<p>I'm in a bit of a sticky situation at my school at the moment. During the summer of this school year, my beloved Latin teacher unexpectedly lost his job (due to problems with the educational part of his degree--he had procrastinated on getting that bit done until the last year possible and had a teacher fail him apparently because she didn't like his teaching style despite the fact that essentially the entire student body loved him as a teacher and that he had been awarded Teacher of the Year the previous year). </p>
<p>The new Latin teacher was not AP-certified, so the ten of us who had been planning to take AP Latin Vergil for level IV were left with schedule holes which we were notified of all of ten days before the first day of school. Rather than shunt myself into Weight Lifting, the only open class for that time period, I used a TAG option at my school to create a Directed Study of AP Latin Vergil. A friend who had been in my class last year also chose to do this option. Luckily, we had the same period open, so we have been working together on this directed study all year--working on our translational skills, practicing multiple choice questions and free-response questions released from previous exams, etc. We had planned to take the AP exam come spring.</p>
<p>When we went to sign up, however, we ran into a dilemma: our school will not pay for the AP exam in our case. It seems that it has a policy that it will only pay for AP exams if the student is overseen by a teacher who is "qualified" to teach AP in that subject. So they'll pay for the AP Psychology exam for the course I'm taking online through our state Virtual High School, but not the AP Latin Vergil exam. At $80, the exams aren't cheap!</p>
<p>My friend, who is a high school freshman (very very unusual at my school; she came from an International School and was taught Latin and French starting much earlier than most students at my school), is planning to take the AP exam anyway--she says it can't hurt to have AP credits under her belt as a freshman! I'm not so sure that it's the best thing I can do, however. I am taking five other AP classes this semester and have taken four previously. I have three scores of five (Chemistry, World History, and US History) and one score of four (English Language) to my credit at the moment. Most of the schools I have applied to have credit caps, so I'm not worried about the possible loss of credit. My mother has offered to pay for the test if I really want to take it, but agrees with me that it's probably too expensive to pay for if I'm not going to get credit for it. </p>
<p>However, when I self-reported my senior year course schedule when applying to colleges, I reported as "Directed Study (AP Latin Vergil)." I am worried at the implications if I don't take the test. What should I do? Advice?</p>
<p>I'd say to take it, but that might be because our school forces us to pay for every single test we take (haha yeah it gets expensive). So I'm used to the whole "Okay, here goes 80 bucks..." mentality. </p>
<p>You've been working all year, I wouldn't want to lose that work just to save 80 dollars.</p>
<p>And, even if you have 'credit caps,' the college still might offer placement into a higher level class based on your AP score- if you're going to continue latin.</p>
<p>I'm thinking about continuing on with it, but I also really want to take a spoken language that will be more "useful" and is also not Romantic. I'm also considering the stress level I'm going to be at in May with six tests as opposed to five... </p>
<p>On my application, most of my ECs and awards are built around Latin as well. I'm not planning to be a Classics major although I love the language, but could not taking the exam hurt me when viewed in the context of my ECs?</p>
<p>I'm very jealous of your school paying for AP tests! My school doesn't so I've had to be careful in deciding which ones to take. I have six this year, and I'm probably not going to take all of them for various reasons.</p>
<p>For one, how comfortable are you with the exam material? Are you fairly certain that you can get a 4, or preferably, a 5 on the exam? When paying for a test myself, I make sure to ask myself this question because it is a complete waste to take it otherwise. </p>
<p>Are you a senior? If you are, what are these implications you mentioned of not taking it? By that point, you will already be accepted at and have chosen a college. If you are a junior, I think it would make sense to take the test, as it would be an odd hole on your transcript if you've indicated a self-directed study of AP Latin, but didn't take the test. </p>
<p>Lastly, Are you planning to use the AP score to earn college credit? If you are even possibly going to use it, either to place out of a requirement or to take a higher level of Latin, it will be beneficial. If you aren't, there is little point in taking it. In my opinion, $80 isn't worth spending solely to guage your progress in a subject.</p>
<p>I am a senior, yes. I'm worried about implications that my directed study might be seen as "padding" later on in the year if I don't go on to take the test by the colleges I get into. I'm worried about "lying" about my courseload. Does that make sense, or am I being a bit neurotic? </p>
<p>I mentioned above that I probably won't use this score for credit (won't be counting towards a major and I'm going to have no shortage of scores to use, most likely), and I am confident that I can score out of, say, Latin 101. From my understanding, most colleges offer placement tests for language which I would not have to pay for. </p>
<p>With regards to my being comfortable with the exam material, I've grown very comfortable with the Aeneid over the last year. My vocabulary needs work--my previous teacher was not good about making sure that we had a lot of vocabulary at our fingertips--so my friend and I have been specifically addressing that. So I'm feeling wishy-washy. I have also heard that the AP Latin Vergil exam is one of the most difficult AP exams out there, which does not help my confidence level any!</p>
<p>I hadn't realized that paying for AP tests was not standard--I'm grateful to my school for doing it!</p>
<p>To me, it doesn't really seem crucial for you to take it. I highly doubt that colleges would have an issue with you not taking the AP exam. They definitely wouldn't revoke your admission because of it if that's what you're worried about. No one will be waiting for your score to come in to confirm that the school really wants you. </p>
<p>Since you aren't planning on using the score, it also seems like it would be a waste of time. However, if you would see not taking the test as a waste after all this extra work, go ahead and do it.</p>
<p>There may be a way to take the test without having to pay for it personally. While your school may not pay like they do for normal AP tests, there may be other sources of funding available regardless. I know that student government at my school has a scholarship fund which they would use to cover costs like these. If your school has a similar program, you could apply and I'm sure they'd accept something so clearly educational. The PTA may also have money too. Just explore your options before deciding not to take the test.</p>
<p>If you're going to take latin in college or you can use the AP credit to fulfill a requirement in your college of choice (assuming there's no credit cap), take it..$80 is a lot less than what you'd pay in college to take a similar class.</p>
<p>If you're just going to stop latin after high school or it won't fulfill a requirement at your prospective college or there's a credit cap (depending on what you intend to study in college), don't bother with taking it.</p>
<p>$80 is nothing. If you get that AP credit, that could exempt you from taking classes in college, where you might pay $4000 for the course. AP credits are the best deal out there.</p>
<p>Yes, but pretty much everywhere I have applied has a credit cap. I probably will not be able to use all of the credit garnered from my AP classes anyway; I'm not sure it's worth it to take this particular test.</p>
<p>EDITED to respond to arklogic: As long as we're not failing and we're being supervised by a certified AP teacher, my high school will do it. I honestly hadn't heard of schools not paying for them before!</p>
<p>The schools you have applied to will not know whether or not you plan to take the exam. Their decision will be based on what is already on your application. If you do not intend to continue with Latin, and if the school you are likely to attend has a credit cap that you will exceed with your other courses, I see no reason whatever to pay for this exam, or spend the time preparing for it.</p>
<p>You have heard correctly about the relative difficulty of Latin Vergil.</p>
<p>Take a look at the colleges you have applied to and see if
1]they have a language requirement for graduation and
2]if a score of score of 4 or 5 will satisfy their language requirements.
If neither of the above applies then skip the AP test.</p>
<p>I would take it. There is no downside, other than the money. Even a low score won't hurt you, since it will come long after college admissions. A high score could help you with placement, if not with credit. Also, I have to wonder whether your school might cough up the $80 if your mother makes a fuss about, under the circumstances.</p>
<p>At my daughter's HS, you have to take the AP tests if you take the AP courses, and you have to pay for the AP tests. (I'm sure there is an out, like brieb08 says, for people who qualify for free lunches.) </p>
<p>What a bummer. I would love for my school to pay for my AP exams. I have sneaky feeling that the district is profiting more than it should by charging $90 per exam, which is more expensive than most people here claimed to have paid.</p>
<p>This is minor, but wouldn't it look a bit odd if you had all you ECs based around Latin (even if you don't take the AP exam) and then apply as another major?</p>
<p>I would take it. I took the AP French and English Language exams convinced that I would not pass, but I ended up getting a 4 and 5 respectively. I will admit that I got more validation than I should have when the scores came in during the summer. As noted, $80 isn't really THAT much in the context of college costs.</p>