Should I pay for all four AP tests?

<p>I sympathize that it’s hard to keep cranking out those checks senior year.</p>

<p>However, if it lifts your morale, here are the advantages we found from paying for AP exams taken AFTER college acceptances!</p>

<p>1.Better focus at the end of the course to participate in class during review sessions, consequently better individual course grade, better final h.s. GPA. </p>

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<li><p>They learn and master the material better (see point above). They KNOW it.
This makes all future college courses in that field go better for them.</p></li>
<li><p>Others mention skipping prerequisites in college. (Since OP doesn’t predict actual college credits, let’s focus on the prerequisites): It is VERY satisfying to skip the Introductory course in a college department. I found those the hardest of all, because the breadth is wide and they move fast. You have to learn how people in that discipline think, the language they use, the approach. Some find intro courses fast-and-shallow, hard to hold onto the content, due to the speed. </p></li>
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<p>By contrast, if you skip a prerequisite and can start as a freshman in a 200 level course, it might be on a focussed topic, or with a smaller group of students, or with students delighted to be there.</p>

<p>It doesn’t sound like much, but skipping a prerequisite can be a joy and make more of kid’s time (and your money) as a college freshman. </p>

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<li><p>Possible AWARD - there’s a hierarchy of awards that come to those who take enough courses and score high enough on several. Certificates that say “Ap Scholar with Honors” “…with Excellence” and so on. While some kids pile up awards in h.s., mine didn’t (much theater, no sports, hyper-competitive suburban h.s.= no other awards!) So this AP certificate meant a lot to him, gave him an academic award to express on a resume. OK, so we also paid for the frame, but it meant something to us that he’d worked hard and did well on the tests.</p></li>
<li><p>All of the above.</p></li>
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