AP exams timing and locations?

[Mom_to3]

Have been mostly off from the board for a while since we have been having a hectic season. We are just starting to think about AP exams/coursework for next year. Is it correct that there is actually overlap in timing of the AP exams? Since course decisions for next year need to be made now, how can one avoid conflicts, (it would be unfortunate to select 2 courses that both fall into the same AP exam slot)?

How difficult is it to get access to AP exam locations as a homeschooler/online schooler? 

Thank you!

[Clemsondana]

My understanding is that if there is overlap, the testing site can make accommodations.  But, the most common ones are not set up to overlap.  For some, there are 2 classes that would be unlikely to be taken at the same time - Calc AB and Calc BC, or American History and European History.  

Testing site availability varies a lot depending on location.  Here, it seems to be pretty easy.  I know a couple of people who test at their zoned high school - most are already used to working with homeschoolers for sports and are usually helpful.  Some umbrella schools will let their umbrella students take any tests that they offer.  One local private school lets all homeschoolers test with them - you just let their testing coordinator know what tests you need in September and then write a check for the college board's fees when you take the tests.  In other places, it is far more difficult.  

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, Mom_to3 said:

. Is it correct that there is actually overlap in timing of the AP exams? Since course decisions for next year need to be made now, how can one avoid conflicts, (it would be unfortunate to select 2 courses that both fall into the same AP exam slot)?

For two exams on the same time slot, one of them would be taken in session two instead of session one.

For my area, there are two small private schools that would allow outsiders to take exams there. However the cost per exam is high for outsiders. For example, I paid $450 for two exams (APHUG and AP Eng Lit) last academic year 

[Arcadia]

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/exam-administration-ordering-scores/ordering-fees/ordering-exam-materials/help/student-wants-take-two-or-more-exams-scheduled-same-time
“What if a student wants to take two or more exams that are scheduled at the same time?

When we create the AP Exam schedule, we only schedule two exams concurrently for subjects that typically have low overlap in student enrollment. Occasionally a student wants to take two AP Exams scheduled for the same time period. In such cases, the student must take one of these exams by testing late with an alternate form of the exam.

If a student is registered to take more than one regularly scheduled AP Exam at the same time, you’ll see an alert (a bell icon) next to the conflicting exams for the student in the student roster in AP Registration and Ordering. You may switch one of the student’s conflicting exams to late testing.”

[Lilaclady]

The college board usually release the AP exam schedule early- by late summer so that may help with scheduling. Here, AP exam scheduling is getting harder so more homeschoolers are going DE route and most schools don’t allow homeschoolers to do alternate testing dates so you need to plan carefully.  

[ScoutTN]

Private schools here are very easy to work with for AP exams. I had five to choose from within 10 miles of my house and all were organized and friendly. I know this is not true everywhere however. 

[mlktwins]

Mine are allowed to take them at their local public school. I need to contact the school in September to make sure they are added to the list for when they order tests, etc. Mine are free, but they are not for every county (the next county over charges homeschoolers to take them at their schools). I would check with your local public school first and then go from there.

[Miss Tick]

Where I am at least two of the three neighboring school districts will allow home schoolers to take AP exams that they are already planning to offer. We have to pay the $97 per exam College Board fee. Many exams are substituted by the state and only cost public school students $9, but I treat that as part of home schooling. 

Some AP exams seem to be shifting to electronic platforms and I'm wondering if that will restrict seat availability. Maybe, maybe not, but something to keep an eye out for. I know some students this round have been surprised to discover that their exam would be given electronically.  They want to be sure to prep for the exact exam conditions rather than find out just before (or a week before) the exam.

[mlktwins]

4 hours ago, Miss Tick said:

Where I am at least two of the three neighboring school districts will allow home schoolers to take AP exams that they are already planning to offer. We have to pay the $97 per exam College Board fee. Many exams are substituted by the state and only cost public school students $9, but I treat that as part of home schooling. 

Some AP exams seem to be shifting to electronic platforms and I'm wondering if that will restrict seat availability. Maybe, maybe not, but something to keep an eye out for. I know some students this round have been surprised to discover that their exam would be given electronically.  They want to be sure to prep for the exact exam conditions rather than find out just before (or a week before) the exam.

Gosh, I hope the electronic platform isn't starting this year for my guys - that would be a big surprise at this point -- LOL. I just emailed the liaison at the school to check.

[Miss Tick]

24 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

Gosh, I hope the electronic platform isn't starting this year for my guys - that would be a big surprise at this point -- LOL. I just emailed the liaison at the school to check.

Someone in dd's APLit found out to their surprise that theirs will be on computer. DD did just what you did. Her's is paper. CB says somewhere that it is optional and test sites can pick. Maybe it has been like this for a while, I'm just a newbie.

[athena1277]

When I was trying to find a site for my oldest to take an AP exam locally, I had a rough time at first.  I had to do a lot of calling around.  The first thing I learned is that if the school doesn’t offer the particular course to their students, they will not allow your teen to test there.  I also learned that if they do offer the course the AP rules say they must allow your child to test.  Doesn’t mean there aren’t people who don’t know the rules who will tell you no.  Dd was scheduled to take her 1st AP test at a local high school (after being told no by another one), but ended up taking it online because that was spring 2020.  The second AP test she took at a local private school.  Both charged the same amount.

[jplain]

Certain states might require public schools to offer exam seats to homeschoolers, but many (like mine) do not.  I've corresponded by email with the head of AP testing about how difficult it is for us to find seats. He says College Board does ask schools to consider hosting outside students, but they do not (and cannot) require it.

[stripe]

I contacted about five schools (public and private) that did not even respond to my query. The local school district has a policy (at least currently, perhaps due to COVID) of not allowing out of district students. They have a large number of students taking AP exams. The high school in a neighboring town was the only one to respond and was more than happy to allow my child to register, and they charged less than my local district does. I think if you can find any areas that have a relatively higher number of homeschooled students in the area, that would be the most likely, perhaps because they’ve done it before. Maybe any that are smaller might be more open to it too?

Another ideas is if you have an area of your state that has tons of homeschoolers, or even another state (nearby or maybe where relatives live), you could even try that (travel there in advance of the exam), because you are not required to take it in your area.

There’s nothing wrong with reaching out now or in a few months. I also recommend working out arrangements for the PSAT early. Don’t wait too long.

[silver]

One thing to do is make sure you find the AP test coordinator to ask. I had asked the homeschool liaison from my local district, and she said that outside students couldn't sit for AP exams, but when I tracked down the AP test coordinator, she was very helpful and easily got us signed up.

[Miss Tick]

2 hours ago, stripe said:

There’s nothing wrong with reaching out now or in a few months. I also recommend working out arrangements for the PSAT early. Don’t wait too long.

I agree.  In our districts the AP coordinator is a school counselor, so I started by emailing whoever I could find online in the counselors' office and asking who I needed to contact. I emailed this time of year and asked when I needed to contact them in the fall because I was aware that the sign-up deadline was pretty early. I also stated up front that I knew we would have to pay a fee, my dc didn't need any accommodations, etc.

[kokotg]

On 4/12/2023 at 4:42 PM, jplain said:

Certain states might require public schools to offer exam seats to homeschoolers, but many (like mine) do not.  I've corresponded by email with the head of AP testing about how difficult it is for us to find seats. He says College Board does ask schools to consider hosting outside students, but they do not (and cannot) require it.

They certainly could require it. They're their tests; they can require whatever they want. They could be administered like the SAT, where you sign up to take exams at a certain location and anyone can sign up until it's full. Sorry--the College Board gets no sympathy from me on this; I hold them way more accountable for making it so hard for homeschoolers to test than I do individual schools, who have absolutely no incentive to allow homeschoolers. 

[Arcadia]

4 minutes ago, kokotg said:

They certainly could require it. They're their tests; they can require whatever they want. They could be administered like the SAT, where you sign up to take exams at a certain location and anyone can sign up until it's full.

While that is true, AP exams takes 10 full days to administer. SAT takes only one Saturday or Sunday morning. Collegeboard would have to rent a few large rooms in regional convention centers somewhere for testing to accommodate two weeks of testing.  My alma mater used to rent halls in a convention center to accommodate 1600 students taking college exams in one room at the same time. 

[jplain]

34 minutes ago, kokotg said:

They certainly could require it. They're their tests; they can require whatever they want. They could be administered like the SAT, where you sign up to take exams at a certain location and anyone can sign up until it's full. Sorry--the College Board gets no sympathy from me on this; I hold them way more accountable for making it so hard for homeschoolers to test than I do individual schools, who have absolutely no incentive to allow homeschoolers. 

I am displeased as well, but I also understand the problem. 

The difference between AP and Saturday SAT is that AP exams are administered by the school over several days while school is still in session.  Schools typically have security requirements that govern who can and cannot be on campus during school hours.  College Board cannot dictate what happens on a school campus during a regular school day, especially when AP exams are only taken by a small segment of the school population.  (Note that non-students typically cannot sign up for "School Day" SAT testing either, as that is also administered while school is in session.)

What happens on Saturdays is completely different, because school is not in session.  In that case the school is technically just a site that has been approved to proctor the exam. That is why SAT is open to the public, while AP is not.

Edited April 17, 2023 by jplain

[kokotg]

41 minutes ago, jplain said:

I am displeased as well, but I also understand the problem. 

The difference between AP and Saturday SAT is that AP exams are administered by the school over several days while school is still in session.  Schools typically have security requirements that govern who can and cannot be on campus during school hours.  College Board cannot dictate what happens on a school campus during a regular school day, especially when AP exams are only taken by a small segment of the school population.  (Note that non-students typically cannot sign up for "School Day" SAT testing either, as that is also administered while school is in session.)

What happens on Saturdays is completely different, because school is not in session.  In that case the school is technically just a site that has been approved to proctor the exam. That is why SAT is open to the public, while AP is not.

meh. If the money were there, they'd find a way. They managed to have everyone take exams outside of schools in 2020 with hardly any notice (and then offered remote exams again in 2021--not sure if they still are now, but it makes excuses about access to school buildings a little hard to buy). Evenings are another option (in addition to weekends) if school hours are the problem (which they're clearly not in a lot of places, since plenty of places DO allow homeschoolers to test. I've been told different things by schools in the same school district, so clearly a policy about non-students isn't at play there. The only time I've been told we couldn't test because of such policies was in 2020-21 because of covid). What it comes down to is that homeschoolers are small change.  

Edited April 17, 2023 by kokotg

[mlktwins]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:29 PM, Miss Tick said:

Someone in dd's APLit found out to their surprise that theirs will be on computer. DD did just what you did. Her's is paper. CB says somewhere that it is optional and test sites can pick. Maybe it has been like this for a while, I'm just a newbie.

Coming back to this. The public school got back to me on Friday about digital vs. paper exams. They are offering digital exams, but not for Stats or Calculus. This is an AP Scholar high school and they proctor a lot of AP exams each year. I'm glad we are going to be done with this phase of life on May 8th 🎉🎉🎉!

[Arcadia]

18 minutes ago, kokotg said:

. They managed to have everyone take exams outside of schools in 2020 with hardly any notice (and then offered remote exams again in 2021--not sure if they still are now, but it makes excuses about access to school buildings a little hard to buy). 

The colleges were kind of forced to accept the 2020 AP scores because of the pandemic. They didn’t have the at home option for remote exams in 2021 or 2022. My DS17 took the exams in person at a private school. My husband would love the at home version since he doesn’t need to drive. 

[kokotg]

5 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

The colleges were kind of forced to accept the 2020 AP scores because of the pandemic. They didn’t have the at home option for remote exams in 2021 or 2022. My DS17 took the exams in person at a private school. My husband would love the at home version since he doesn’t need to drive. 

There were remote exams offered at home in 2021; my kids took them that way

[Arcadia]

50 minutes ago, kokotg said:

There were remote exams offered at home in 2021; my kids took them that way

That would have made my husband happy but my kids prefer taking them in person since they don’t do well with online AP exams.