Recently, the State of North Carolina decided to pay for all Advanced Placement testing for high school students. The money to pay for the testing came from a federal grant given to North Carolina and 39 other states.

“The US Department of Education announced that it awarded $28.4 million in grants to 40 states,” said Dr. Laura Inscoe, Dean of Students. “The grants will help defray cost of testing for low-income students. The program is intended to encourage students to take AP tests and obtain college credit for high school courses.”

Only students enrolled in the specific AP course this year can take the test for free. The deadline for signing up to take the AP exams was March 11. To obtain college credit for high school courses, one must score a three, four, or five on the exam, depending on the colleges applied to.

“Students will still have to do well on the tests for it to be beneficial for them,” said Inscoe. “I anticipate that more students will test but that is not always a good thing because some students will take the test unprepared.”

Edward Tharrington, an AP math teacher at Wakefield High School for sixteen years, has mixed emotions about the decision.

“I have a child, so I appreciate the money saving,” said Tharrington. “However, from the perspective of someone who is on the College Board and grades AP exams, we do find a lot of blank or doodled on exams and I bet those are students who did not have to pay for the exam.”

Since all of the AP exams are free, registration numbers are expected to rise. However, Tharrington expects averages to decrease, because some students may not take the exam seriously.

“In terms of overall average, it will go down because the students who are going to do well are going to take it whether they have to pay or not,” said Tharrington. “There has always been financial aid as well.”

The decision to make all AP exams free also has many benefits. Students who could not previously afford AP tests will now be able to. Also, students who do not think they will pass will take the exam because they don’t have to risk their money.

“I do think there are students that do not take the exams because they do not think they are prepared, but I believe many students are more prepared than they think,” said Assistant Principal Melissa Thomas. “Students should take this opportunity because if they can pass the exam, it will actually save them money in the long run because they won’t have to pay for those classes in college.”

Many students support the decision in making AP tests free. It will save those students, and their families, a lot of money. Yet, some students now feel pressure to take the tests because they are free, even if they don’t think they will do well.

“They may just be taking the test because their parents want them to or because they are free,” said Drew Begin, AP student. “If the students had to pay for their tests, they would try harder to make the best of the money they spent and would most likely study more.”

Most people are hoping that this decision is successful in helping out high school students in North Carolina. If scores significantly go down and the improvements are negated, it is hard to say that this decision will stay next year.

“I would hope that they would give it more than a year to see if the decision was successful,” said Thomas. “I think it will take time for people to get adjusted to the change and to see that it could benefit students in the long run.”