Last year, MCPS and the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future paid for students’ AP exams in Montgomery County. Students were glad to have the chance to take the test for free, especially since getting a four or a five could mean free college credit. Teachers also celebrated the fact that their students had one less excuse not to take the exams. This year, MCPS has decided to continue this policy, but with a twist.
Students who do not attend one of their AP exams this year will be required to pay a no-show fee of $40. By simply enrolling in the AP classroom for a course, a student is automatically registered to take the exam. This means that a student cannot participate in certain class activities or practice without agreeing to take the exam. And by now, most students in AP classes have enrolled in their online AP classroom and are registered for the exam. Most students remember when there was an option whether to take an AP exam or not. While most people decided to register, there have always been students who felt more comfortable without the added stress of studying for the test, who did not want to pay for exam review material or who felt no need to take it since they would not use the college credit they could receive by scoring high.
Unfortunately, a choice no longer exists. It’s either you sit for the exam or you pay. And for many students enrolled in multiple AP courses, the cost of not taking the exams would be in the neighborhood of $200. Students have valid reasons not to take exams, but they should not have to weigh those reasons with the cost of skipping an exam to determine if it is worth doing.
There are alternatives to this problem that are not available to students. It makes sense that if the county covers the cost of each student taking an exam then those students should show up, but there are other ways to address the issue of the cost of the exams than forcing students to attend them.
For example, students used to have to register for the exam manually. This was an easy process that could be completed in a few quick steps. MCPS would be able to determine the cost of providing free AP exams to all students through seeing how many students registered for them. This would actually be a cheaper system for the county. It would also allow students to decide for themselves at the beginning of the year about whether they want to take exams or not. People should not have the option of skipping an exam last minute, but making the choice months in advance is completely reasonable. In fact, it is how the process used to work. Students who did not register to take an exam didn’t have to pay at all.
Ultimately, it should be a student’s decision whether or not to take their own AP exams. Right now, the cost imposed on students who decide not to is interfering with their own judgment. Especially for seniors who, if they plan on attending a university, will already know where they are headed next year by the time AP exams are happening, the idea of paying in order to not show up to a test is ridiculous. With simple ways to address the goal of offering free exams to all students, there is no need for this harsh new policy.
