Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy AP grade requirements

How are you getting around the "grades 9-12" rule for radically subject accelerated homeschooled students? Do they check that at the testing location?

When you say, 'I had planned to have DS take the AP economics to demonstrate he could do "college level" work... ', did you mean
- take the AP economic class? (It appears this is disallowed prior to 9th grade.)
- take the AP economics exam? (It appears this is allowed prior to 9th grade.)

College Board specifies:

Students can prepare through independent study to take an AP exam. College Board provides course descriptions, lists of resources, old tests, etc, to use for study and test prep.

More links:
- macro
- micro
- exams

Homeschool kids can get a State photo ID, for admission to the test center.

I can't tell exactly how old your DS is, but I'm guessing around 9 or 10. I have heard of kids as young as 6th grade taking AP exams - but I can't think of many reasons why this would be a useful thing to do.

If you've already signed him up for the AP exam, please ignore the next two paragraphs. You say you had planned for him to take AP Econ (Macro or Micro, or both?), but if you haven't signed up for it yet, you're likely too late for this year. April 14th is the final deadline for schools to order exams, but most schools have already ordered the exams. Also, it isn't like the SAT or ACT. If you aren't a student at a HS that gives a particular AP exam (or at least a student in that school district), you need to find a school willing to let your kid take the exam. And schools may be hesitant to let a very young kid sit for the exam. I've heard that homeschoolers of HS age sometimes have trouble finding a school that will let them sit for an exam.

APs are only given once a year, in May. Scores are released in July. So if you've missed the sign up for this year, you'll need to wait a year to take the AP. Also, I don't know how comfortable your son is with writing essays under time pressure, but most AP exams, including Micro and Macro, involve writing several short essays in a short amount of time.

Could he take some lower level econ classes at the local U, even if he knows the material, to show he can do the work? Maybe take a summer class or two, and contingent upon performance in those classes, be permitted to take higher level classes next year?

Also, I'm not sure of the rules regarding FBLA events, but this might be a way for your DS to show what he knows. I know they are intended for grades 9-12, and the middle level FBLA events are different from the HS FBLA, but perhaps a homeschooler could compete as an individual in FBLA - something to check into.

Does anyone know what the College Board's reasoning is about allowing pre-high school kids to take AP exams but not AP classes?

I believe you can also use the College Board's (notarized) student ID form:

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-student-id-form.pdf

We used it for the SATs.

AP classes are up to the schools, who have incentive to keep them as high school classes (affects ranking and state evaluations). AP exams allow anyone access to credit or opportunity provided by AP scores, even if they don't have access to approved courses.

Kai, I think a kid could take an AP class at the HS, and maybe the school just doesn't designate it as "AP" on the transcript. The school can remove the AP designation on the transcript - our district (likely illegally) will remove the AP designation if a kid takes an AP class but doesn't take the AP exam. That's fine if the district pays for the test, but our district does not (and that meant paying $900 for AP exams for middle kid - sorry about the mini-rant).

Not sure of the reasoning, but College Board may assume that if the classes are given at the middle school rather than the HS, the class might not meet the requirements of an AP class. There are requirements to be met to officially designate a class as "AP".

I'm in similar situation here. It's tough! Great Courses, Khan Academy, studying for future AP tests are what my son is doing too. Can you grade skip him without early high school graduation? I have my son registered for homeschool as an "ungraded 9 - 12 grade" student. He's going to be in grades 9 - 12 for a long time, I expect! LOL!

Are there continuing education courses for adults he could take? Can he take a *single* class at the community college? I'm thankful the community college here is much more flexible. I started with their placement testing, and can enroll my son in single courses with instructors who are okay with it. I haven't done it yet, but I expect in the next 1 - 2 years because a math tutor would cost more than taking math class at the community college!!

Good luck! I feel for you!

A page full of free econ courses:
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/economics/

including this OCW Scholar first-year college complete self-paced online course, with video lectures, online text, problem sets, solutions, video recitations, exams, etc.:
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/economics/14-01sc-principles-of-microeconomics-fall-2011/

It does require some calculus to actually do the problems, but I don't see why he couldn't watch the videos and do some of the readings, if he isn't there with the math yet. Or you could just teach him the calculus. There's an OCW Scholar class for that, too...