<p>so i was wondering what the point of passing an AP class is when you will have to retake the course at berkeley anyways. such as AP pshy. i will be majoring in pshy meaning i will have to retake the pshy course, so is there anypoint in passing these AP exams? </p>
<p>in in L&S college</p>
<p>?? - [UCB</a> Psychology Dept: About The Major](<a href=“http://psychology.berkeley.edu/undergrad/about.html]UCB”>http://psychology.berkeley.edu/undergrad/about.html) says that a 4 or 5 on the AP Psychology exam will be counted as equivalent of taking Psychology 1, thus waiving that requirement. </p>
<p>AP units tend to improve your telebears registration appointment compared to those with fewer AP units.</p>
<p>Even if you do take a course for credit and have the AP units replaced, you enter with a higher status for earlier registration times up until that point. </p>
<p>AP courses taken and AP exam results may be the extra factor that tips an admissions decision in your favor. It might be what separated you from a similar but rejected applicant and earned you a space in the incoming class. </p>
<p>AP exam scores count as units toward the minimum needed to earn a degree. It may let you graduate one or more semesters early. Once you satisfy all the requirements for your major, for the college, for Cal and for the UC system, there are remaining units that need to be earned to get to the minimum. For example, an L&S degree requires a total of 120 units. AP units count. </p>
<p>Students who took AP coursework tend to do better in the equivalent Cal course - Chemistry 1 is a good example of this correlation - thus the effort to learn it and to do well on the exam establishes a foundation that will help you earn higher grades. </p>
<p>AP exams can be considered the equivalent of specific courses (e.g. AP Psych is the equivalent of taking and passing Psychology 1) and thus you can immediately enroll in more advanced courses which might have Psych 1 as a pre-requisite.</p>
<p>Finally, while you may enter expecting to major in a particular subject, people change. You may discover a topic that leads you toward a new major. For some majors, it may be capped and you may not be able to declare that particular major. Thus, even if the basic course is not waived due to AP exam credit by your original major department, you may find that when you switch majors, you no longer have to take the actual class, as the new department has no problem with those units or accepting that equivalent class as completed. </p>
<p>And finally, since nobody knows for sure what university they will ultimately attend, at the time you have to make those choices, you take the test because those units ‘could’ be useful. If, in hindsight, it wasn’t necessary, no point worrying about it.</p>