<p>Hi all,
I'm currently a HS senior, planning to matriculate at Yale College next Fall. I'm trying to find out more about Yale's policies with regard to the use of AP tests for credit or placement purposes. I'd appreciate some insight from current students, parents, or anyone else who is more informed on the subject than I am.</p>
<p>Basically, I want to know whether there is any reason for me to take the AP tests for the classes I'm currently enrolled in this May. As far as I know, Yale doesn't accept AP tests for actual credit, but I've been told that they do allow students to place out of introductory level courses with AP credit. However, I've found no useful information about this policy on Yale's website. I did find this</a> table, but it is concerned only with accelerated credit. By my understanding, accelerated credit is useful only if one hopes to graduate in less than four years, and since I'm not interested in doing so, the table isn't very helpful. </p>
<p>So, I've already received 5s on APUSH and German. This year, I'll be able to take Macro/Micro, Calc BC, Spanish, U.S. Gov't, Lit, and Bio. Which, if any, of these AP tests ought I to take? Based on the accelerated credit table, it seems that there may be nothing at all to gain from taking the econ or gov't tests, but again, I'm not sure I understand the table correctly. I'm sure I can place in higher level language classes from 5s on German/Spanish, but again, I'm not sure what the standard procedure for doing so would be.</p>
<p>For languages, placement is based either on the AP test or on Yale’s own placement test. Getting a 5 on the AP will (if I remember correctly) place you out of all but one semester of language requirement. So if you think you might want to take Spanish, it might be worthwhile taking that AP.</p>
<p>If you’re not interesting in accelerating, then I’m not sure any of the others will help you, although you can check individual departments to see if any of them might help with placement. Math, possibly. I’m almost certain US Gov’t and Lit will do nothing for you.</p>
<p>The value of taking AP courses (to a much less extent, taking AP tests) for students going to a school like Yale is: A very high percentage of students in any classes (esp. in the science area) might have taken these AP classes. You do not want to start the college by feeling you are “behind”.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, the advisor from your department may encorage the students to take a class that is as advanced as they are capable of taking. It is often the case that the students hold themselves back, unless they are planning to pursue BS/MS in four years. For exampe, many students who have taken AP Chem may still take the introductory year long chemistry class (CHEM 140?) instead of CHEM 180a, even though the latter is designed for students who have not taken AP Chem (and to recruit these good students to their department :))</p>
<p>I think the OP’s question is whether to take the AP exam. I agree that taking the class may be worthwhile in itself, but there is really no reason to take the exam unless it will get you placement or acceleration. Go see a movie instead.</p>
<p>However, I heard at some high schools, the teachers who teach AP classes are unfortunately (sort of) evaluated by the performance of the students on AP tests. It may put some pressure on the “good” students who decide not to take the AP test. I hope not many high schools are like this.</p>
<p>In my DS’s class, one excellent student really rebeled against one of his teachers in his senior year by not even doing expected work after his EA admision to an elite school, let alone take the AP test. It was a calculated risk he was willing to take. The teacher gave him an B in the end and he really did not care. Many students actually stop learning anything in the spring of their senior year (cutting classes to go to the mall, etc.) Basically, the relation between the student and his/her AP teacher may be at stake here.</p>
<p>I believe DS stopped taking one AP test in senior year, following our suggestion (We really do not mind if he stopped taking all of his AP tests.) But he still took the remaining API tests which he would still want to study regularly till the end. I also believe if he did not take some of the AP tests, his AP teachers might not be very pleased.</p>
<p>Somewhat tangent to the discussion here: in the EC area where the student has a private teacher, choosing not to compete more likely gets on the nerve of the private teacher. It is almost like an unwritten constract between the student and the teacher that s/he needs to compete for the student as well as for the teacher, unless the student is not the “good” student from this teacher (then the teacher really does not care.)</p>
<p>Placement is on a dept-by-dept basis. The only one that is worth taking is Spanish because a 5 could place you into L5, which permits you to fulfill the language requirement with one semester of L5 Spanish or two semesters of introductory X.</p>
<p>Unless you’re incredibly smart, taking intro courses is usually the way to go. And, not to insult you, since you’re just taking the APs offered by your high school, you’re probably not one of those people. I was not one of those people as well. Examples are those who are taking and setting curves at their local universities in: ochem or above, linear algebra or above, intermediate econ or above, etc.</p>
<p>Depending on your major they may help you place out pf courses as others have mentioned. A 5 on AP Bio allows you to skip the first two Bio courses (120 and 122) which are requirements for the major. This allows you to take more classes that might interest you whether they be Bio courses or any other. See excerpt below:</p>
<p>A number of these prerequisites can be met with acceleration credits. Students who have scored 710 or higher on the SAT subject matter Biology M test (formerly SAT II), or who have scored 5 on the Advanced Placement test in biology, may be exempt from taking MCDB 120a and its associated laboratory. Students scoring 5 on the Advanced Placement biology test may also be exempt from E&EB 122b and its associated laboratory ,but beginning with the class of 2010, students will no longer be permitted to place out of E&EB 122b and 123Lb using the SAT subject matter test M or E. Students with equivalent scores on one of the corresponding chemistry tests may also be exempt from taking MCDB 120a, but should first discuss their preparation in biology with the director of undergraduate studies in MCDB.</p>
<p>Intro lanuage classes tend to meet very early in the morning on many days. If you are not an early riser (many college students are not), you would likely appreciate you do not need to get up early on many days each week.</p>
<p>In some of DS’s classes, there are some students who retake ochem in her freshman year because she has completed many of these college-level freshman or even sophomore science classes at a local university (her father teaches there.) In the area of math, there are even more students who are well above the AP Calculus BC level. This is the reason why I think taking AP classes (hopefully with many peer students who head to some top schools also so that the teacher may set a higher standard in his/her teaching) tend to be the minimum preparation for the college-level freshman classes at a school like Yale.</p>
<p>
The first two bio may not be easy and/or enjoying. I once heard from DS that in one midterm (not his year though), the class average of mcdb 120 is like 46 or 48 out of 100. 122 requires an end-of-semester paper so it is considered by the school as a “writing skill” class also. (The field trip is relaxing and fun.) Some like this kind of research/paper efforts (more like a college-level, non-premed class); some do not.</p>
<p>If you did not take a language all the way through AP in high school, but through level 4 or 5, what is your likely outcome on the placement test? For a good student who got A’s through, say, Span. 5; is it possible for him to place out of Spanish entirely, or will he be likely to have to take a course or two?</p>
I would say it’s unlikely to be able to test out with that background. My son took three years of Spanish and only placed in the intro level but YMMV. Also, you can’t place out of a language entirely, even with a 5 on the AP exam. You have to take at least one class in that language (L5) or you can opt to take a different language through L2.</p>
<p>Let me give one tip on foreign language–if you’re a really good test-taker, the placement test might direct you to a level of foreign language that is too hard for you. That happened to me (a long time ago, but it can still happen). It would be better to take two or three semesters of language that you can handle vs. one semester that’s miserable. So really look into what the courses involve before you decide what level to take.</p>