I went to the Berkeley information session a couple days ago, and they said that it is better to take the introductory courses at Berkeley even though a person may have scored highly on the AP exam. Is that true for all colleges and should this advice be taken?
<p>well its better in that u take it again for easy A and provides u solid background on topics u may not have covered indepth or thoroughly in hs before jumping to sophmore classes.</p>
<p>then again if u do exercise AP credit, u'd be tossed into sophmore standing classes and might have a hard time keeping up.</p>
<p>thats what i've been hearing.</p>
<p>Not true for all colleges, and I have a hard time seeing why they would grant credit for it, and then tell you to take the classes anyway. Of course, it's /Berkeley/, so they must know what they're doing, right? :p </p>
<p>UCSC doesn't require or recommend it because they have structured their classes to reach all the way down in preparation ranks. For example, one must take Biology 3 in order to take Bio 20A (in addition to the Chem series, but let's not get into that right now), though only Bio 20A is a part of the major. There are two ways to get out of Bio 3 and prove you're ready for Bio 20A: by placement exam or AP score. In that sense, it would be absolutely pointless to take Bio 3 because it is meant for people with a poor foundation in high school biology.</p>
<p>That said, I don't think Berkeley operates under the same terms. For a rule of thumb, I'd say that if there's a way to place out of it by university-sponsored exam (ie, NOT the AP test or any SAT II scores, but the Berkeley-specific placement exam), then I wouldn't worry about taking it. </p>
<p>If the class looks like something that would benefit you in your major, take it! If it looks like it would be 'just one more class,' then skip it. </p>
<p>I think the heart of the message is the usual "forget what you learned, learn to do it our way" shtick and it is better, when in Rome, to do as the Romans do. Cliches aside, it's probably entirely subjective.</p>