Jump to content

Menu

AP Exam Registration Changes - Questions


Recommended Posts

I knew that AP exam registration was changing this year... namely try to secure a spot for the exams in September-October, no longer in Jan-Feb. Ok, got that.

BUT.... my son's PAH classes are giving him a 'join code' to go to his CollegeBoard account to be officially 'joined' into an AP class, that he can now register for.

What is this all about? What about for self-study courses? Can we still take APs even if self-study and given no join code?

Help! (I hate CB - why are they making these changes, are they trying to prevent self-study kids from taking AP exams?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are two kinds of join codes: a class join code and an exam-only code. Students who are taking an AP class from PAH or another provider will enter both codes in their College Board account. Those who are self studying will receive an "exam-only" code from the school where they will be testing--and they will enter that one code in their CB account.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We received a letter from the high school where we have taken AP exams in the past.  First we have to pay the school ($104), then they will email us the exam code where we will fill in all the info.  Then they will let us know where to take the test.  I don't even know if he will take the AP exam this time, so it is frustrating to have to pay ahead.  Ds may just drop the the AP and take the equivalent DE course spring semester intstead,   I also don't like the CB. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, mirabillis said:

What is this all about? What about for self-study courses? Can we still take APs even if self-study and given no join code?

Help! (I hate CB - why are they making these changes, are they trying to prevent self-study kids from taking AP exams?)

Self-study just won't have the same 'helps' that the kids have with the CB's class online practice accounts. I don't know if the tests are changing so much that you'll need the online practice.

So, you'll get the exam-only code from the school where you are registered to take the test. It won't provide the online practice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

Self-study just won't have the same 'helps' that the kids have with the CB's class online practice accounts. I don't know if the tests are changing so much that you'll need the online practice.

So, you'll get the exam-only code from the school where you are registered to take the test. It won't provide the online practice.

 

What online practice? Is this a new thing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Brigid in NC said:

There are two kinds of join codes: a class join code and an exam-only code. Students who are taking an AP class from PAH or another provider will enter both codes in their College Board account. Those who are self studying will receive an "exam-only" code from the school where they will be testing--and they will enter that one code in their CB account.

 

But WHERE in their CB account do they enter these codes? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK so walk me through this.

My kid is taking both PAH online provider AP class and self-study....

So I go to my local school and tell them he'll be taking such-and-such AP exams. Can you please give me the exam-only code so he can enter it into his CB acct? (And I would include and say both the PAH & self-study exams?)

Previously it was just email them, drop off a check for $94, show up the day of testing (or prior if said school does pre-bubbling) and take the test.

Please walk me through it. Then when I get these super-secretive exam codes, we have to enter in both the exam-only code (from the school) and if an online provider, the join code also?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just signed up DS for his exams at the local school website (total registration). It was $94 or some such per exam (under 100). There was an option this year to click "no teacher" versus selecting the teacher/section that the school had listed for themselves. Now I still do not have an "exam only" code --So I have not yet done the College Board AP exam registration for these exams because I *imagine* I need these codes (please tell me if I am wrong) and am awaiting eagerly the school sending me these...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My DD and I are about to lose our minds with frustration. She has created her CB account and when she attempts to join her AP class section it takes her back to the “Update your college board account” page. We can’t seem to input the right thing as it always shows an error and won’t continue. What are we as homeschoolers supposed to put in the “Where do you go to school” field?  Seems like we should check the ‘my school isn’t listed’ box, but it won’t accept that. 

Please help before I scream (more) curse words at my computer!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, fourisenough said:

My DD and I are about to lose our minds with frustration. She has created her CB account and when she attempts to join her AP class section it takes her back to the “Update your college board account” page. We can’t seem to input the right thing as it always shows an error and won’t continue. What are we as homeschoolers supposed to put in the “Where do you go to school” field?  Seems like we should check the ‘my school isn’t listed’ box, but it won’t accept that. 

Please help before I scream (more) curse words at my computer!

Most of my students have entered their state followed by the words Home School. For example: North Carolina Home School. This worked for all but one student, and she had to call the College Board for help.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, mirabillis said:

OK so walk me through this.

My kid is taking both PAH online provider AP class and self-study....

So I go to my local school and tell them he'll be taking such-and-such AP exams. Can you please give me the exam-only code so he can enter it into his CB acct? (And I would include and say both the PAH & self-study exams?)

Previously it was just email them, drop off a check for $94, show up the day of testing (or prior if said school does pre-bubbling) and take the test.

Please walk me through it. Then when I get these super-secretive exam codes, we have to enter in both the exam-only code (from the school) and if an online provider, the join code also?

 

please do help. 🙂 thanks! our schools here have never used total registration online, so doubt they are doing that now. please let me know - thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/2/2019 at 5:15 PM, Brigid in NC said:

Most of my students have entered their state followed by the words Home School. For example: North Carolina Home School. This worked for all but one student, and she had to call the College Board for help.

This did not work for us. I called the CB and waited for over 30 minutes before talking to a customer service rep who had NO idea how to help me. He put me on hold again for a long time then came back and told me to enter the code: 970000 in the field that asks what high school you attend. That worked. Hope this might save other people the frustration we experienced. This should be SOOOO much easier than it is!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the first time my dd has taken an AP class.  She’s taking it through the Potter's School.  We had to call for help with setting up her account because it wouldn’t take homeschool as a choice.  Got that dealt with.  She has a join code for the class.  She was able to enter that to enroll in the class with CB.  Now we are trying to figure out how to sign up to take the test.  I finally found the page that listed schools near us that offer AP classes, but now what?  Do you call the school and get permission to take it with them or can you just pick a place like signing up for the ACT?  And what happens when it’s test time and they forgot dd was coming be it’s been 9 months since we talked?  I feel so lost trying to figure this out and that deadline to sign up is not helping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, athena1277 said:

Now we are trying to figure out how to sign up to take the test.  I finally found the page that listed schools near us that offer AP classes, but now what?  Do you call the school and get permission to take it with them or can you just pick a place like signing up for the ACT?  And what happens when it’s test time and they forgot dd was coming be it’s been 9 months since we talked?  I feel so lost trying to figure this out and that deadline to sign up is not helping.

 

Here’s my list of steps:

1. Search AP Course Ledger to determine which schools have been offering the course in recent years. https://apcourseaudit.inflexion.org/ledger/

2. Call College Board and ask for the AP Coordinator contact info for each school of interest: 888-225-5427.  They should provide you with a name, phone number, and email address.  It’s fine to skip this step and call the school directly, but I wouldn’t advise it.  In some schools the front office staff tend to act as gatekeepers, and they may incorrectly claim that their school does not allow outside exam-takers.

3. Contact the school AP Coordinators directly.  Schools are encouraged but not required to accept outside students, so be very nice about it!  My email mentioned the test my daughter wants to take and asked if the school would be willing to host her for the exam.  I also asked about the exam fee and deadline.  (Host schools are allowed to charge a proctoring fee for outside students.  Our experience: last year’s school charged $6, but this year’s school charges nothing.)  Our school’s deadline is October 25.

4. After receiving payment, the host school’s AP Coordinator should generate an exam-only section code and provide it to the student.  That code should be entered in the student’s College Board account.  This is the step that auto-populates the documents that will be sent to the school, so there shouldn’t be any need to go in and pre-fill out stickers like my daughter did last year.

5. Our host school says they’ll be back in touch in April to provide final exam-day details.  She’s taking an AM exam, so the school expects her to be there no later than 7:30.  If we haven’t heard by May 1, I’ll have my daughter reach out to the AP Coordinator.

Note that schools may be able to order exams for courses they do not currently offer, but most probably won’t. The school we used last year says they’re willing to order and proctor the AP Spanish Language exam for my kid, even though they haven’t taught the course in a few years (they switched to IB).  However, the world language AP exams have a lot of moving parts (audio listening and voice recording), so I decided to arrange testing with another school that administers that exam every year.

Edited by jplain
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jplain,

 

Thank you so much for the list of steps, especially that first link!  I haven’t posted here in years, but updated my password last week to ask about AP exam registration.  I don’t know where you found that link, but I asked the college board on more than one occasion if there was any way at all to tell who has offered AP Latin anytime in recent history.  They said nothing at all about this resource.  Thank you so much!

Sincerely,

Dorinda

Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 (+2 even!)

I asked the same question of CB and got the same answer - no way to know who's offered what.  This like gives me at least the list of the 252 schools in the state of CA that have offered MT recently.  Warming up my phone dialing finger.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/11/2019 at 4:57 AM, jplain said:

4. After receiving payment, the host school’s AP Coordinator should generate an exam-only section code and provide it to the student.  That code should be entered in the student’s College Board account.  This is the step that auto-populates the documents that will be sent to the school, so there shouldn’t be any need to go in and pre-fill out stickers like my daughter did last year.

 

Still trying to figure out the new AP system. So we have join-codes entered for official classes (PAH, etc). Now we're waiting for the exam-codes. One school doesn't order tests until Nov 15 deadline, so we just wait until then for the exam-only code?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, mirabillis said:

 

Still trying to figure out the new AP system. So we have join-codes entered for official classes (PAH, etc). Now we're waiting for the exam-codes. One school doesn't order tests until Nov 15 deadline, so we just wait until then for the exam-only code?

No, they should already have the exam only join codes available. (Or at least our testing site had them last week.) I'd give the exam coordinator at your local test site a call.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, chiguirre said:

No, they should already have the exam only join codes available. (Or at least our testing site had them last week.) I'd give the exam coordinator at your local test site a call.

I don’t know that they “have” them. After I registered on total registration, I emailed (last week) the AP coordinator at the school with a “join code please?” and he responded, “I went to college board and got codes for DS, here’s the codes.” And he sends me 4 (two per exam). 😞 I guess I ignore the other codes and use just the join ones eh?

but maybe he had to do this step bc DS is only outside person taking AP exams there? I don’t know anything 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, madteaparty said:

I don’t know that they “have” them. After I registered on total registration, I emailed (last week) the AP coordinator at the school with a “join code please?” and he responded, “I went to college board and got codes for DS, here’s the codes.” And he sends me 4 (two per exam). 😞 I guess I ignore the other codes and use just the join ones eh?

but maybe he had to do this step bc DS is only outside person taking AP exams there? I don’t know anything 

There are two different join codes for each class: one is for exam only (the one you need) and one is for the class + exam.

For example, my dd has a join code for her online AP Euro class and a separate join code for the exam-only section at our local high school. If you're studying at home, you only need the exam-only code.

You can't finish registration on the CB site without a join code so it is essential that you get one by the deadline your school is using (Oct. 4 is the "suggested" CB deadline, schools have to order by mid November). If you haven't entered a join code, you won't be registered.

I think this system will actually make things easier for home schoolers to find a testing site once everyone knows what they're doing. But the rollout hasn't gone smoothly and even experienced testing coordinators are not sure about the details of the process. I'm sure next year will be better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Attolia said:

I submitted for official AP authorization for the three courses dd is taking at home with me.  She has joined my class but I have no idea how this is going to work with exam day registration?

Will I be entering a different code?  or will the school do that on their end?  

The school will provide you with an exam code when you register. You will then enter it in your student’s CB account. 

The school I’m working with has no idea what they’re doing. The testing coordinator has a conference call with the CB today to help her understand the process. It is a HUGE school and they have apparently not even begun to think about, much less begin, registering their students for AP exams!

  • Like 1
  • Sad 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, chiguirre said:

There are two different join codes for each class: one is for exam only (the one you need) and one is for the class + exam.

For example, my dd has a join code for her online AP Euro class and a separate join code for the exam-only section at our local high school. If you're studying at home, you only need the exam-only code.

You can't finish registration on the CB site without a join code so it is essential that you get one by the deadline your school is using (Oct. 4 is the "suggested" CB deadline, schools have to order by mid November). If you haven't entered a join code, you won't be registered.

I think this system will actually make things easier for home schoolers to find a testing site once everyone knows what they're doing. But the rollout hasn't gone smoothly and even experienced testing coordinators are not sure about the details of the process. I'm sure next year will be better.

No, I get it that there’s two codes, but the school only “owed” me  the exam codes not the class codes. Because I have the class code for the online class he’s taking and will have my own class code for the one I’m teaching myself. So I guess I will ignore his class code and use the exam code only and hope that doesn’t mess things up😬

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, madteaparty said:

No, I get it that there’s two codes, but the school only “owed” me  the exam codes not the class codes. Because I have the class code for the online class he’s taking and will have my own class code for the one I’m teaching myself. So I guess I will ignore his class code and use the exam code only and hope that doesn’t mess things up😬

You can enter both. I entered the class code first because I had it first. Then when I got the exam only code I entered that as well and now dd's CB account shows them both.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...