<p>ugh....kaplan/pr/barrons/college board will probably make $2000 off me in prep books/SIGNING UP FOR THOSE $100 AP CLASSES before i graduate....</p>
<p>Think about the payback, $1000 saved for every AP test you pass with 4 or a 5, national merit might score you, any other merit scholarships. If you stay in-state you can get the scholarship sponsored by the lottery. You get all sorts of good stuff that will be well worth it when you make a lot of money.</p>
<p>Unless, of course, you put all that $2000 to waste.</p>
<p>haha oooh true, i can get credit for my AP tests. lol no i will not put that $2000 to waste =)</p>
<p>Think of it as a very profitable investment that will pay off a lot.</p>
<p>True, but IMO Collegeboard is still ripping us off. I mean, 100 bucks PER AP Test?</p>
<p>waht does the $ go into...i thought CB was nonprofit. And they grade SAT essays with $20, the AP exams aren't much different</p>
<p>Yeah Collegeboard is full of **** IMO, it shouldn't cost 20$ to switch test centers I mean how much could that cost them.</p>
<p>I think non-profit doesn't mean that they don't keep any of their revenue, but rather they make their business decisions based on what best serves their customers (students), rather than what generates the most profit.</p>
<p>Of course I guess what's best for the students is getting royally raped in the *** by charging 10$ fees for every little mouse click they have to do.</p>
<p>^ it SHOULD cost about $2, even considering the nuisance of moving test booklets from one place to the other, not frekin $20. </p>
<p>Aaanyways, Harvard also says they're 'non-profit', but look at them. They're a nation sized super economy, and they are supposedly 'non-profit', and the annual tuition is still around 50K (considering room&board, etc)</p>
<p>I think you deserve to pay for AP if you are self studying.</p>
<p>But the state should pay if you take the course.</p>
<p>You are correct in your thinking about college board. It is a cash generating machine and I have to give someone credit for developing this system to take advantage of people. </p>
<p>Because of college board I orginally planned on just taking the ACT as I have not found one college that will not use it for admissions. In other words there is no reason to just take the SAT for college admission requirements since the ACT works and doesn't drill you for more cash. </p>
<p>A few years back college board decided that they could raise the revenue dollars from what was being generated by the CLEP testing. As result was the AP program. Now college board can get more of the money that students were paying to the schools as tuition. </p>
<p>Do you know what the primary purpose of the PSAT is?</p>
<p>It was developed to create a data base on prospective students and that information is then marketed and sold to colleges and others. That is why you will start to get all of the junk mail. The "National Merit" is just a carrot to get your information and is limited to the top 1%. The amount of money paid out is very small in comparison to the money taking in by the 1.4 million students taking the test each year. Think of PSAT as the college boards on little lottery system! </p>
<p>For those students who are not going to qualify for NMF I recommend skipping the SAT and only taking the ACT.</p>
<p>Ha, I scored enough to qualify for National Merit in my state. I'll be waiting for the letter in September.</p>
<p>Everyone knows that the College Board is a cash generating machine, but if it means that I can rise above my peers, I'm happy with it.</p>
<p>
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100 bucks PER AP Test?
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</p>
<p>IB isn't much better...$110 per test plus about a $80-100 registration fee.</p>
<p>yay price gouging</p>
<p>Is there hope for any competition? ACT is probably the only thing that even takes a stab at College Board. </p>
<p>University of California tried to fight SAT by telling students not to take it. What do we get in return? Writing Section!</p>
<p>ugh i think the SAT essay is probably the most useless thing of the 21st century so far. who the hell cares that you can write a 5-paragraph persuasive essay in 25 minutes? it neither gives colleges a sense of your writing ability nor entices you to become better writers just cuz the essay test has been added. it only forces HSers to learn the tricks to writing a long that can get a 12 on the SAT but absolutely nothing else. at least the other sections are basic and everyone should know how to read and add/multiply/subtract annyways. i mean, when's the next time you're going to write a 25 minute essay on a debatable topic? (besides the next time you take the SATs for failing it the first time)</p>
<p>Agreed, SAT essay is formula, mechanical writing and a load of bull****. If colleges want a sample of our writing, that's what application essays are for.</p>
<p>I commend the math section though, which tests on critical thinking and logic rather than if you are in AP Calc or Precalc.</p>
<p>If you think College Board's business is easy money, set up a competing organization to provide the same service.</p>
<p>Just like how hard it was for Rockefeller to make all that money--he had to actually go out and crush all other companies.</p>