AP Credits and GenEd Requirements

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>I have a few questions regarding AP Credit and UA’s General Education Requirements:</p>

<p>I. From the 2012-2013 catalog: </p>

<p>“To satisfy the breadth of learning so crucial to general education, a maximum of 6 hours in any one department may be applied to the humanities, literature, fine arts, history and social and behavioral sciences requirements.”</p>

<p>I passed the AP Psychology (3 credits SB - PY 101) and Environmental science (4 credits N - GEO 105) courses last year, totaling 7 credits. Can I use these to satisfy the “c. Other fine arts, literature or humanities courses - 6 credits” requirement? I understand that I would not be able to interchange any more credits after that.</p>

<p>II. Also from the catalog:</p>

<p>“Each student must complete a 6-semester-hour sequence in either literature or history.”</p>

<p>I am taking AP Euro and APUSH this year. Would passing either test with a 3 or higher satisfy this requirement? Or would I have to take a 6-semester-hour sequence at the university?</p>

<p>III. From the catalog:</p>

<p>“Each student completes one of the following options: a. Six semester hours in courses approved for the computer designation. Such courses assume a working knowledge of the computer.”</p>

<p>I passed the AP Statistics exam last year, which grants me 3 credits in ST 260 (C). Would this mean I only have to fulfill 3 more hours approved for computer designation? Or do I have to take six hours of courses at the university?</p>

<p>IV. I am taking the AP Calc BC exam this May. Should I score a 3 or higher and place out of Calc 1 and Calc 2, could I enroll in Calc 3 right away during my freshman year? Calc 3 is a requirement for me as a chemistry major, and I would like to just get it out of the way early.</p>

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<p>Also I am majoring in chemistry (pre-med). I also passed the AP Bio exam and will be taking the AP Chem exam this May. Does anyone have any advice on whether I should ditch the introductory courses to take higher-level Bio/Chem courses required for my major? </p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>*Also I am majoring in chemistry (pre-med). I also passed the AP Bio exam and will be taking the AP Chem exam this May. Does anyone have any advice on whether I should ditch the introductory courses to take higher-level Bio/Chem courses required for my major? *</p>

<p>Depends on how you did on AP Bio and how strong your teacher was. What was your score. Definitely use the credit for Bio II since that’s about plants and boring stuff not related to pre-med/MCAT. You may want to take the Bio I again for an easy A. </p>

<p>Right now, you don’t know how you’ll do on the AP Chem exam.</p>

<p>My son (who’ll be going to med school this fall) used his AP Bio and Chem credits but he had excellent teachers at his private school and got 5s on his exams.</p>

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<p>I. From the 2012-2013 catalog: </p>

<p>“To satisfy the breadth of learning so crucial to general education, a maximum of 6 hours in any one department may be applied to the humanities, literature, fine arts, history and social and behavioral sciences requirements.”</p>

<p>I passed the AP Psychology (3 credits SB - PY 101) and Environmental science (4 credits N - GEO 105) courses last year, totaling 7 credits. Can I use these to satisfy the “c. Other fine arts, literature or humanities courses - 6 credits” requirement? I understand that I would not be able to interchange any more credits after that.
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<p>Courses with N and SB designations can’t be used towards requirements that must have L, FA, or HU designations. </p>

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<p>“Each student must complete a 6-semester-hour sequence in either literature or history.”</p>

<p>I am taking AP Euro and APUSH this year. Would passing either test with a 3 or higher satisfy this requirement? Or would I have to take a 6-semester-hour sequence at the university?
<<<<<<<</p>

<p>If you pass AP Euro or AP US and get the 6 credits for 2 classes of either type one (or both), then you’ve satisfied the required 6 credit sequence. </p>

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<p>“Each student completes one of the following options: a. Six semester hours in courses approved for the computer designation. Such courses assume a working knowledge of the computer.”</p>

<p>I passed the AP Statistics exam last year, which grants me 3 credits in ST 260 (C). Would this mean I only have to fulfill 3 more hours approved for computer designation? Or do I have to take six hours of courses at the university?
<<<<<<</p>

<p>You’ve gotten 3 credits with the C designation, so you only need 3 more. </p>

<p>(I could be wrong, but I thought you also had the option of getting 6 hours of FL…which some do with CLEP…are you strong in Spanish, French or German?)</p>

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<p>If you only get a 3, then you’re not likely strong enough to go right to Cal III. IF your AB subscore is a 4 or 5, and you think you know the AB material (Cal I) material well, then skip Cal I and take Cal II. If you score a 5 on BC, and you had a good Cal teacher and you believe that you know the material well, then go to Cal III.</p>

<p>However, since math grades count for BCMP GPA for med school, do NOT move onto a level unless you’re certain to get an A in it. So, if you’re not sure that you’d get an A in Cal III, then start lower. You don’t want to “mess up” and start too high, and then get a B in the class.</p>

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<p>I scored 5 on AP Bio, and will probably get a 5 on chem (790 chem SAT), but I’m primarily worried about schools that specifically require Intro chem and bio, as I don’t want to limit down my range of schools. </p>

<p>As for my Psych/EnvSci credits, I’m not really sure what to do with them now. I was confused by the terminology of “using a max of 6 hours in from any department in humanities.” So i’m guessing that only applies to courses taken on campus?</p>

<p>I was also confused about the meaning of a 6-semester-hour sequence: whether it meant a year long course at the university, or simply 6 credits from exams or on campus. Thanks for clearing that up.</p>

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<p>Also, would you recommend placing out of Freshman Composition? I did pretty well in my Eng Lang class last year, but not so well on the exam (3). I’m taking the Lit exam this year, and confident that I could get at least a 3 this time. I would then only have to take 6 “upper-level W” semester hours, which should satisfy the English requirements for most med schools that require them, right?</p>

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<p>The language you are referring to doesn’t apply just to course taken on campus. The problem is that you are truncating the quoted language. It doesn’t just relate to humanities requirements but to “humanities, literature, fine arts, history and social and behavioral sciences requirements.” You have to take a HU designated course or AP to get HU credit. You have to take a FA course or AP to get FA credit. You have to take a HI course or AP to get HI credit. You have to take a SB course or AP to get SB credit. </p>

<p>Your AP Psychology class gets SB credit, not HU credit because Psychology is an SB subject. Your APES class get N credit, not HU credit, because sciences are an N subject. </p>

<p>The rule you are quoting simply says that for any of the required core distribution categories, you can only get 6 hours of credit from one department. For instance, according to this rule you cannot satisfy the 12 hour HI/SB requirement with only History credits. You need to have at least 6 hours of SB. So if you have 12 hours of AP History, which many people who have taken APUSH and AP World or Euro do, then you will still need to take 6 hours of SB courses on campus or use 6 hours of SB AP or CLEP credit to satisfy the requirement. The 12 hours of history aren’t enough under this rule.</p>

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<p>*I scored 5 on AP Bio, and will probably get a 5 on chem (790 chem SAT), but I’m primarily worried about schools that specifically require Intro chem and bio, as I don’t want to limit down my range of schools. *</p>

<p>??? Which med schools are those? I haven’t seen any. The ones that won’t accept AP credits do allow you to use the “next higher” courses. So, if you use AP Bio I and II, then you can use Cell Bio, Genetics, BioChem, Anatomy and/or something else instead. After all, there are undergrads that require use of APs if they show up on your record (I know, crazy).</p>

<p>Yes!!! Place out of Frosh Comp!!! Yes!!!</p>

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<p>*. </p>

<p>As for my Psych/EnvSci credits, I’m not really sure what to do with them now. I was confused by the terminology of “using a max of 6 hours in from any department in humanities.” So i’m guessing that only applies to courses taken on campus?</p>

<p>I was also confused about the meaning of a 6-semester-hour sequence: whether it meant a year long course at the university, or simply 6 credits from exams or on campus. Thanks for clearing that up.*</p>

<p>No, it doesn’t mean only courses taken on campus. </p>

<p>Some AP credits have TWO designations. Foreign Languages have TWO. They can fulfill FL req’ts or HU requirements. So, if you take CLEP or AP Spanish, French, or German and have extra credits, then those can be HU.</p>

<p>The Core designation is what matters. N is for science - N isn’t Humanities. SB isn’t a HU class either. </p>

<p>Look at the AP credits grid and look to see which AP classes have the HU designation.</p>