<p>I've heard several people say that skipping foundation classes is a bad idea when it is the field you intend to pursue. I've gotten 5s in multiple AP exams, and I want to major in economics if I were admitted. That being said, I would probably need to be very strong in Calculus and Statistics. This year, I'm taking AP Calc BC and AP Stats. If I receive a 5 on both of them, at Princeton, would it be a good idea or ill-advised to "AP out" of the foundation classes. I've also gotten 5s in APUSH, AP Chem, AP Eng Lang, and AP US Gov. Which of these classes would it be best to use AP credit for?</p>
<p>You should AP out of English and Social Studies classes for sure - those are just reading and memorization so those subjects should not be a problem. As for Science, that is all up to you. My cousins at UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UC San Diego suggested to me that I should not AP out of any science except Biology (which is just memorization). As you may or may not have heard, college level Chemistry (Organic especially) and Physics is quite difficult and some who AP out of Chemistry especially tend to have lower GPAs. This all depends on you, though, if you are exceptionally above average in those Sciences. As for Math, you should be fine too APing out of it into Calculus II since AB+BC = Calculus I. Statistics should also definitely be AP’d out of. It’s a pretty straightforward subject.</p>
<p>You can’t AP out of any classes right? Princeton doesn’t let you skip any classes.</p>
<p>^ No they do. If you check the prereqs for some classes they’ll require you to have an intro college class OR an AP class. However, none of the classes you opt out on will count towards your credit. So if you have already taken AP Basket-weaving then you can take Basket-weaving 101 or opt out of it and take Basket-weaving 200. Either way you’ll only receive credit for one of those classes (at that time).</p>
<p>I can provide answers for a couple of those.</p>
<p>Calc BC: Go ahead and skip straight to 201/203, you should be fine. (I recommend 201 though, I took 203 and it was a nightmare!)</p>
<p>Stats: I haven’t taken any stats classes here, but I took AP Stats in high school and remember it being pretty useless, so you probably wouldn’t want to skip this one if it’s a prerequisite for a later course.</p>
<p>Chem: I got a 4 on the AP exam so I had to take the intro class. I took 215, also known as “turbo chem,” and it was basically a recap of things I already knew so you could probably skip it. However, if you want to continue on in chemistry it may be worth it to take a semester to solidify your knowledge.</p>
<p>The rest were humanities, which you can probably skip without any difficulties.</p>
<p>For anyone else reading this thread, I would like to quickly affirm what truffliepuff said: skipping intro physics is a very bad idea, especially at Princeton! I got a 5 on the AP Physics C exam, so I took 105 instead of 103. 105 is an intro class like 103 except that it’s much more rigorous and theoretical, and is populated by all the really smart physics students. I found it very hard despite its being an intro course, and passing straight into 205/207 would have been near-suicidal. So tread carefully and don’t be overconfident!</p>