<p>Here's the deal: my school offers only a few AP classes. In a school of 2,700 kids, only 2 people have two AP exams scheduled the same day. Different times but same day. My dilemma is that I am one of these 2 students, and the exams in question are Spanish and Stats. Historically, no one in my school does well on the AP Spanish exam--not even the native speakers. Only one or two students pass the exam each year (and by pass, I mean 3+, not necessarily 5), and they happen to be hard-working native Spanish speakers. Everyone (everyone!) else in the class gets a 1. Not even a 2, a 1! </p>
<p>Why do so many students take an AP test that they know they will fail? Because my school says so. "If you take an AP class, you take the AP test!"</p>
<p>In your observation/experience, does taking two AP tests in a single day sound like overkill? Like, will my score in stats be jeopardized because I've been sitting at a small desk in a cold room for four hours prior? Because, historically, about half the kids in stats class do well on the AP exam. I think I could be in that half, but I am afraid that taking the Spanish test will jeopardize my score.</p>
<p>What should I do? Should I try to convince my school to make an exception?</p>
<p>This isn’t even the school’s decision; CollegeBoard will not allow late testing simply because two exams are on the same day. The exams must be at the exact same time for CollegeBoard to allow late testing.</p>
<p>If you are prepared for the Stat exam then taking the Spanish test before hand shouldn’t affect you. I took chem and psych on the same day and did fine.</p>
<p>I don’t know where everyone’s getting the idea that schools aren’t allowed to let you take a test late if you have two on the same day. My school has always done that…</p>
<p>I believe exceptions are made for athletes who have a competition on test day and can’t attend an afternoon test session. There’s a special day set for this and an extra cost (but of course) to do so.</p>
<p>It’s common for students with multiple AP classes to take two on the same day. That’s just how it is. The points you’re presented do not offer a compelling case for a deferred test and likely don’t even meet the deferral rules.</p>
<p>I am well aware of College Board’s rules. My question has nothing to do with that. I know I can’t postpone any test dates. Rather, I wish not to take one of the tests altogether. College Board won’t have a problem with this (they can never say who is and who is not allowed to sit for an AP exam), but technically, it goes against my school’s policy to take an AP class but not sit for the exam. I am just wondering if you guys think my case would be compelling enough for my school to make an exception and only make me take one of the two tests (since this is an unusual circumstance at my particular school).</p>
<p>Again, I don’t know where everyone’s gotten this information that Collegeboard will not allow you to do a late test when you have two on the same day, since people at my school have always been able to do that…</p>
<p>Two AP exams in 1 day is no big deal. You simply need to make sure you prepare. Once you are in college it is possible to have three or even four final exams in a two or three period.</p>
<p>I’ve done two AP’s in one day. It was English, which is obviously writing intensive, and Art History, which has 9 essays I think. It sucks to be combined with AH because it has to be done in a room with special screens that high schools usually don’t have. So I had to take both of my tests on a somewhat unfamilar college campus. And, my arm was very tired by the end of the day.</p>
<p>The actual issue of having two tests in one day didn’t matter though. This year I have Chem and Psych on the same day. And they come right after afternoon exams for Physics C!</p>
<p>What are the repercussions of not taking the AP exam? Does your school lower your grade in the class? If not, I’d say just don’t take the Spanish test. </p>
<p>Our school frowns upon not taking the AP test for AP courses, but they don’t force us to take the exam. A few students in each class regularly don’t take the test for personal or financial reasons. Some feel they wouldn’t do well, others just don’t want an additional test. I don’t know if your school pays for the test, but if they don’t you could just register for the statistics test alone.</p>
<p>No, taking 2 AP tests in one day is not overkill. Anyone who takes 4+ APs in one year usually has a fairly high chance of getting 2 exams on the same day, so having 2 tests in one day is not uncommon. I don’t think you should ask your school to make an exception for you. You’re only one person, it’d be an inconvenience for them just to set another day for you to take the test. </p>
<p>I also don’t think it’s that hard to get at least a 3 on the AP Spanish exam, given that you’ve studied Spanish for about 3+years. Does your Spanish teacher not prepare his/her students for what appears on the exam? (The reading passages, listening, oral presentation, etc.) I can imagine why the test would seem extremely hard if the teacher never prepared their class at all for what’s on the test, but if he/she actually goes over it frequently, it’s not a difficult feat to get a 3. I’m taking AP Spanish this year too, and the listening and speaking questions are not severely hard. The reading passages are a hit or miss for me though, since some passages are way more difficult than others. Note: I’m not a native speaker.</p>
<p>You should not worry about being exhausted for Spanish after taking Stat. My stat teacher made our midterm a real AP test from 1996 and it wasn’t that brain exhaustive. (I had a gov midterm after the stat one) As long as you prepare for both tests ahead of time, and not the night before, you should totally be fine. :)</p>
<p>But if you REALLY don’t want to take the Spanish one, in fear of a low grade, then… maybe just skip the test? lol. I don’t think they can do anything to you if you do skip it. Although when I was taking an AP test last year, when someone didn’t come in on time for it, we had to sit and wait till the person came in before the test started… I’m not sure if other schools do it like that or not.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’ll be that bad…i’m in the same position as you with Spanish and stats but I chose not to take the spanish test bc as you said it is hard…however, I will be taking many ib tests on the same day…I figure if you can handle the sat then you’ll be fine. Good luck!</p>
<p>If they don’t let you skip it, why don’t you just go in and try anyways, and if you are too tired, just sleep. Since you don’t want to take one of the exams, then you should have no problems.</p>
<p>That being said, I highly suggest you attempt both. There’s a break in between them, and it’s not as bad as you think.</p>
<p>Haha, guess I shouldn’t have come to CC for sympathy regarding AP tests…</p>
<p>It’s fabulous that you all have 8 APs scheduled within a three-day period and are frantically trying to find ways to get 5s on all of them, but I told you straight-up that my school is not like that, that we are not at all prepared for the AP Spanish test, and that we are all GOING to get a 1 on the test. I was lookin’ for some validation that my request for my school to make an exception and let me not sign-up to take the Spanish exam at all wasn’t totally crazy, and obviously I’m not gonna get it here…</p>
<p>Could you possibly re-read what I told you guys originally? Your responses don’t make sense in terms of what information I gave.</p>
<p>After reading your post again I’m going to try to answer your question.</p>
<p>You DO mention in you’re oringinal message that you do not want to jeopardize your Stat grade due to you taking Spanish earlier in the day. As many others have said, taking two tests in one day is not as bad as you think- given that you were well prepared for the test. By this I mean that your teacher gave you preparation for the test i.e. practice essays, practice tests, etc. If this is the case, then I suggest that you go ahead and take the test. While you may be concerned about the grades that other students have gotten in the past, I don’t think that should be a deterrent if you feel prepared for the test.</p>
<p>It is a completely different matter if you do not feel like you are personally ready/able to do well on the test due either to the fact that your teacher did not provide sufficient instruction or you personally do not do well in the course. In this case, I think it would be a detrimental to you to force yourself to take a test that you feel you wouldn’t do well on. It can be really tiring to sit through a test that you know nothing or very little about.</p>
<p>I think it is also important to note your grade level. If you are a sophomore or junior, I would suggest that you not take the test if you feel that you will not do well because your grade can be used for college applications. If you are a senior, then it has no relevance to your admittance only to how many credit hours you can enter college with. </p>
<p>This being said, I think that if you fall into the case of the latter, you can at least attempt to talk to your school about letting you get out of the test. You would have the point that it would save them money (given they pay for the test and don’t make students pay out of pocket). And if they don’t agree, then you could always go and just bomb it (sleep) in order to save energy for the Stat test.</p>