<p>Im afraid that if more providers became certified to give AP tests (or the equivalent) quality would decrease. A lot of the profits are invested into lobbying for colleges to accept the credits, creating good tests, holding conferences for teachers, etc.
Cut out the profit margin, and we lose a lot of the things that make AP great. </p>
<p>For the record, I pay $87 per test. I would love to see cost drop. But I’m no convinced that Perfect Competition is the way to go.
The government could do it for a fraction of the cost.</p>
<p>A lot of the PROFITS are invested into the executives’ stock portfolios.</p>
<p>
Why…? If there were competition, cost would decrease. If the companies started sacrificing quality, the ones that were highest quality but best value would win out. Look, if CollegeBoard executives weren’t paid six-figure salaires and if the company were transparent about exactly how much money it spends–and where it spends that money–if we knew how much it actually cost to pay the graders, print the tests, all that stuff… then OK, I would pay the money.</p>
<p>But by the end of HS I will have paid around $1200-1300 to the CollegeBoard. Tests aren’t subsidized in my school district/state, and since my poor public school gets $$$ for every AP test taken, we are FORCED to take the tests for the AP classes we have. This year I have to pay $522 just for AP tests. It’s ridiculous.
The government could do it for a fraction of the cost.</p>
<p>
Oh yeah, more bureacracy is definitely the way to go. And the government already does such a good job running public schools–why not put them in charge of some important standardized tests, too???</p>
<p>Um, $500 is like the equivalent of one college level class. Collegeboard’s $22 price is for people who can’t afford the full price most times. Bottom line? you and your friend most likely are doing the right thing</p>
<p>I don’t know why everybody is crying about the cost in the first place. Why are you in AP classes or taking an AP exam if all you’re gonna do is cry about the cost?</p>
<p>That’s like going to Disney World with $5 in your pocket and complaining that tickets are more than $5. </p>
<p>If you can’t afford it, don’t get involved. Plenty of people get into college without AP classes/credits.</p>
<p>In VA we have SOL standardized tests. VA administers a lot of standardized tests. And they’re free. Now let’s apply that to Collegeboard standardized tests (SAT Subject tests) the state could do that very easily and cheaply. They could probably take over SAT I and AP tests as well, no problem.
British A-levels show that this CAN be done, and it is much cheaper.</p>
<p>I dont understand why private=higher quality and public=lower quality. If anything private markets have the incentive to cut costs and quality for their goods.</p>
<p>Also, 900k isnt that much for the President of a large company. The top 50 execs or so of large corporations take home 7 figure checks at the end of the year.</p>
<p>The cost of AP tests makes lower-income kids stay away from them in poorer districts. It is critical to lower cost. Im not sure if creating a bunch of weird competitors would work. Imagine: Which one would you choose? Most colleges would only accept AP, so what’s the point? Most schools would still only offer AP, or 1 of the competitors, so you still dont get a choice.</p>
<p>$900,000 for the President of what is allegedly a non-profit company isn’t much? lol</p>
<p>If it wasn’t non-profit (or let me re-phrase – if it wasn’t labeled as non-profit), then it wouldn’t be an issue. Name some non-profit organizations whose president makes anywhere near that much money.</p>
<p>Boys and Girls Club of America, CEO makes 900k. United Way CEO makes 1.2 million. </p>
<p>In comparison, top CEOs at S&P top 250 companies is 11 million!</p>
<p>Sure, 900k is certainly on the high side, but it’s not the reason we are being paid 600 million to Collegeboard last year.
Even if the CEO worked for 1 dollar a year, it wouldnt change the cost for anyone. People blame the CEO salaries because they love having a scapegoat.</p>
<p>If you look at the price of each A Level subject offered, they are way more expensive. Below are links to the costs of the local British A Level by OCR and CIE International A Level exam in various countries. I’ve converted it so that you can how much A Levels can cost. These are just the costs for each A level subject and does not include the additional registration fees.</p>
<p>So while I do agree that the cost is quite ridiculous, exams around the world are about the same price and therefore I can’t really complain about it.</p>
<p>I mean, The school forces us to take the tests or they’ll modify our transcripts to show that we didn’t take an AP class. I didn’t know about that until this year because before i didn’t care cause our tests were like $20 bucks since my county subsidized them.</p>