<p>I need advice. My daughter attends a small (250 students) private school which offers some AP courses but does not offer AP Art History. She wants to self-study for AP Art History and take the exam at a large (1300 students) magnet public school here in town where AP Art History is offered. She is a straight A student taking the most aggressive course load that she can. The public school principal and the AP Art History teacher have approved my daughter taking the exam next spring 2010.</p>
<p>We approached the private school to discuss this and they said that they do not allow students to participate in "independent study" and will not allow her to take an AP test elsewhere and will not give us the private school "access code." On the private school web site there is a school profile page with a six digit SAT/ACT collegeboard code which I believe is the same as the AP test school code. It is available to the public.</p>
<p>I believe there are two issues here. I think the private school doesn't want students taking AP tests right and left with poor scores being reported on the private school's AP Test report. I think this is a valid concern but I feel that my daughter is a good risk especially since she has friends who have made 4's or 5's on AP Art History who said they will tutor her.</p>
<p>I believe the other issue is that there is competition for students between the private school and the magnet public school and the private school doesn't want any attention to the fact that they do not offer AP Art History while the public school does offer it.</p>
<p>So I am wondering do we even need the private school's permission to take a self-study AP that they do not offer? Don't we only need the permission of the school administering the test? Isn't the SAT/ACT collegeboard code the same as the AP exam code? Does the private school have the ability to prevent my daughter from taking a self-study exam? If the private school doesn't want to have my daughter's AP score on their school AP report, can we give the homeschool state code when she takes the exam? Who can we contact at Collegeboard for guidance?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>From collegeboard.com, after getting in to the AP links…</p>
<p>Contact Us
AP Services
P.O. Box 6671
Princeton, NJ 08541-6671
Phone: (609) 771-7300 or (888) 225-5427 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada)
Email: <a href="mailto:apexams@info.collegeboard.org">apexams@info.collegeboard.org</a> </p>
<p>You may get more attention after they’re not completely overwhelmed with current AP testing issues.</p>
<p>However, I don’t think you need a private school’s permission to self-study an AP. That’s ridiculous. Using the homeschool state code is probably the best option, but they can tell you better. Maybe the private school will not give an excused absence for the student to take the AP exam, but other than that, I don’t think they have any other control over it…once you have the approval from the public school administrating the test, what should be all she needs.</p>
<p>thanks. We will contact AP services in a few weeks. We would prefer to have all of this worked out on friendly terms. Has anyone else encountered anything like this?</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t think that the school has the right to do that. You shouldn’t have to go around the school in order for your daughter to receive possible credit.</p>
<p>I go to a <300 students private school as well…and I’m self-studying for AP Psych.</p>
<p>I talked to my guidance counselor well in the beginning of the year…and he was completely fine with it…I even get to take it at my school (they’re ordering 2 Psych tests…one for me…one for a friend of mine who is also taking it).</p>
<p>I don’t really understand why they wouldn’t let you. Seems like they’re suppressing your child’s potential to gain knowledge. Throw that at your school…see if that changes their mind.</p>
<p>yes i go to a private school too…with less than 250 ppl…in the high school…
i self-studied myself without telling them…only telling my counselor when i needed to order the tests…and they did…
but they are kinda annoying about the whole AP thing too…</p>
<p>You actually don’t need a school code to take the exams. If you leave that section blank on the answer sheet, you’ll still get a score, it just doesn’t get mailed to your school.</p>
<p>According to my guidance counselor, anyway.</p>
<p>The school codes are the ones you found online though, yes. Same as the SAT.</p>
<p>Best thing to do is contact CollegeBoard and abide by whatever they tell you. </p>
<p>I hate schools that bar students from excelling personally (including my school). Their fear of hurting their own reputation is a selfish concern; it doesn’t put the student’s best interest at heart. I’m pretty sure that as long as the testing site agrees, your D is allowed to take it regardless of what your school thinks. And schools that are against “independent study” make absolutely so sense; the purpose of high school is to prep the students for college, and in college, students do independent study. If a high school discourages independent study, how are the students being prepared for college? They certainly aren’t being prepared by attending class with a teacher spoon-feeding the notes. I wonder why CollegeBoard doesn’t just make AP exam registration like the SATs; they state that the AP exams are open to everyone, but not everyone gets an equal opportunity to take their desired AP exams because of situations like this.</p>
<p>That’s completely bull… </p>
<p>I mean your daughter is attending a private school that your family is paying for with your hard earned money!!!</p>
<p>I go to a public school in that used to be in the bottom 10 percent of the state. I self-studied for several AP tests in my Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years. Not only did they let me take the AP tests at school, but a counselor was gracious enough to give her own time to just proctor me, even when I was the only person taking the test in the whole school. </p>
<p>You absolutely don’t need the school’s go ahead on this. If worst comes to worst, follow the test registration procedures for home schooled kids. It should be available on the Collegeboard website.</p>
<p>Call your local public high school and see if they offer AP Art History. If you live in that school district, then you should be able to take it there. I attended medium private school (<900) students and they did not offer AP psych. My school did offer regular Psych, so I took that along with AP Bio, got a AP Psych prep book too. I registered for the AP exam at the local school without a problem (just had to pay the AP fee). My school couldn’t afford (?) to set aside a proctor and reserve a room for only 1 student.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses. I think abiding by whatever collegeboard says is what we will do and maybe that will involve using the homeschool code. We do feel like our daughter’s best interests are not being considered. It is very frustrating to think that I am paying for this kind of treatment! At any rate it sounds like she will be able to somehow do what she wants. Thanks again.</p>