The 2019-2020 school year has kicked into full swing and many high school students across Loudoun County have noticed a key date change: the deadline to register for AP exams will be November 1st,  as compared to being late February/early March in the years prior. 

CollegeBoard, the company that administers the AP exams and SATs, defends this move. The spokeswoman for Collegeboard supported this change, saying  students are “more engaged and less likely to give up when faced with challenges,” said the spokeswoman for CollegeBoard. However, this move sparked opposition from students and teachers alike. 

“It’s annoying. They just want us to commit earlier. They should let us go through the class to be able to judge if taking the exam is worth it,” says Briar Woods High School senior Charmi Yeddu. 

For example, AP Calculus BC initially starts easy, as students spend the first few weeks reviewing content from AP Calculus AB. However, the course gets progressively harder later in the year as students learn BC content. Thus, students struggle in determining whether the exam is beneficial to take. 

Furthermore, some AP classes involve two exams, such as in government and economics. AP US Government and Politics is taught for one semester, while AP Comparative Government and Politics is taught in the second semester. 

If the deadline is this early, students won’t have a good idea of whether they should take one or more exams, because come November, not one full semester would have finished. 

The exams themselves are very expensive. For domestic American students, the cost is 94 dollars and 124 dollars for students who take the exams outside of the US. 

Furthermore, CollegeBoard is now charging a 40 dollars late fee for students who miss the deadline and a 40 dollar cancellation fee for students who sign up, but later decide they do not want to take it. 

If a student takes four AP classes in one year, they would have to pay 376 dollars. Even though Collegeboard offers a fee reduction of 32 dollars per exam, the prime concern of exorbitant exam fees lingers for many students and parents. 

At the end of the day, this move represents another way for CollegeBoard to make more money, in the eyes of many students. Already CollegeBoard charges a late test registration fee, fee to send test scores to colleges, and charges extra money if students want to take the SAT with the essay. 

This move just adds on to the pile.