My son is currently taking AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C (Mechanics) his senior year in high school (most of the kids in these classes are applying to colleges as engineering majors)–and his high school is super competitive. Both of his teachers are telling him if he does well on the AP exam, he should “take the credit and run” and do NOT take it at TAMU. They both said he would be ready for the next math and that both of these classes were weed out classes at TAMU. If he does well, and I suspect he will…(math is a very strong subject for him – he scored a 34 on the ACT math section and a 780 on the SAT math section on his first try for both exams), I would feel comfortable letting him move forward.
QUESTION: Will TAMU allow him to take the credits or will they require him to take them at TAMU because of his major? I think there is a math test TAMU requires at the NSC, so I would think if he does well on that exam as well they would let him move forward?
If you’re concerned about their being accepted toward an engineering major, it would be best to contact someone in the department directly and ask. Most schools where they give credit, but won’t allow use toward certain majors note that on the same web page, but not all do - sometimes it’s buried in the department’s section of the website.
If your son get math quickly and easily (mine does as well), and he can take the credits to satisfy both math 151 and 152, then you could take the credit for both. Don’t take the credit if you can only take it for Cal I. You do not want to go into Cal II with only AP calculus experience. If he takes to math easily, he may do fine in the classes.
Mine did not take the AP test though he took AP BC. He did fine. It was work. By the Q drop date, he literally had lost half his class and the same with 152 the next semester. Both Calculus classes will weed out the kids who are not really good at math. They now give 4 semesters to get into a major, rather than just 3, like before.
Do not claim any other AP credits until you have to have them, like as in Jr or Sr year. There are students who were in engineering, who after 4 semester plus all the AP credits they accepted, gave them over 60 hours. When they could not pass a required course (in the 3 cases I know of it was Math 152) after their 4th semester, they were removed from the engineering program and other majors are difficult to get in or just downright can’t, with more than 60 hours.
My son took the ap credit for 151 and 152, he got a 5 on both ap calc exams. 251 was a lot of work for him but he did well in it. His recommendations on that have been to only take the credit if you feel you know the material really well, but if you do it is definitely the way to go. As far a physics is concerned TAMU engineering has changed the curriculum with regards to their physics classes. I do not think it is still possible to use ap credit to get out of physics but they have developed new classes which are supposed to be better than the 208, 218 sequence they previously used.