<p>How well do 5s on AP tests prepare you for Michigan classes? I'm mostly interested in AP sciences. I got a 5 in AP Physics, and I'm not sure whether or not to take the credit, since supposedly the curve was around 50% correct for a 5 this year...</p>
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<p>As with all top college, AP scores prepares you well but not totally. Depending on what the curriculum of the course. AP tests will NEVER prepare you fully for a course. There is always going to be things that you will learn in college that you have not learned in AP class. So really it depends on you. Do you feel comfortable with taking the credit and chance at going higher level class although you might not know some topics (there aren’t many but there are always some)? Or do you want to be assured that you know everything that might be required at higher level classes for physic at UM? It’s your personal choice. Although a AP credit won’t hurt your grade significantly at all, that is as long as you work hard and not slack off.</p>
<p>i have a similar question…
i took calculus ab junior yr and self studied bc senior yr, though i got 5’s on both. i don’t really know if im really prepared for calc 3… is it fairly normal for engineering majors to start off with calc 3?</p>
<p>If you don’t feel like your ready to go on to the next level, simply take that course again. The class will probably be easy for you and will be a great review/grade booster/bridge to college… etc. As for Ren’s question on calc 3, I feel that a lot of freshman engineers who do start off with calc 3 have difficulty with the class because they are thrown into difficult material. However, if you feel you have a strong grasp of calc 2, it should be fine, but i don’t advise going into calc 3 if you self studied for the ap test.</p>
<p>As stated above, honestly, NO APs can sufficiently prepare you for the college class at a very high level, such as the classes at the University of Michigan. Although you can take credit for the class and move on to the higher levels, it will be harder to manage a good grade, as well, you will be behind the other students who have taken the lower level class that you decided to credit out of.</p>
<p>I would take the credit, no question. If you need the course as an engineering pre-req for example, there is no reason to take it again if you could just take the credit.</p>
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<p>Yeah, if you are willing spend more hours trying to learn something that would have been covered in UM class but wasn’t taught in AP. And then along with learning a topic that wasn’t taught to you, spending even more hours trying to understand what the teacher is talking about. Also if you are willing to take the chance of sacrificing your GPA (if you learn that the class is very hard), then go ahead. Honestly, the credit doesn’t matter, it’s how well you do.
Lets think about it. Say you were applying to med school and you and another application are fighting for the last spot. You took the AP credit and got to a class that is one class higher than the other application but you had 3 B’s in the subject (say out of your 5 Bio classes) but the other applicant didn’t take the AP credit and managed to get 1 B out of 5 Bio classes. Who would you take (given that the other classes had similar grade and the ECs are relatively the same)? I don’t think it is worth it trying to studying a topic that would have been taught to you in the UM class you placed out of with your AP. I won’t want to sacrifice knowledge that would be needed for the higher level classes and the chance of maintaining a good GPA just to get 3-4 credits. To me it’s not worth it.
Again it is up to you, if you truly think you are prepared for higher level classes, then go ahead. Just know what you have to face. Of course it does look a lot better if you get to really high level classes (grad school level) and did well in all of them. But if you don’t think you are prepared, then I wouldn’t take the AP class.</p>
<p>Ren, you could take Calc 2 Honors. That could prepare you better but wouldn’t be a waste of your time since you’d be learning a different way to think about the problems, as it’s supposed to be about figuring out how to use math given a situation, not just doing the math.</p>
<p>hm,i’ll have to think about this…</p>
<p>thanks for the advice guys. =]</p>
<p>Hmm, I’m not sure about the sciences, but about math, which probably concerns you too, I feel if you got the AP credit for math you should take it if you have a solid grasp of it, because the new material builds off of the material you learned previously.</p>