A great way for homeschooling high school students to “prove” their academic prowess in specific subject areas is through writing Advanced Placement examinations
The problem with AP exams for homeschoolers in Ontario has always been that these exams must be written in accredited high schools who have registered to offer AP examinations. The chances of your local Ontario high school offering AP exams aren’t all that great, since the Advanced Placement program isn’t nearly as popular here as it is in the U.S.
And, even if a school near you does hold AP examinations, there’s no guarantee that they will allow outside students to write exams at their school. They are not required to open their testing doors to everyone, and some schools have very reasonable restrictions on external students on exam day.
For example, one of the leading AP schools in the province is an all girls school, and they do not allow outside students to write AP exams with their own students. How fair would it be to have their female students suddenly surrounded with boys on high stakes exam days? How fair would it be to say that only female homeschoolers can join the girls for these exams? You can obviously appreciate that there can be reasonable justifications for what may at first seem like unreasonable, exclusionary policies.
I think for a couple of years now I’ve been casually mentioning on various message boards that there’s “some school just west of Toronto” who has been open and welcoming to having homeschoolers participate in their AP exams. Allow me to now formally share the details:
Dear Sarah,
Thank you for your awareness of Bronte AP program, we are offering a wide range of AP exams (about 27 different exams out of 39 exams offered by College Board) we are proud of being the first school offering AP exams for external students in GTA. Each AP exam will cost $150 and we are also offering AP exam preparation sessions for three months prior to exams schedule (Once a week) a copy of our AP exams tutorials for 2008 is attached. If you have any more inquiries don’t hesitate to contact me
Regards,
Dr. N. Gouda
Head of Student Governance
BRONTE COLLEGE OF CANADA
88 Bronte College court Mississauga Ontario L5B 1M9
Tel. 905 270-7788 ext.2042 Fax. 905 270-7828
ngouda@brontecollege.ca
http://www.brontecollege.ca
Dr. Gouda has been personally recommended to me both by the head of the Ontario Council of AP Schools in Ontario and by a homeschooling mom whose daughter took a few AP exams at Bronte College and was very impressed with the whole examination environment and proctoring at Bronte.
Unlike the SAT and ACT tests, AP examinations are held only once per year. Also unlike the SAT/ACT, AP examinations cover first year university level, subject-specific material. In other words, you don’t have the luxury of writing it over a few times a year until you get the score you like (although, you may write again the following year – there is no restriction on rewriting) and the material is much more challenging. Both of these elements combined can make for a pretty stressful exam day! Knowing that you’re in good, competent hands and that every effort will be made to provide optimal test-taking conditions is worth its weight in gold. . . or at the very least, $150! 😉
Like the SAT/ACT, however, the exam can be written “cold.” You are not required to take any AP “classes” before writing the exam. The review classes offered by Bronte College are available to but not required of homeschoolers. Just as with any standardized test, familiarity with the test format and types of questions generally asked is just as important than the content covered by the test itself. So, I don’t actually recommend writing the test with no prep, but preparation can be as simple as a $20 AP exam prep book from Chapters or Amazon (or free from the library).
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Gouda for being a model of accessibility. For many students, AP exams are a fantastic alternative to Ontario high school credit courses. It’s great that Bronte College is promoting this option to a group of students who can really benefit from it.
If Mississauga is a bit too far for you to travel for an exam, you can visit www.ap.ca to find a list of AP schools in Canada.
If you need reminding why the AP program is a path to university that you definitely want to check out, have a look at the university-by-university AP credit policies and how many university credits can be earned for success on an AP exam.