AP Payment for Testing Moved Up
On the day of enrollment, students and parents were notified that the registration for Advanced Placement (AP) testing has been moved up to Nov. This is due to the mandatory changes initiated by the College Board that the exam ordering will take place in the fall, instead of spring like the past years. This news left students and mostly parents with mixed feelings. Some may say that this change is beneficial for the children, others may believe that this is just an easy way to grab money and there are those who might not have an opinion whatsoever.
A statement on the College Board’s website claims that “earlier registration supports deeper engagement and focus in AP courses and reflects best practice policies already in place at more than half of AP schools.” After some reading, I have come to the conclusion that the change in the date of AP registration is just a way for the College Board to grab money from the pockets of the people. With schools starting in mid- to late Aug., it is hard to know if a student is prepared to make a decision on whether or not they are ready to take an AP test. This deadline is unnecessary stress that is being put on the students’ shoulders.
In past years, when the AP registration was in Mar., students who had already applied for the schools that they want to attend knew if they were accepted or not. This gave them a choice of taking AP tests for the courses that they were taking. However, with this new deadline, some have to pay for tests that they might not need to take to go to their future school.
At our school, we now have to make a decision on whether we want to take the AP tests or if we want to skip them. Plenty of students including myself are waiting until the very last minute to decide on whether they want to take them or not. We are all unprepared for the decision that we now have to make since the school year has just started.
There are some people who are thrilled with this new deadline because they are now motivated to start studying for their AP courses earlier than they would usually study for them. However, in reality, I believe that we students have so much on our plate that we really won’t get much studying done earlier. In fact, we might later regret signing up for the tests when it gets closer to the actual testing date. The College Board even has the teachers on their side.
During the past week, I have heard my teachers talk about signing up for AP tests. Many say that the sooner you do so, the better, and others have said that the money does not matter since you did not make it, your parents did. When hearing this, I was in shock and somewhat curious as to why they would say things like that. Although, at the end of the day, teachers are said to know what is best for us, so we can not put the blame on them. I do hope that in the future, the College Board decides to change its mind due to the fact that it is very much unfair for the kids and parents. This change is making parents concerned, students stressed and the College Board thrilled.