During the 2023-2024 school year, in order to provide free AP exams to students enrolled in AP courses, AP and IB testing will be covered by MCPS schools and the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future plan.
This year, 948 Poolesville students are enrolled in AP classes. All 2,336 registered exams this year will be completely covered, including withdrawal fees. Humanities Junior Sarah Zhang, who is taking six APs, has said she is relieved her exams will come at no cost to her. Although, some students will not have their exams covered.
“AP exams will only financially affect self-study students since MCPS is only paying for the exam if the student is enrolled in the course. Although, self-study students do still have the option of applying for a fee waiver,” said AP Coordinator Adrienne Brooks. Brooks said that the exams being covered this year by the county will reduce the mental stress on students and families.
A step Maryland has taken to influence these trends has been The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2021 to revolutionize public education. According to The Blueprint of Maryland’s Future website, the plan will increase education funding by $3.8 billion each year over the next 10 years, enrich student experiences and accelerate student outcomes, as well as improve the quality of education in Maryland. Free testing is an integral part of this plan, as it falls under the pillar of College and Career Readiness. Free testing hopes to encourage students to take exams in preparation for college, as according to Collegeboard, students who take AP courses and exams have better college outcomes than peers who don’t.
“Right now we have lower graduation rates and our literacy rates, math scores, and attendance rates are actually quite low. So right now there’s an examination of, well what can we do to turn around these trends?” said AP Seminar and AP U.S. History teacher Clayton Traver.
Traver and Brooks say they think free testing will encourage students to take risks when deciding whether or not to take an AP exam, and hopefully push them to select in.
“This will help our students perhaps get college credits and lower the cost of college for them, which means that this is sort of a butterfly effect in how it might help students in Montgomery County,” said Traver.
