in defense of the AP phone service

<p>It costs money to maintain a number people can dial, and mailing scores obviously takes longer than entering them into a database. Collegeboard is probably not even making a profit from its ap phone service.</p>

<p>They can post the scores on their website like they do with SAT scores. Believe me, Collegeboard is a big monopoly that is making a profit at every turn.</p>

<p>Wouldn’t it save them money if they just posted it online? This way no phone calls and no mail! It would also be very easy and everyone could get it at the same time.</p>

<p>But where is the profit in that?</p>

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<p>It might save money, but they would receive a lot of heat for not being an equal-access non-profit institution. There are still some folks who take AP tests who don’t actually have internet access readily available.</p>

<p>Plus, from a legal point of view, the mailed scores represent a legal document, something that you don’t have when receiving the scores solely online.</p>

<p>I could see them doing on-line access en lieu of phone service, though.</p>

<p>Collegeboard is like a college in my opinion. It’s not for profit, but its president makes big money, and it cares about expanding. Also, its fees are high, just like a college, because the people who can pay are subsidizing those who get fee waivers.</p>

<p>The bottom line is that the College Board mails and posts online SAT scores. There is no reason a similar thing can’t be done for AP scores, considering the database of scores exists. All it would take is one more step in the AP sign-up process, linking an AP number to a College Board Account.</p>

<p>supersaiyan: A 2-3 minute toll free call costs at the most 10 cents. Charging $2 would be fair but $8 is a major ripoff. Just post it on the web. E-mail trustees to let them know your displeasure. The trustee list is at:
<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/board-trustees-roster.pdf[/url]”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board;

<p>I don’t think there’s much excuse to not have internet @ the person who said it’s there for the few who don’t have it. Well, I guess some can’t afford it, but people can easy go to a library or internet caf</p>

<p>I’m all for AP scores online but there are a number of logistical hurdles. There would need to be additional servers to handle the increased bandwidth from people accessing their scores. In addition, you don’t register for AP tests through your College Board account, so linking scores and accounts would be rather difficult (remember how people sometimes have their scores split between two records because they were inconsistent in putting down their SS# or something like that? Imagine those kinds of problems on a much larger scale).</p>

<p>Yea I wish they were online. It would be so much easier, access wise and stress-wise. But alas, that is probably not going to happen while CB goes on charging $8 for grades :(</p>

<p>But, don’t forget that it’s only graduated seniors who have orientation in the first two weeks of July that really need scores that early. The vast majority of kids do not need scores on July 1 vs. July 10; heck, most are probably on vacation or working anyway. Unlike the SAT, which may be time sensitive for everyone (you might need to register and take the test again), the AP scores are not time sensitive (at least for the vast majority of testers).</p>

<p>manu: beside anxiety, what is the difference in 10 days by mail?</p>

<p>It’s a luxury, generally you don’t need to know several days before you actually get it, deal with it, it won’t change, etc. </p>

<p>Might get an ulcer, Idk.</p>

<p>Yeah some may not need it online, but it would be easier.</p>

<p>regarding server bandwidth, wouldn’t the same problem (on a bigger scale) happen with SAT scores?
I mean, pretty much every kid in America takes the SAT and checks the scores around the same time, and although AP kids are certainly neurotic, I doubt the number of AP students equals the number of students taking the SAT.</p>

<p>I wasn’t going to say anything but I got tired of seeing words of complaint from people in regards to AP scores coming by mail. Students, who take AP exams more than once, may put down their Social Security or may not. On this forum, some actually wrote down their SS numbers this year as opposed to when they did not do so the years before. Do you think CB really has the time to sift through each form and match it up with the forms from the years before? In a case that the mentioned scenario does happen, the scores from the years that you did not bubble in your SS will not be accumulated into the score report with the scores earned from the year(s) for which the SS number section was filled. And, unlike the SAT exam, for which you need to bubble in your registration code that is linked to your CollegeBoard account, the AP exam does not have one. FYI, your AP booklet number changes from year to year.</p>

<p>Apologies for any grammatical errors. I don’t really want to find them right now. Hopefully, you’ll get the gist of my speech. </p>

<p>Please correct me if I’m wrong. </p>

<p>You certainly don’t have to pay $9 to hear your scores be said by the operator, but CB probably knows that if some of you don’t do so, you’ll die from anxiety and curiosity. </p>

<p>P.S. It’s not just the American kids taking the AP exams. International students take them as well. Imagine the stacks of booklets that need to be read by each grader. The $95 you pay for each exam is not enough to compensate for the time these readers put into evaluating the forms, I believe. </p>

<p>There’s no such thing as free lunch, and I’m sure the Econ students on this forum remember that little saying.</p>

<p>The readers spend 3 minutes or so on each essay. There are usually 3 FRQs on each exam, so that’s about 9 minutes of their time. I know there are lodging and food costs too, but the AP exam fees cover that and other expenses and leave the CB with a nice profit margin.</p>

<p>As to bandwidth, if they can post every question with answers and explanations for the PSAT and SAT, why couldn’t they post a few numbers? I feel like they could do it if they wanted to.</p>