Taking AP exams comes at a high cost both in the price of the exam and the stress associated with studying for the test. Depending on your age/grade and where you plan to attend college, taking the test might not be worth the cost to you. See below for a quick guide to help you decide whether to sit for those tough tests at the end of the academic year.

Getting the Student Perspective

Last week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, hosted by Sally Ganga, continued the trend of welcoming a current student to discuss her college selection process. Zainab Bindher, a College Coach alumnus and current student at the University of Michigan, introduced us not only to her application process but also the first year at UM. It was really intriguing to hear her description of her “Living Learning community,” a residential offering that enables her to connect with others with the same values both inside and outside the classroom. Because of her interest in social justice and aspirations for law school, Zainab’s participation in this community has been a huge part of her UM experience. For more stories from Zainab, including favorite courses and future goals, give the show a listen!

Over the last half year, there have been major changes in the world of college admissions testing. The SAT returned to the old 1600-point scale, did away with the mandatory writing section, and made it optional instead. The ACT changed the scoring scale for its own optional writing exam and the resulting scores caused an uproar among test-takers that has yet to die down. As an admissions counselor here at College Coach, I’ve had countless students ask me about the importance of the writing score, and I’ve seen a lot of stress over lower-than-anticipated scores on the writing section of these tests. Below is the advice I’ve been giving over these last few months.

In today’s entry, we continue the conversation between Ian Fisher and Elyse Krantz on the Turning the Tide report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. You can re-read part one on our blog here, and if you’re interested in further conversation, you can explore the archives of our Getting Inradio show to hear more from Ian, Elyse, and Elizabeth Heaton, on the impact of the report.

Ian Fisher: Interesting to see you highlight community service first, because that’s the one that stood out to me. Nearly one year ago, I wrote an article for this blog titled “Colleges Don’t Care About Community Service.” I felt pretty good about that declaration because nothing I had ever seen from college admissions suggested that there was something special about community service within the full suite of extra-curricular activities. At a glance, this seems like a departure from that position.

A recent report published by leading colleges and universities is calling for concrete changes to the college admissions process. Here, two of our expert educational consultants discuss their opinions and ideas about the report.

Ian Fisher: Last month, I wrote an opinion piece for our blog on Turning the Tide, a report compiled by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and endorsed by college admissions professionals nationwide. In the month or so since that report has been released, I’ve seen a mix of skepticism, usually from admissions professionals and school counselors, and optimism, usually from those on the outside of the field looking in. At the heart of this tension is a big question: is this something new? And will it change how colleges approach admissions? I’m interested in getting your (Elyse Krantz’s) take on those two questions, but I’m also interested in continuing the conversation for our readers.

If you’re a high school junior, it’s time to start planning college visits. Whether you’re making a trip across the country to look at schools in better weather, or just taking the long weekend to visit a few schools within driving distance, there’s no better way to get a sense of the college experience than by being on campus.

1. Set a goal

I like to tell my students that the goal of this first round of visits isn’t to determine whether a specific school will make your list or not. Instead, you should be taking notes about the qualities of the schools you visit. What kinds of programs attract your interest? What offerings sound cool to you? How would you describe the vibe that most resonates with what you want out of the college experience? Do you have clear preferences for size or location? In short, if you were to cobble together an ideal college experience from among the campuses you’ve visited, what would it look like? What would you borrow from all the institutions you’ve already seen? What are your drivers and deal-breakers?

Editor’s Note: This is an opinion piece from one of our educators. We will be following up this piece with a more detailed and nuanced breakdown of the report discussed here, Turning the Tide.

On January 20, the Harvard Graduate School of Education released a new report on the state of college admissions that was endorsed by senior admissions staff and deans from schools all over the country, including those from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Brown. Titled Turning the Tide, the report outlines specific challenges to college admissions offices, encouraging them to find ways to relieve the pressure of the college admissions arms race and support better, more conscientious students nationwide. While the core values of the report are clear, well-articulated, and of critical importance, as a former admissions professional and College Coach educator, it’s hard for me to see the ways that this report will create meaningful change for college-bound high school students nationwide.

One of the best things about hosting a weekly radio show is that we have the opportunity to connect with a much broader and more diverse audience than we would otherwise. In last week’s show, we used that opportunity to bring listener questions to the air, providing our advice for how to manage some challenging situations. From finance questions regarding scholarship deadlines and student loans to admissions questions about foreign language requirements and first-generation student status, our experts peppered the airwaves with some really terrific content for families of high school-aged students.

Some of the best news for high school families last fall was the news that we would be renewing our radio show, Getting In: A College Coach Conversation for 2016. Last Thursday was our 48^th show and our first of 2016. And we started the year with the same great admissions and financial aid conversations that made our show popular in 2015. As always, the show is free for download on VoiceAmerica, or you can subscribe through iTunes. Give us a rating when you make the download! You can join us live at 4pm EST every Thursday, or listen at your leisure.

On last week’s show, Beth Heaton and her guests delved into the new Coalition Application, common questions and mistakes on the FAFSA, and extracurricular activities for the burgeoning writer or journalist.

When I was a junior, I learned all about gambling in Honors Pre-Calculus with Mr. Barkdoll. We discussed the expected value of various casino games and the lottery. I learned, pretty quickly, that I should never ever buy a lottery ticket, even if the jackpot got as high as the Powerball did last night: $1.5 billion. Those two bucks would be better spent on a cup of coffee. What I didn’t learn, however, was the way admissions data and statistics should be used to develop my college list.

I’m embarrassed to say that in my senior year, I assumed that if a school had a 10 percent admit rate, I could apply to ten similarly selective schools and get into one of them. Those of you with even a passing familiarity with statistics know that it doesn’t work this way; I didn’t. And I didn’t get into most of the schools to which I had applied.