<p>My high school paid for half of the AP test if it was required by the class. Almost all of the classes required it except for the new ones (I had to pay full price for AP Statistics because it wasn’t required yet).</p>
<p>The APs are not used as a final usually though.</p>
<p>At our high school, students are charged $90 for each AP test. However, due to a recent court case, it will be interesting to see what happens in the future. The school and booster clubs can no longer require fees be paid by students to participate in sports or other activities. The required wording is very specific and says that only a “donation” can be requested but that no student will be barred from participating if they choose not to “donate”. While this has been true for quite some time, the schools in our area have never made it clear that it is by choice. This is the first year that the new wording has been used. I have now heard discussions that the school will only be asking for a “donation” in the future when it comes to AP tests, also. While I definitely agree that no student should be barred from participating in any activity or an AP test because of lack of funds, it will be interesting to see how this affects what programs are offered in the future. There was a track meeting last night for the upcoming season, and only about 1/2 of the parents chose to pay, leaving the track team short about $10,000 from their needed funds. We live in a fairly affluent area; I can’t imagine how schools in lower income areas will cope. California schools are already a budget nightmare- I’m glad my youngest is almost done with high school!</p>
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<p>mom2collegekids, I’ve been asking myself that very question. I’d rather just donate the money to the high school. It’s tempting…maybe I can get D1 to buy into the concept.</p>
<p>Slithey…</p>
<p>6 tests at about $85 a pop…I’m sure your family could come up with a more fun use of that money. 
maybe go towards D’s send off party…</p>
<p>My oldest son’s public HS wanted him to take 5 AP tests at something like $75 a pop. With me paying. I said no to 3 because they were not a good college “skip courses”. The school ended up paying for two tests we would not pay for. The only reason they did it was to enhance their stats.</p>
<p>At Ds public high school, parents pay $92.00 for each test. No requirement to take the test, though. There is also a fund for parents who are not able to pay.</p>
<p>Urban public HS with a lot of reduced and free lunches: we have to pay for AP tests ourselves; but they are optional. I don’t know if $ help is available or not? </p>
<p>My D and S took some tests but not others. For my D, she took the AP Language test; all the schools that she was looking at counted the AP Lang and the AP Lit score toward the same credit, so she didn’t bother taking the second one. </p>
<p>S decided not to take the AP Physics test because he didn’t think they had covered the subject very well in class.</p>
<p>When my D took the AP Spanish test, everything that could go wrong did. They put them in a noisy room and part of the test is evidently listening to something that’s been recorded and they couldn’t hear. There was a fire drill in the middle of the test and they were required to leave the building. A little later on there was a lock-down because a crazy naked man was running around the school grounds. Because of all the interruptions it took too long - one girl was on the school’s diving team and had to leave because the bus to the regional tournament was leaving (test was supposed to be done by then). One girl gave up and had her score cancelled and just left. I think that left only 2 students (my D and one other). It was the lowest score my D got on an AP test (a 3) but the only other option was to cancel the score. I don’t think the score mattered in the end; the school she ended up at had their own placement test for Spanish.</p>
<p>This is an interesting thread!</p>
<p>I would have had no idea that some schools would pay for the AP exam and some would even give the student an A for a certain score on the test!</p>
<p>At my son’s school, parents pay for the AP exams ($90) and it has nothing to do with their grade. The AP test is not required, but they strongly urge it so they can have good overall prestige in the district.</p>
<p>Just wrote the check today for two AP tests–$87 each. Students who are on free or reduced lunch can request that the school district foundation pay for the tests. Usually, the teacher leads the parents through that process.</p>
<p>However, this senior class is the first to take IB classes. The school was certified IB in their sophomore year. To encourage more students to take IB classes, the district is paying for all the IB tests. So, I won’t have to write a check for those three tests, thankfully.</p>
<p>As a point of reference, the school is public, one of three high schools in the district, but offers three times as many AP as the other two schools. 60 percent of the students are on free or reduced lunch. Less than 20% of students go to college outside of a 60 mile radius of town.</p>
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<p>Lack of subject credit at the university that the student matriculates to may be another factor.</p>
<p>For example, suppose a high school senior taking the following AP courses</p>
<p>English Literature
Calculus BC
Physics B
US History
World History</p>
<p>has been accepted to UC Berkeley and intends to double major in physics and history. After looking around the UC Berkeley web sites, s/he decides to take only the English Literature and Calculus BC AP tests, since none of the others give any subject credit for a physics or history major at UC Berkeley. As a senior matriculating to a university, s/he may not care about the AP designation on the high school transcript, but that still seems like an annoying thing for the high school administration to do to a student who decides not to take a useless (to him/her) AP test.</p>
<p>^The problem with that scenario is that after a couple of years at Berkeley said student might decide to transfer to another school that would take all those credits. Especially as a transfer student it’s hard to fill all the general ed requirements in and the student is wishing they’d taken those AP tests, but it’s too late.</p>
<p>I actually saved a semester’s tuition in grad school thanks to AP tests. I didn’t use them for credit as undergrad, but my grad student counted all the grad level courses I took in college as long as they were over the standard load.</p>
<p>Yea, at our kid’s HS, they are all required to take AP exams if they take the course & of course, us parents pay it in addition to the private school tuition. It is NOT their final, but they have no classes after the AP exam (so S ended school SR year a month early). The AP score has no effect on their grade (S has gotten a B in a course he got a 5 in and an A in a course he had a 4 in). We let S take whatever AP exams he wanted to because in the scheme of things, it wasn’t going to break us and it was something he wanted to do (for unknown reasons–probably just because he enjoys exams, really). He ended up getting the maximum # of credits (60), even tho he could have qualified for many more if his U had allowed it because he had taken about 14 AP exams and gotten only 2 4s & the rest 5s, plus one college course he got an A in. He didn’t get exempted from any engineering courses, but did get out of a few GE classes. No regrets but glad D didn’t want to or take ANY APs or exams for them (she doesn’t like exams).</p>
<p>The AP exam is added to the book rental fees at our school, so those students that qualify for free/reduced lunch also get free or discounted AP exams. Students must take the tests as well, but cannot take the test without first taking the course. We only offer 5 courses. The AP score can be used to increase the final score in the class, but students continue to meet until school is out, and some teachers continue to teach after the AP exam or give their own final.</p>
<p>In our public school district, if you take an AP course through school the cost to the parent is $25. If you pass it (I believe 3 or higher), they will reimburse you the $25. This policy was put in effect about 2 years ago because the district use to pay 100% but was not happy with the fact that many students didn’t take the tests seriously so many didn’t pass. I don’t know if this makes a difference in those taking the AP test, but I was happy to get a check for $50 back from them last year! However after reading all the CC posts, our school does not offer as many opportunities for AP classes as other schools.</p>
<p>Our local district only offers 8 AP courses but is trying to add one or two per year but it has been tough with the budget as it is. Students pay $78 per test this year. The tests are optional and do not replace finals. You may also opt to take an AP test in a subject you didn’t have an AP course in. An example would be taking the AP Physics test when the school only currently offers honors physics. There are fee waivers available and they are based on the College Board’s fee waiver guidelines for the SAT and subject tests.</p>
<p>Large public. District pays for all AP exams. Students enrolling in AP classes must take the exam. District offers only 8 AP classes, though.</p>
<p>Our public school district does not pay for AP. Parents are responsible. I have twins and will be paying for six or seven AP classes for next year in addition to all of the other “fees.” I don’t mind the AP fess so much, but all of these text book and activity fees drive me nuts. What the hell am I paying taxes for? It also irritates me that I have to pay $15 for each text book whether or not the the kids get their own book. In some classes they only have enough for one class of students so the kids can’t take them home unless they sign them out at the end of the day and return in the morning. It’s going to cost me close to $1k to register them in the fall. So much for “free” public education.</p>
<p>At my own high school (an all girls school), if you get a 5 on an exam and you had a B in the class, they change your grade to an A.</p>
<p>At our school, parents had to pay the full costs of all AP tests. Since I had two kids taking several tests, one day I sent them to school with over $500 CASH to pay for them. The school wouldn’t take a check.</p>
<p>But they are getting college credit for all those tests since they both did very well.</p>
<p>At my high school, they subsidized the Math/Science AP’s, but all of the other exams were $80.</p>