Hey look, it’s a homeschooling post! We got a form letter from Spotsylvania County Schools this week about Breck taking the AP tests. He’s only 9th grade, so we aren’t worrying about for another couple of years. (Although I bet he would do just fine on the history and geography tests today). However, there were two things that caught my attention.
1. Each test costs $79. Do the school kids pay their own way too?
2. Spotsy wants us to meet with a guidance counselor prior to registering for an AP test. That can’t be required, right? It seems to be carefully worded to imply that the pre-test meeting is required, without actually stating that the pre-test meeting is required.
Anybody know how it really works?
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I had to pay for mine when I took them (less than 10 years ago).
I had to pay for mine too – the amount sounds about right, I remember it wasn’t cheap. Mine were, uh, more than 10 years ago.
I can’t imagine what the meeting would be for – maybe they think the counselor can help you with college stuff? Not all colleges accept AP credit and stuff like that. I’m sure you could never figure that out on your own…
When Boy took his, we went in and wrote a check. Our ps had a sliding scale based on what test he took. I think Calc. was the cheapest at about $21 and the highest was geography at about $80.
I noticed the the school encouraged kids to take the calc test, but didn’t have anyone else (nor offered a class to support) the geography.
It appeared that the ps kids had to also pay, but I didn’t ask.
Now the meeting – that’s not coming from Collegeboard unless they’ve changed their system again.
I (or my parents) paid for mine, too, although the cost was less ($69? each).
I would recommend if he’s interested in taking the tests, he should start studying the test itself a few months ahead of time and try a couple of practice exams. The scoring is different from most–points are deducted for incorrect guesses, but not for questions left blank–and the essay portion is something he’ll want to be familiar with (how the questions are asked, etc). A significant portion of my AP classes was spent simply preparing for the test itself, not just learning the material that might be covered, and at least two of the essay questions on the actual exam were identical to “practice” questions we’d covered in class (that was a pleasant surprise!). Our scores wouldn’t have been nearly as high had we gone in with all the facts and none of the strategy.
I’d also suggest if he wants to take multiple exams not to wait until his senior year to do them all. If he’s ready for the geography & history bits already, he can take them as a 9th or 10th grader. No reason to take 5 tests in a week when he can spread it out and take 2-3 a year.
Oh, and the essay portion was scored wacky, too, but I don’t remember the details.
Hey,
Have you or your kids thought of replying to the Jay Mathews, WP, column re: homeschooling. It would be great to have a kid’s perspective…see pages 3-4 of his column Extra Credit from Thursday’s paper, link is below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012703847_3.html
Yep, parents pay for public schooled kids. Free/reduced lunch recipients get either a reduction or waiver of the fee, depending.
It gets pricey — you just have to remind yourself that it counts toward either reducing the cost of college, or broadening the college experience by getting more basic requirements out of the way. Oh, and try to have your kid give you a realistic idea of whether she’s going to pass the test before signing up for it, if you’re concerned about the fees.
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