McHenry High School AP students will take a new electronic AP test with an increased price in spring 2025.
This school year, an online or online hybrid AP test will be primarily used, as well as a price increase for all AP tests of 11$ which changes the price from $92 to $103 per test.
In Illinois, students must score a 3 or higher on the AP test to get any college credit for that class. Money will not be refunded if you don’t meet that requirement.
The switch to an online/hybrid AP test format this year brings overall curriculum differences as MCHS attempts to use the available resources to make it as accessible for students when taking the test as possible.
Teachers such as Kathryn Larson, social science instructor at MCHS, wonder how this format will change student responses when taking the test.
“Given the changes, it’s going to be interesting,” says Larson. “This is the first year that we’re going digital, so I’m interested to see if that’s going to affect the time constraints that students previously felt, … now that you can type, a lot of students could be faster.¨
Some teachers, such as Larson, are concerned with students’ ability to pay for the test as the college credit is not guaranteed.
“One of the things that holds students back from taking AP classes is not being able to afford the test,” says Larson. “It may make students not want to take the test because if they get a low score then all that money will be wasted.”
However, Derek Poci, AP Chemistry teacher is thinking of the bigger picture as getting college credit through an AP test could save more money on college tuition.
“$103 is a piece of the thousands of dollars worth of college,” says Poci. “It’s worth it, but here we are trying to make college and education accessible to others, and raising the prices does the opposite.”
Curtis Menke, College and Career counselor at MCHS, explains some more options for students regarding college credit.
“40% of McHenry High School students qualify for the National Free and Reduced Lunch Program,” says Menke. “This demonstrates the income struggles and those students should be eligible to apply for a fee reduction from the College Board to hopefully make those more financially accessible.”
“Other options for students other than … AP exams, Dual credit is another fast or another very quickly growing set of courses we offer here,” Menke adds. “I don’t want our students to pay anything more than they have to and I want them to just enjoy whatever the next step is.”