I was accepted to Brown ED and look forward to attending next fall. I was wondering if anyone has any information about the requirements/rules regarding AP exams. I am currently in AP Stats, Macro, Micro, and Literature and it’s registration time. From what I understand, some of the exams can be used for placement, like econ and stats, but I haven’t seen any info about the advantages of taking the Lit exam. Will the lit exam be used for anything once I am at Brown, or is it just going to unnecessarily raise my stress levels in May? Do I have to take it?
See the link below for details. Brown uses AP tests scores in two ways: for course placement and for fulfilling concentration requirements. The specifics vary by department. My family found this issue very confusing and ultimately, i THINK we’ve decided that the youngin will just take the tests so that she will have the opportunity possibly to use them in the future.
We are finding this confusing as well. We have ultimately concluded that there is little value for my son to take the AP tests since he will likely be taking the entry level college courses anyway. He was happy and relieved not to take anymore AP tests. That said, if for some reason he transfers to a school that does give college credit for APs, taking the test would’ve been useful.
Don’t take lit, stats, micro, or macro. You will get nothing for them at Brown. Save yourself the money and stress studying.
As a word of general advice for AP Exams at Brown, very rarely does it benefit you to take the exams senior year.
One major exception would be AP Calc AB or BC, they’ll get you transcript notation for Brown Calculus I (AB) or I and II (BC), but not Brown credit (they’ll show up as 0.0 credits and won’t count towards your required 30 credits to graduate).
Even exams like AP Chemistry or AP Biology, which place you out of their equivalents at Brown (CHEM 0100 and BIOL 0200 respectively) and into the higher level courses (CHEM 0330 and any mid-level biology class with BIOL 0200 as a prerequisite, respectively), you can take placement tests online in August which are a joke–way easier than the AP and I think you only need 50% on the biology placement exam if they haven’t changed it since I took it. All multiple choice too.
Most other AP exams either get you nothing or allow you to place into a higher level course. But placement into courses at Brown is very relaxed anyway–the professor’s mentality is usually "if you think you’re prepared, then go ahead.
Again, AP or IB exams (or other foreign equivalents) will never never never get you Brown credit, meaning no matter how many 5’s you get on AP exams, you still need to take and pass 30 classes to graduate from Brown. Yes, they might get you placement, but that placement is very easy to obtain in other ways anyway. Some AP exams will give you an “unassigned credit” (a misnomer; they are still 0.0 credits) in the respective Brown department but these are basically useless and most concentration advisors won’t let you use them anyway.