<p>In my school, if you take an AP class, you MUST take the exam in May, or else you will be withdrawn from the class. Also, my school does not pay for kids to take the examsm so you have to come up with this money yourself.</p>
<p>Luckily, I get free lunch, so therefore I received two AP, one SAT, and one ACT waiver(s) so I didn't have to pay anything.</p>
<p>Should schools force kids to take the exams, though? What about taking the class for the love of learning?</p>
<p>Increasingly so, I’ve found that the oft-quoted “love of learning” is most often used by students to justify not doing something that somebody else wants them to do. :)</p>
<p>That being said, I’ll phrase my answer this way in three parts:</p>
<p>(1) I do think that students should be required to take the exam in May. The exam, frankly, is the culmination of that learning.</p>
<p>(2) Students should want to take the exam in May. In many cases, AP Exam scores can either boost an application to college or the credits earned when arriving there.</p>
<p>(3) If a school wants to require students to take the exam in May, they should find a way to pay for it. For everyone, whether they need the financial assistance or not. They can solicit donations from parents who have the ability to help pay for the program if they want, though.</p>
<p>After all, I don’t require my students to pay me an exam fee to take the test at the end of Chapter 4. (Although, wouldn’t that be a fabulous idea?) :)</p>
<p>I almost want to say yes, but I know there are sooo many reasons why students wouldn’t take the AP exam. For example:
<p>So, no. But I do know a school that fails a student in the AP test if he/she doesn’t pass. =[</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Many seniors end up transferring from their original university. Many students also end up changing majors (and sometimes end up having the AP credit count when they change majors even within the same university). For these students, those credits might gain value that they don’t recognize during their senior year.</p></li>
<li><p>Exposure to college-level testing, even if you don’t do particularly well on it, is a valuable resource.</p></li>
<li><p>Why take a class if you aren’t prepared to do your best in that class and participate in all the facets of that class (including the tests)?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>College tests are a bit of a wake-up call, and the number of students who in high school use the first test as a “practice test” to learn “how the teacher gives tests” is going to be in for a rude awakening when they realize that there are often not many tests at the college level to “practice” with.</p>
<p>My school requires every student to take the AP Exam, and I think it’s actually a good idea. This generally keeps out the people who aren’t prepared to work and who want to just take the class for a GPA boost (a lot of them don’t realize that if you get an F, it’s still an F in AP, not a D). Also, at the end of the year when you’ve studied for the AP Exam, you tend to remember a lot more for a longer period of time, rather than forgetting everything right after the chapter test, or whatever. I agree with TheMathProf, taking the exam is almost always a good idea if you’ve taken the class, for reasons that you may not realize until much later. But if you KNOW you did horribly afterwards, then you can always just not report your scores to colleges…
In regards to the payment, last year the school required the students to pay for all their AP exams, but gave waivers for free/reduced lunch students. However, this year, for some reason [no one really knows why] they are only charging students $33 for each exam [or $5 for free/reduced]. This seemed really odd since supposedly the school is making budget cuts for the economy and whatnot, but I have to say that I’m really happy about that. Now it will only cost me $99 instead of $240+. :)</p>
<p>But that’s my take on it…Required AP Exam=Good Idea</p>
<p>By opting to take the AP class, you are essentially making a clear statement that you are willing to devote the time and energy to learn at a college-level pace and curriculum. Also, you should be interested in the subject you took the AP class in, so studying for the test should be enjoyable since you’re merely reviewing the coursework.</p>
<p>Okay, but, as I’ve posted in another section, my class is being horribly prepared for AP Physics B. We are in Chapter 9/32 and the exam is less than two months away. Generally, my school prepares students fabulously, but the entire physics dept. changed this year so the class is so bad. We do not even understand chapters 6-9. The only thing I know is Kinematics. Do you think we should be forced to take the exam, when colleges will see the score when I apply next year? Or should I just cancel the scores?</p>
<p>There may be exceptions under certain unique circumstances.</p>
<p>When you signed up for AP Physics B, I have to imagine you did so with the intention of taking the exam and doing well in the class. The circumstances of your class changed, and I can see why you might object to now taking this test.</p>
<p>That being said, the school is responsible for providing you a valid and workable AP Physics course. Their failure to do so should not be compounded.</p>
<p>I suppose I had presumed that this was a precondition of the requirement.</p>
<p>In your situation, whether you take the exam or not is frankly based on your perceived ability to do well when self-studying, because essentially, that’s what your class has become.</p>
<p>My school was reasonable when the AP Java teacher left. Because the teacher hired knew nothing about Java, it was up to the kids on whether or not they wanted to take the test. Most opted not to.</p>
<p>To make a long story short:</p>
<p>If they are seniors, then no.
If they are juniors (or lower) and can afford it, then yes.</p>
<p>Yeah, my situation is similar to that of giftedgothic. My teacher left in October, and we have a new teacher who is (I’m really sugarcoating it here) a complete idiot in regards to teaching. His idea of teaching us aboves waves is to frantically spaz with a slinky and assume we know *** he’s talking about. Well, news flash, we don’t. The majority of the physics I know comes from the physics-related stuff we do in AP Calc, which makes life sooo much easier. That’s why I wanted to petition to take AP Physics C: Mechanics, but it’s too late/my school won’t let me. What should I do because if the situation isn’t remedied I will be sending a 1 to colleges next year, and I have schools like Tufts, Hopkins, and Georgetown on my list.</p>
<p>I dont think that students should be required to take the test if its a known fact that they will fail. But i heard it looks bad on admission if you dont take the test, so idk. seniors should be able to do whatever they please; already applied to college, so, the admis thing wouldnt matter.</p>
<p>My school is like giftedgothic’s–required AP tests, with no subsidizing of cost (except for free/reduced lunch). I think it’s valuable to require the AP test but a costly proposition–it should be prohibited as a requirement unless the school is willing to pay (these are public schools, after all).</p>
<p>I say it shouldn’t always be mandatory to take the test. Like others have said, I’ve lost 3 AP teachers over the years and have gotten moronic substitutes. While self-studying is always an option, these classes end up wasting an hour of my time (plus some more, with their busy-work for homework), taking away from the time I can study. I’d rather work harder at ones I’m actually learning. And sometimes the costs are awful to deal with; our school provides no help (private school, no public funding), and most of the students take 4-6 AP tests a year. Way too much to pay when some of the classes are jokes and teaching nothing.</p>
<p>If it <em>is</em> required, surely it has to be subsidized at some level. But I would have to say no, it shouldn’t be mandatory. Thinking of AP Physics B specifically: the course material now corresponds to essentially 2 semesters of introductory college physics, and the AP test is unlike any physics test I ever had in college (namely, very broad, with multiple choice). Do we really have to hit an AP physics student on the head with a bat, saying, “taking the test hurts now, but it’ll be useful later on”?</p>