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My school is the gayest school in the damn world. Just because most of the students are dumb and fail, about 5,000 fit this criteria, doesn't mean all of us do. Every program in my school is geared to helping the dumber people... it sucks.

Anyways...

I currently take AP Calculus, that's exactly how it appears on my schedule, just AP Calculus. So I ask my guidance counselor what test we take, and she told me Calculus AB. I asked her, "What about the people that want to take the BC exam?" She simply replied you can't. I argued and argued but the answer was always no.

- In my school, they pay for the AP tests and thus everyone that is in an AP class is required to take the test. If you don't show up on the day of the testing you fail the class for the year and owe the school the money.

- In my school, you can't take the AP test for a class you aren't in. For example I want to take the AP Statistics and AP Psychology tests, but I can't even if I am willing to pay for them myself.

- In my school, only seniors can take statistics so I took it thinking it was an AP class just to find out today that it's only an "advanced" class but not an AP class because "The cb doesn't offer statistics"... so I told her to check and she saw that it did and then had the nerve to tell me, "It's statistics, we only offer probability and statistics. They are two completely different things..."

Since day one in statistics, we had the AP test in mind and what we were going to learn and all that stuff but now we can't even take it.

We thought about taking the AP Calc BC test at another school but we'd fail out AB test for not showing up and thus failing the class....

This might be a poorly structured arguement and I might have a buncha errors but right now I'm too furious too care. Is anyone elses school like this? What should I do?

By Songbird88 (Songbird88) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 04:21 pm: Edit

Wow.
Our school is pretty flexible when it comes to AP's. You can take a AP test even if you our not in the class, just show up with $92. You don't have to take it even if your in the class, but my AP Physics teacher says if we take it, he won't give us a final.

By Magoo112 (Magoo112) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 04:24 pm: Edit

We had to prepare for AP history exam and then prepare for her final which was an older AP exam...

By Celebrian23 (Celebrian23) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 05:54 pm: Edit

we don't offer ap stats, just reg. but most students are prepared enough to take the test anyways, even though no weight is added to your grade

By Imblue (Imblue) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 06:05 pm: Edit

I suggest having your parents go straight to the principal about these problems, because guidance counselors often don't have any authority to override school policies. The school may refuse to allow independent AP exams because they don't want to find anyone to proctor the exam to just one person. If that's the case, you could try to take it at a nearby school, but you could run into attendance issues if your absence is not approved by your high school.

By Fabrizio (Fabrizio) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 06:46 pm: Edit

That appears to be very inflexible.

If you want to take BC Calculus, by all means do so. Do not let some bureaucrat say you can't.

Pay for the test yourself if you feel you have worked hard enough to get the grade you want.

A school does not have the power to say "You can't take an AP test." You want to take a test? Fine. Pay the $82 yourself and take it!

By Magoo112 (Magoo112) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 07:56 pm: Edit

Problem is if I don't show up for the one I'm automatically registered for (calculus AB), I fail the class automatically and have to pay the school for paying a test I never took/wanted to take.

By Tigeruppercut (Tigeruppercut) on Friday, October 01, 2004 - 01:18 am: Edit

dude, move. your school sounds like crap

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Friday, October 01, 2004 - 01:41 pm: Edit

get your parents involved. If you have classmates who are also having problems because of these rules, get their parents involved.

By Magoo112 (Magoo112) on Friday, October 01, 2004 - 04:28 pm: Edit

Tiger: my school IS crap ^_^ (problem is I get influenced by the kids that do nothing and do nothing as well, =P)

By Fabrizio (Fabrizio) on Friday, October 01, 2004 - 09:19 pm: Edit

You gotta do something, man.

Do it the American way - start complaining and never, not even for a second, admit you're wrong.

Just persevere and keep rocking.

By Reasonabledad (Reasonabledad) on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 09:42 am: Edit

Magoo112, you got some good advice here: get your parents involved, and I suggest having them write and deliver a short, signed letter spelling out exactly what they want on your behalf. When we did this tactic (years ago) I was in the habit of sending the letter registered mail, because it causes a raised eyebrow or two.

Get your parents in there fighting. If your high school doesn't budge, then arrange to take the tests they insist on so that you don't fail any courses. Then see if you can take the tests you want to take (perhaps on alternative testing days, which the CB has arranged in many areas of the country). Pay the money yourself and take the extra tests at another high school. Most schools are cool about letting kids from other schools take tests: mine have taken APs at five different high schools over the years.

Remember to fill in your forms exactly the same way at every test: don't put your SS number on some tests and not on others, don't use a nickname on some and not others or you will end of trying to "merge" all of the resulting identities into one record with the CB, which is a pain in the butt.

By Sagar_Indurkhya (Sagar_Indurkhya) on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 10:36 am: Edit

can't u take the "alternate calc bc test?" they have one for people who have two tests or something on the same day.
than u get both! also, explain that you get an AB subscore anyway.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 11:34 am: Edit

good point about the AB subscore. That would be a good reason why the teacher, at least, should be fine with you taking the BC exam. Have you talked to the teacher?

By Magoo112 (Magoo112) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 05:38 am: Edit

My dad thinks I'm a total moron for wanting to take a harder test... They just don't get it. They say what's the point of risking taking a harder test and possibly doing bad instead of taking an easier test and doing well on it. ugh. I guess I'll have to talk to the principle myself...

Texas137, yea the teacher said our school is retarded. He said anywhere else it would be designated AP Calculus AB or BC but since only 33 people out of the 5,400 that go to my school take AP Calc, I doubt I could make a diff, but I'll try.

I love how my dad always tells me to try to make the system better (because I always complain my school sucks) and when I tell him this he tells me:

1. It's too late you're a senior you can't do anything
2. You're stupid, why take a harder test.

By Imblue (Imblue) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 07:43 am: Edit

There's no risk in taking Calc BC over AB, since you get an AB subscore (for the questions on AB material) along with the BC grade. Almost all colleges consider the AB subscore as equivalent to an AB grade when giving placement or credit.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 12:04 pm: Edit

it sounds like your teacher is sympathetic. Why don't you just work hard for this semester. The school won't register for the exams until after Christmas. If you prove to your teacher at the end of the semester that you are on track to do well on the BC exam, he may be willing to go to bat for you with the administration. And if looks like you won't get the extra BC stuff done, you may decide you want the AB test anyway.

Does your dad think you're stupid for wanting to get into the best school you can? That's the reason you want to take the harder test, right? Do you think he is going to restrict your college choice in some way? (like deciding it's "stupid" to take your MIT acceptance when you can go to the local CC for cheap?) If there are going to be broader issues with your dad, you need to find out asap so you can deal with them.

By Magoo112 (Magoo112) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 04:59 pm: Edit

I told my dad places give more credit for BC, and he's like ohhh you never mentioned that (w.e)

Anyways, my dad is PTA president and is on the B.O.E., so he called up the principal and the principal said he never even knew there were two Calculus exams, and that he'll look into it and have an answer by friday.

yay. ty everyone.