<p>I am looking at the courses I will need to take over the next 4 years to complete my CS degree.</p>
<p>Couple questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In first year spring it says I am required to take a social science elective. Assuming I get a 4 or 5 on my AP microeconomics exam in May, can I use that credit to completely omit taking that social science elective? A 4 or 5 says you can skip ECON 2106.</p></li>
<li><p>As of now, it says I will take CS 1301 next fall and CS 1331 next spring. However, if I score a 4 or 5 on the APCS A exam, I can skip 1301. Will this mean I take 1331 in the fall now or still the spring?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You are not required to take courses in the specific order that they are listed in the Georgia Tech catalog for your major, except of course that you must fulfill all prerequisites for a course before enrolling in it. For example, you are not required to take a social science class next spring specifically.</p>
<p>1 - Yes, if you score a 4 or a 5 on the AP Micro exam, you will only have to take two social science electives instead of three.</p>
<p>2 - If you score a four or five on the AP Computer Science exam, you will be able to take CS 1331 whenever you choose. You will have satisfied the prerequisite for the class through advanced course credit. If CS 1331 is offered next fall (it will be), you will be able to take it immediately, or you can wait until spring (or even later) to take it if you so choose. </p>
<p>I am not extremely familiar with the CS department, but your first year schedule should look something like one of these if you get AP credit for both of the classes that you mentioned.</p>
<p>Fall - I would not recommend taking more than 14 hours your first semester, as adapting to Tech’s academic environment can be difficult.
MATH 1501 - Calculus I
ENGL 1101 - English Composition I
HIST 2111/HIST 2112/POL 1101 - History/Government requirement
CS 1100 - Freshman Leap Seminar
CS 1301 - Intro to Computing
14 hours</p>
<p>Spring
MATH 1502 - Calculus II
ENGL 1102 - English II
LAB XXXX - Lab Science Elective
CS 1331 - Intro to Object Oriented Programming
HPS 1040 - Wellness (if you want more than 14 hours)
14/16 hours</p>
<p>Of course, that’s just an idea of what a good schedule might look like. It’s typically not a good idea to take more than three difficult classes at a time, or maybe even two during your freshman year.</p>
<p>Do you have any other AP credits besides the two potential ones that you mentioned?</p>
<p>I am considering taking GT1000 first semester (only 1 credit hour). Would this be a manageable workload? Also, I’m considering taking CS 1331 spring semester (this would still have me be on track, obviously) to ease the workload, but maybe this isn’t a good idea.</p>
<p>Personally, I think GT 1000 is basically useless. However, if you can use it as free elective credit (not all departments allow you to use 1000 level classes as free electives), I’d say that it wouldn’t be a complete waste to take it.</p>
<p>Basically, calculus I and English I are the only things that you REALLY need to take the first semester. It’s probably a good idea to get both of those sequences out of the way first thing. Especially English, since it’s basically required now that new students (from 2012 onward) have the English sequence completed by your third semester, and there usually are not many ENGL 1102 sections in the summer or fall. I’m not a huge fan of Tech’s English department, and I’ve been putting off taking 1102 for quite a while…</p>
<p>Of course, there really isn’t a whole lot of point worrying about all of this until it gets closer to FASET, but a courseload of MATH 1501, ENGL 1101, HIST 2111/2 (I’d recommend one of these over American Government), and your two seminars, CS 1100 and GT 1000 would be a good way to transition into college. I’ve seen a lot of freshmen who have disastrous first semesters simply because they are trying to do too much, both academically and socially. Taking a light load first semester (which won’t put you behind if you have AP credits) probably is a good idea.</p>
<p>If you have any questions about courses, I might be able to help you out. I don’t know much about CS classes other than 1371, but I do know a good bit about most of the other intro courses at Tech.</p>