<p>I AP'ed out of Gen Bio from my university for two reasons. 1) The gen bio at my school is actually not much better than was at my high school. I confirmed this through one of my friends at my university who is a senior. He went to my high school and was top ranked. 2) It's a weed out class.
When i took it in high school, I got an A and an A+ for both semesters and a 5 on the exam. But come to think of it, I feel like i may have made a mistake APing out of General Biology seeing as i do not remember alot of it. Did you AP out of Gen Bio and did it hurt you for the MCAT's? Or is time better spent taking genetics/biochem/A&P instead?</p>
<p>OP, most MS admins will tell you that they do not want you retaking courses for which you either have credit or advanced placement. They want you to move on and take more challenging upper level courses. </p>
<p>My advice to anyone with AP credit AND who scored a 5 on the exam is to move on, however, if you didn’t score a 5 you might want to retake the course. </p>
<p>I started college with credit for the first year of Bio, Chem, Physics(calc), Music theory, adv. French, and US Govt./World History, plus semester credit in Stat, English. I did not retake any of them.</p>
<p>Some med schools prefer that you dont use your AP credits, so retake general biology so that you dont happen to limit the schools you can apply to later on. But it seems like you already took the credit, so its too late for that. Anyways, it wont hurt you on the mcat. Everything you need to know is pretty much in the review books.</p>
<p>A lot of schools won’t let you use ap credit to fulfill the bio requirement but what that means is that you have to take a year of more advanced bio, not that you aren’t allowed to skip gen bio. If you knew your stuff it will come back quickly, just move on like plu said.</p>
<p>Most med schools will not allow you to use AP credits to fulfill a requirement, you would need to take advanced classes in that same subject.</p>
<p>Some schools will not even allow you to skip a class in your major with AP credits.</p>
<p>DD did skip first year general bio with her AP, it was advised against by her school, but she was not impressed with their advising and it worked quite well for her, she really enjoyed the upper division bio classes she took, got As in them all (not weeders and smaller class sizes at the huge public), and made LOR relationships with the profs. Plus she has found them to have provided some nice base understanding of topics she has hit in medical school</p>
<p>I got an A in AP bio and a 5 on the exam. My high school was arguably the most rigorous in my area.</p>
<p>I used AP credit for freshman bio, took genetics, cell bio, animal physiology, a senior seminar class, research for credit, and developmental bio during sophomore through senior years. (and I’m sure I’m forgetting something)</p>
<p>No trouble on the MCAT, getting interviews, or getting into med school. I wouldn’t worry about it, and would instead choose your upper level bio classes wisely (make sure they include labs!).</p>
<p>Most med schools WILL allow you to use AP credits to fulfill a requirement. It is recommended that you take advanced classes in that same subject. Here is a link to a table that provides up to date info on AP policy. (note: there are still some errors on this table, so do your own research)</p>
<p><a href=“Undergraduate Resources | Rice University”>Undergraduate Resources | Rice University;
<p>The California schools (except Stanford) are a notable exception. :(</p>
<p>wow, that table is awesome!</p>
<p>Sort of skimmed the thread, but I saw that plumazul said that medical schools RECOMMEND taking advanced courses and using the AP scores to get to those advanced courses.</p>
<p>But does it hurt you if you don’t?</p>
<p>And since I am a senior in high school, I was thinking would it be easier to get higher grades in lower levels classes or would the curve in those beginning classes make it really difficult to get high grades?</p>
<p>Remember that a lot of the students in the introductory courses are also retaking AP credit, so the curve competition in those courses may be tougher than you think.</p>
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<p>Absolutely not. It’s (almost) all about A’s, as many as you can amass. An A in Bio 100 beats a B in Bio 200 every time.</p>
<p>Is it possible to use AP credit and take intro class as well and get credit for both on your transcript? I thought you can get credit for only one and not both - may be I got wrong information.</p>
<p>@yesdee, in order to get credit for an AP class, it must appear on your college transcript as a replacement for a specific class offered at that university. Since the course name and number will appear on your transcript, if you retake that course the AP credit will be cancelled, however, if you take a different class there is no problem.</p>
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<p>This is very true. Remember that most students who took AP courses did NOT score 5’s on the exams. They will be in those intro courses with you and they will be better prepared than those who did not have the AP class.</p>
<p>So would you say that the higher up classes after the intro classes have better grading curves than introductory classes since they will probably have smaller classes?</p>
<p>And am I right in assuming that in college that if I work hard I will NOT automatically get A’s? So to get those A’s, I will be compared to other students and I will have to be able to do better than other students?</p>
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<p>In general, yes, but it depends on the college and the professors.</p>
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<p>Absolutely correct, regardless of the grading scheme.</p>
<p>Thanks plumazul… that’s what I understood.</p>