My son’s high school requires that students who take an AP class, take the AP exam. If the kid doesn’t take the exam, the school takes the AP designation off the transcript. And they make the parents pay the cost of the exams, so I have a bill for nearly $400, which covers 2 exams my son does want to take and 2 he doesn’t care about.
It’s clear that the reason they make the kids take the exams is produce good stats for the district. It has nothing to do with any benefit to the individual students.
Is this common? Does your kid’s school require kids who take an AP class to take the exam?
Yes, ridiculous! All it does is line the pockets of the College Board and for school stats. My kid will never use the test scores as she is not a good standardized test taker. With all expenses we’ve had and are facing it is very upsetting.
In Florida the schools pay for the exams, so require that if you take the exam if you take the class.
It doesn’t always produce good scores to ‘pad’ the school’s stats. My daughter did not study ONE SECOND for the AP Spanish exam. She didn’t care about it and it wasn’t required for college.
Yes. When you register for AP classes you sign an agreement that you must take the exam. Everyone knows this, there are no surprises. If there are financial issues they can be discussed privately with the guidance counselor.
No requirement but it is a no-brainer to take the exam where $100 gets you the chance to get credit for class(es) that could cost as much as $10K in college, maybe even more.
My D’s school (private) required the students in the AP classes to take the tests, which she did in her sophomore and junior years. She ended up not taking any of the AP tests her senior year – she was having a flare-up and was in a lot of pain, and there was no need for her to put herself though the literal and figurative pain if the university she was attending in the fall was not going to grant her credit for them.
I didn’t think that public schools can make the exams obligatory…
My S’s Catholic high school says this: “All students enrolled in an AP course are expected to take the exam in May. A teacher may recommend a student not take the exam.”
Nope. We purposely chose schools that didn’t believe in AP (one full dual enrollment and the other project based with some dual enrollment.) our eldest spent 2 years in a HS with AP’s. She took one, testing not required and it didn’t cost us anything when she did test.
No. They went to a private school that did not want to burden families with the cost. The students could either take the AP or the class final. Kids who wanted to take the AP exam and couldn’t afford it received scholarships to cover the cost.
I think the idea is that they take the AP class with the intention of taking the exam.
Otherwise, it looks as though they’re only taking the AP class to pad their transcript for college admissions; as though Senioritis got the best of them once they got those apps out.
That hurts next year’s kids from the same school. If too many kids flake out, the school gets a reputation with the admissions counselors.
The price of the exams should be laid out well in advance of course selections. And the price of an AP exam is, of course, far less than the price of taking the actual course in college-- isn’t that supposed to be the prime motivation in taking the class in the first place?
My kids’ school did not require AP exams, but if they didn’t the exam they would need to take the final. AP score did not count toward the grade, but the final did. It was an easy decision for most kids.
Public school here. Same as oldfort - either the exam or a school created final that was part of the grade (this after a school created huge project for most APs). They started this policy, after their best seniors started not taking the exams. Why take an exam at the end of senior year when the Ivy you are going to won’t give you credit for it? Of course the motive is to keep the school AP stats high.