How do you find an AP testing site?

[silver]

How do you find contact information when reaching out to schools to see if they let outside students sit for AP exams? Is that listed on the CB site? Do you just call the main office of each school?

[daijobu]

I would personally forget about the CB, and go straight to the schools near you.  Sometimes you can figure it out from the school website.  It might be a vice principal who is in charge of all testing or all AP testing.  Or if you need calculus for example, you can try to figure out which math teacher teaches that AP class.  

There's more advice in this thread, but this was pre-pandemic and many of the deadlines and rules have changed since then.  

 

[daijobu]

If you have any updates to the information in the above thread, LMK and I'll edit the post.  

[Lucy the Valiant]

Our public school has been very accommodating, but we had to sign up before October. 

[Melissa B]

Do you have a zoned public school? I would start there. Here a homeschooler's zoned school is required to allow them to sit the exam. However, registration is already closed for this coming May.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Tl;dr Reach out to the school's AP Coordinator to ask if they have space and will register homeschoolers. But the registration deadline has passess and schools may not have an interest in doing late registration for an outside student. 

Longer version 

AP tests are offered on specific dates in May. Students register with their high school. There isn't online registration like what exists for the SAT.

As far as College Board is concerned,  high schools have the authority to not allow outside students to test. The coordinator guidebook asks for homeschoolers to be allowed, but CB exerts no pressure on schools to do so. In some states, laws for homeschooling guarantee access to tests given in schools, but even then there is a process with a timeline. 

Usually, I start with the locally zoned school. Call the counseling office and ask to speak to the AP Coordinator. I would not give you request to the main office or person who screens calls, because they don't always understand the testing policy. 

College Board says they will accept requests to waive the late registration fee for homeschoolers, but you still have to find a school willing to host and willingly to spend time on the late registration. 

Don't take a no personally. There are strict seating requirements, and I've known schools to have to rent space for high demand tests. They may actually be out of room. 

Do ask for suggestions of other schools that might have space. I once ended up with a personal intro to the Dean of a private school for a test no public school could support. 

Also, local homeschool groups are a good info source for this search. They often know schools that are historically welcoming. 

[Farrar]

The only thing I'd add to the advice above is that sometimes it helps if you also offer to pay not only for the exam, but for any additional costs. If a school then wants to charge you a price you can't pay, obviously you can just turn that down, but sometimes schools want a small additional fee and it's worth it, especially at this point. It's late to order right now.

[silver]

Thanks for the input!

Luckily for me, I'm looking at the May 2023 exams, not the upcoming ones. I want to know if we can find a seat to take AP exams before I try to plan out an AP course and get syllabus approval, etc. 

I had reached out to our locally zoned school, but I talked with the homeschool liaison, not the AP coordinator. Do you think I might get a different answer if I speak to a different person?

[Farrar]

The best way to know for sure will be ask other homeschoolers in your area. But if the school has a homeschool coordinator, that certainly seems like a promising sign.

[Clemsondana]

There is a local private school that welcomes homeschoolers for AP, PSAT, etc.  I found out from other homeschoolers, so that's probably where you should start.  But, if nobody knows then I'd check with public schools and private schools that have a reputation for being rigorous.  Many of our private schools don't offer APs, but the one that welcomes homeschoolers is known as a challenging school.  

[mlktwins]

1 hour ago, silver said:

Thanks for the input!

Luckily for me, I'm looking at the May 2023 exams, not the upcoming ones. I want to know if we can find a seat to take AP exams before I try to plan out an AP course and get syllabus approval, etc. 

I had reached out to our locally zoned school, but I talked with the homeschool liaison, not the AP coordinator. Do you think I might get a different answer if I speak to a different person?

Definitely talk to the AP Coordinator, unless it is the same person.  In my case, that was also the person I scheduled the boys’ PSATs with.

[Lucy the Valiant]

6 hours ago, mlktwins said:

Definitely talk to the AP Coordinator, unless it is the same person.  In my case, that was also the person I scheduled the boys’ PSATs with.

Agree; this was our situation as well. The AP Coordinator is usually part of Guidance dept.

[JennyD]

The two best pieces of advice I've gotten have been:

(1) try private Christian schools, which can be more interested in accommodating homeschoolers; and 

(2) state in your email that you expect to pay any costs AND that (if true) your child does not require accommodations.

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

On 12/16/2021 at 9:00 AM, silver said:

Thanks for the input!

Luckily for me, I'm looking at the May 2023 exams, not the upcoming ones. I want to know if we can find a seat to take AP exams before I try to plan out an AP course and get syllabus approval, etc. 

I had reached out to our locally zoned school, but I talked with the homeschool liaison, not the AP coordinator. Do you think I might get a different answer if I speak to a different person?

I would contact the AP Coordinator. In fact I'd suggest that even if the homeschool liaison said yes, because they might not be in a position to know the details of AP test registration.

[Tmhearn]

I would add that if you are having trouble finding a school another option is to email the school superintendent for your area. We did this and discovered that one local public school in our county is assigned each year to host all homeschoolers in the county for AP testing. The school  changes each year, so I still have to search out the new school each year. But it was helpful to find out.

 

Taryn