schools to call.

[8filltheheart]

It is frustrating, but to put a positive spin on your situation, the human geography course earns credit at very few schools. If your syllabus was approved by CB, you can still keep the designation on the transcript even if she doesn't take the exam.

[FairProspects]

4 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

It is frustrating, but to put a positive spin on your situation, the human geography course earns credit at very few schools. If your syllabus was approved by CB, you can still keep the designation on the transcript even if she doesn't take the exam.

 

Really? I was about to start planning this course for older ds to take next year. He has a spatial strength and interest in geography, although he is ultimately more STEM focused. Would this course not be worth his time? It would be a huge amount of time and effort for him, but I thought it also might be a way to show a strength in humanities that is not otherwise as apparent. If it won't be accepted or won't matter much to earn credit, he may be better off spending his time on foreign language or additional science work.

[8filltheheart]

27 minutes ago, FairProspects said:

Really? I was about to start planning this course for older ds to take next year. He has a spatial strength and interest in geography, although he is ultimately more STEM focused. Would this course not be worth his time? It would be a huge amount of time and effort for him, but I thought it also might be a way to show a strength in humanities that is not otherwise as apparent. If it won't be accepted or won't matter much to earn credit, he may be better off spending his time on foreign language or additional science work.

Really.  It is often taught in PS's in 9th grade and is considered one of the easiest AP exams.  It is not an AP exam that garners much impact in terms of transcript "wow, hardest courses taken."  If you simply google "easiest AP exams," you'll human geography on every list. 

Quote

By Reputation, What Are The Easiest AP Exams?
We’ve talked about personal strengths, teachers, and passing rates. But you’re probably still wondering: across the board, which AP classes and tests tend to be easy, and which ones are hard?

Easiest AP Classes and Tests:

Psychology
Human Geography
Environmental Science
US Government

https://blog.prepscholar.com/these-are-the-easiest-ap-classes-for-you

Some schools do give credit for it, so do your research and find out if the schools your ds is considering do offer credit.  But, if they do, they might also offer credit for CLEP exams, and he could study one of those histories with a lot broader freedom and not be tied to finding a school offering the AP exam (and cheaper, too boot.)

In terms of showing strength in humanities, that would not be a top reason from my experience.  (But, hey, my kids apply with zero humanities AP exams, anyway! It is never hurt them. 😉 ) 

[3andme]

While Human Geography has a reputation as an easy AP, only 13% of the students get a 5. It is easier in that it is equivalent to a one semester course in college vs. some AP's such as the sciences or Calculus which can be equivalent to two semesters of college work. If your student is interested, I would definitely take the exam.  My ds took the AP Human Geography course and in researching AP credit for potential colleges, I have found the majority of selective private and public colleges do give credit for this exam. If you are looking at Ivies and top 20 that may be a different story as they tend to be more strict in AP credit overall including required scores. If you have target colleges in mind, just google the college name and ap credit to see their policies. 

If you don't mind sharing your geographic area, perhaps someone on the boards might be able to help more specifically. 

[skimomma]

I just checked the (public) university my dd is most interested in attending.  It DOES accept Human Geography (which dd is not planning to take) but does NOT accept AP Latin (which dd did take)!  I do not want to be the one to break that news to dd....... 

[8filltheheart]

It may also be worth looking to see what it might be giving credit for.  For example, UPS only gives elective credit for it which may or may not be helpful for your student. https://www.pugetsound.edu/files/resources/2018-ap-exam-policy.pdf 

2 minutes ago, skimomma said:

I just checked the (public) university my dd is most interested in attending.  It DOES accept Human Geography (which dd is not planning to take) but does NOT accept AP Latin (which dd did take)!  I do not want to be the one to break that news to dd....... 

It really does pay to have an idea of what your student is looking at in terms of expected credit.  We are facing a move and our 11th grader just found out that 3 courses she thought she had CLEPed out of won't receive credit in our new location if we do move.  Such is the way it goes.  

[Roadrunner]

Testing site is a real problem. I am dreading next year. 😞

Yes, lots of schools don’t accept APHUG credit, but many do. I think whatever the credit situation is, I know plenty of kids who loved the course, so hopefully your DD is at least loving the content. 

[RootAnn]

Yep, we have this issue, too. And, if you have no idea where your kid will go to college, it gets even more frustrating!

I recently checked the AP course list recently & while one school 30 minutes from here has offered the AP Calc exam in years past, they are not offering it this year. The local-local school offered it six or more years ago, but not since. Nothing else with an hour & a half radius. However, I already knew it would be virtually impossible so I told my dd#1 she didn't have to take the exam. (None of the colleges she's down to will take the CLEP exam for credit.) She's completely ok with retaking Calc 1 in college, so I'm not stressing. (We are simply in an educational wasteland.)

OP, have you specifically asked the schools if they will order & administer an exam that they don't offer? Some will be willing to do so if you tell them you'll pay the proctor fee.

@8FillTheHeart Moving? Again? It seems like you just moved!

[8filltheheart]

If we do, this time is purely bc of me. I miss my ds and his family. I am at a pt in life when I have started to realize that family is all that really matters. My teens? Not so much!! But we haven't been here long enough for any real roots to have taken hold.

But, having moved as much as we have and having kids applying all over the place, my perspective on college admissions is that HG is not a hill to die on. If the OP can't find a location, it is a loss, but not earth shattering.It is also unlikely to impact the ability to take a sequential class with a prerequisite like a cal prereq which could be a huge negative with long term negative consequences.

Edited January 15, 2019 by 8FillTheHeart

[FairProspects]

4 hours ago, 3andme said:

While Human Geography has a reputation as an easy AP, only 13% of the students get a 5. It is easier in that it is equivalent to a one semester course in college vs. some AP's such as the sciences or Calculus which can be equivalent to two semesters of college work. If your student is interested, I would definitely take the exam.  My ds took the AP Human Geography course and in researching AP credit for potential colleges, I have found the majority of selective private and public colleges do give credit for this exam. If you are looking at Ivies and top 20 that may be a different story as they tend to be more strict in AP credit overall including required scores. If you have target colleges in mind, just google the college name and ap credit to see their policies. 

If you don't mind sharing your geographic area, perhaps someone on the boards might be able to help more specifically. 

 

His dream school is Embry Riddle, which looks like it gives 3 elective credits for a 3,4, or 5. That may or may not be worth his time. I'll have to talk with him about how interested he is in the topic and whether he wants to put the time in studying for it or focus on some competitive choir opportunities and actually building & flying a plane through a teen aeronautics program instead.

[Arcadia]

Do you have any microschool or university model school within driving distance?  One local microschool is charging $140 per exam and they already are full house for some of the exams.

CollegeBoard collects $85 per exam so maybe make the two schools who rejected homeschoolers an offer higher than the $9 per exam they get to pocket from the amount the student pays the school.

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/ap-coordinators/exam-ordering-fees/exam-fees “

2019 AP Exam Fees

Regular Exams
Student pays school	$94 per exam
School pays the College Board	$85 per exam
School rebate	$9 per exam

”

[3andme]

Srtepe -Do any of your local districts have alternative high schools? They might be more amenable to proctoring the exam as they tend to have more students taking online classes/credit recovery and needing individually proctored exams. As someone mentioned above, definitely double-check to see if high schools will offer an exam that is not taught at the school. My local high school will do this but it doesn't seem to be prevalent practice unfortunately.

Also check with private schools if you haven't already sometimes for a fee they may help out. Have you checked out the AP Course Ledger? You can enter the AP course and then select your state to see all schools offering it within the state. This might help you to broaden your search. It's really unfortunate homeschoolers have to work so hard to access AP testing.

[easypeasy]

Do try some of the schools who aren't offering the test and ask if they would consider ordering it separately for your student. Here, out of the bazillion high schools that are relatively "local' to us... two will order most tests (unless the tests need special equipment like the languages or music theory...) for homeschooled students. I only discovered this this year!

For my kids, the HG test credits would have just filled an elective, so they technically "did" the class (I LOVED teaching it), but didn't take the test. Same with Enviro Science. Got the syllabi approved, and it's on their transcript. If any universities wondered why dd didn't take that AP test, they never asked.

This was the first year we've ever had a problem finding AP testing sites because one of DDs tests this year is an oddball AP. Finding the AP Englishes, Sciences, Psychology, etc has always been found on my first phone call!

Edited January 16, 2019 by easypeasy

[2_girls_mommy]

23 hours ago, skimomma said:

I just checked the (public) university my dd is most interested in attending.  It DOES accept Human Geography (which dd is not planning to take) but does NOT accept AP Latin (which dd did take)!  I do not want to be the one to break that news to dd....... 

This is why we decided not to pursue the AP Latin and instead are just sticking with the NLEs to show proficiency. First nobody is offering the test anywhere around here, and second they don't accept it anyway. I did have one student that I tutored contact the only other university in our area that even offers Latin and only as a minor, and they would allow him to skip Latin I and go straight to Latin II with no credit for I with his NLE scores. I thought about dual enrolling dd in that class her senior year as her latin IV year of high school. Haven't decided on that or not, but we won't be doing AP this year, just the NLE III/IV prose (because, since we aren't doing the AP, we won't get to poetry until second half of year.) 

[skimomma]

2 minutes ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

This is why we decided not to pursue the AP Latin and instead are just sticking with the NLEs to show proficiency. First nobody is offering the test anywhere around here, and second they don't accept it anyway. I did have one student that I tutored contact the only other university in our area that even offers Latin and only as a minor, and they would allow him to skip Latin I and go straight to Latin II with no credit for I with his NLE scores. I thought about dual enrolling dd in that class her senior year as her latin IV year of high school. Haven't decided on that or not, but we won't be doing AP this year, just the NLE III/IV prose (because, since we aren't doing the AP, we won't get to poetry until second half of year.) 

 

I only checked with the one university, so I'm not sure it would not be accepted elsewhere, but had I known what I do now, that is 100 phone calls to find an AP site that I would like BACK!  Although, I do have to say, dd's satisfaction with a 4 on the exam was likely worth it after four years of study.

Also, because Latin does not require any special equipment or procedures, the site we ended up using had no problem administering it even though they do not offer the class.   In fact, the closest school to us that does offer the class is a 10 hour drive.