AP "unused exam" fee dispute with high school
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Anonymous
Yep. Had this happen to my kid in FCPS, ie school he decided to go to wouldn't give credit for any score on the exams but didn't know this until after he'd accepted which was after the AP exam sign up. I was so pissed. To make matters worse the school was requiring him to take the exams ie he couldn't just no show for the exams. He wasn't about to study for them and didn't want a "bad" score out there. I just called him in sick that day. So OP no solution, just know I feel ya'. |
Anonymous
You made a parenting mistake. Those exams are worthwhile as preparation for college exams. Teach your child to follow through and complete their classes to the best of their ability. If your child would have received a "bad" score on an exam that he prepared for all year, then all the more reason to have him exert extra effort to learn the content (which is the whole point of the class.) |
Anonymous
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OP here with a non-update update. I sent an email to the two school administrators who had requested payment from me, pointing out that the College Board simply wanted a $40 fee from the school for each unused exam, not the full $101 payment I had already made to the school; I sent them the language used by the College Board, where they explicitly say this; and then asked for a REFUND OF THE DIFFERENCE. To wit, $61 for each unused exam. This was Tuesday night. I have not heard a peep from them since. Nothing like asking for money to get them to shut up. |
Anonymous
Not PP you replied to, but get back to us when you have a burnt-out senior on the verge of a breakdown who has already taken 12 AP courses and who knows that any extra exams he takes won't make any sort of difference, since the college does not give extra credit for those scores. As a parent, you have to recognize what the best decision is here, and it's not "following through". No. These kids have worked like crazy for 4 years of high school to get where they are. They have already followed through. They have already demonstrated work ethic. Shame on you for thinking they're flakes. They're probably harder working than you ever were. |
Anonymous
Excellent |
Anonymous
| If your school is anything like our school, you received many warnings about this in the months leading up to exams. It shouldn't have come as any surprise. |
Anonymous
I got 5s on my 12 AP tests. If the work was well done, then he’d be ready for the test. The test doesn’t require extra preparation. I hope at least you and he learned a lesson about over extending himself. Burning out in college would be a lot worse than burning out in high school. |
Anonymous
What is “this”? |
Anonymous
OP here. I did not receive any information, and I pointed this out to them in no uncertain terms. If they want to charge fees, they need to spell that out before their made-up deadline to cancel exams, and before they ask for the money. I don't know what happened this year at this school, but multiple parents I know have reported problems with AP class registration, AP exam registration and all sorts of problems with information not being relayed to the right person at the right time. Some kids nearly missed taking exams they had prepared for all year, because at the last minute the school realized they had forgotten to order an exam for those kids, ***when their parents had paid on time*** (and they had the receipts to prove it). |
Anonymous
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OP here again with a real update! I just received an email stating I would be credited with the partial refund I had requested. So glad I did not just stupidly pay their extra $40 per exam they were insisting I owed, and that some posters on here thought I should pay. I strongly suspect they pull this on every unsuspecting parent to fund their end-of-year party. They sent out a separate email this morning requesting donations for it! Nope, not after this... Full disclosure: this is the lovely and competent administration at Walter Johnson high school. Maybe they think parents are so rich they can just pay $40 extra per exam to make the problem go away. HA!!! |
Anonymous
That'll show 'em. |
Anonymous
Excellent update! But I think it was just a mistake; your school isn’t trying to steal money from you. Far more likely to be incompetence than nefarious intent. |
Anonymous
Once again showing that parents that know the law don't get ripped off. Meanwhile, parents that are ignorant of the law pay illegal fees. Its called taxing the ignorant and MCPS administrators and the Board of Education are proud to have made this their legacy. They will rip off parents at any chance they get. It has been shown that these illegal fees fund administrator and teacher lunches, dinners, travel and gifts. |
Anonymous
You think AP fees are a new thing? This has been going on for years. Principals have to find ways to fund lunches, dinners, trips and gifts for staff. The Board of Education doesn't pay for those things and staff demand them. Principals get the cash any way they can. They add fees to school pictures, yearbooks, classes, admission tickets, create fake "senior dues" and collect all these fees without any public accountability. |
Anonymous
Walter Johnson is "charging" students $71 to attend their public school graduation. When will parents ask where that fee comes from? It's not authorized by the Maryland legislature or the Board of Education. It is a wholly made up fee by the WJHS principal. $71 is way more than the cost of a cap and gown. Another example of how the WJHS principal is skimming cash off of parents by extorting money for things that are actually available to all for free under Maryland's public school laws. There's no charge to attend your own graduation in Maryland public schools. |