<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I am an incoming freshman in the College of Engineering - and I noticed that you have the option to 'place out of math 1920 (multivariable calculus) - if you pass "the department examination" at orientation. I have taken a high school mvc class and think I have a well enough understanding to "pass the exam" to say the least. However, my question was regarding the process and if it is worth it.</p>
<p>On one hand, I understand that taking math 1920 - would put me in a position to appreciate the class (learn all the proofs I may have glossed over in high school), and put me in a position to garner an easy "A". However, my impression is in college most of the learning is done on your own - doing homework sets and learning on your own pace - so if the need ever does arise I can quickly relearn something. </p>
<p>Anyways I was interested if anyone has taken either the placement exam or the course - placing out w/ the exam prob. doesn't give you credits, but rather lets you bypass that requirement, correct? Also, does anyone have a book suggestion (perhaps the one they use at Cornell or one they know to be excellent) I can maybe order on amazon and learn / re-learn some topics to get a greater understanding over the summer.</p>
<p>If you want to learn the conceptual stuff that were glossed over during highschool, my advice would be to just place out of 1920 and take differential geometry. The engineering version of multivar is really very straightforward so if you have already taken it in highschool, you’re not going to miss out on much by placing out of it here. (disclaimer: I took 1920 with Connelly, don’t ever take anything taught by connelly)</p>
<p>As for the book suggestion, the text used by the course is actually not too dry and extremely good if you like to learn the material on your own, however it’s a brick that’s gonna cost quite a bit. If you’re on campus, you can very easily get it <em>ahem</em>on DC++<em>ahem</em> in the library, otherwise get it somehow through your own means. You can follow along last spring’s syllabus by doing the homework here [Math</a> 1920 Home page](<a href=“http://www.math.cornell.edu/~web1920/]Math”>http://www.math.cornell.edu/~web1920/) . Try out the prelims to see if anything ring bells or not, and if you can do all of those problems with the help of google and wolfram alpha, don’t bother taking 1920 and just try to place out.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the feedback! The link is helpful. I’ll probably try my best to place out in that case then.</p>
<p>just to confirm, if we place out of courses via placement exams (math 1920, cs1110, etc) do we get credit for the course?</p>
<p>Yeah I have the same question as spicedcandy I was under the impression it’d let us just bypass a requirement - but getting credit is always awesome as well.</p>
<p>Another question though - when we sign up for courses in mid July do we still pick Cornell Math 1920 (I already have BC credit from last year) even though we plan to place out with the exam, like prepare for the worst - like not passing the exam. Is it relatively easy to find room / space to add in either Lin. Alg. / DE afterwards if we find out we passed?</p>
<p>This thread is like a gold mine with better suggestion than what I could give you since I never tried placing out. However, a friend of mine who aced every single math class he has taken at Cornell failed his 1920 placement test because he wasn’t prepared, so study up.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/521144-cs-placement-placement-tests-general.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/521144-cs-placement-placement-tests-general.html</a></p>
<p>You do get credit for the course, however it will be counted under the “Units Not for GPA” section like transfer credits.</p>
<p>As of now, there’s still 50 seats left for diff eq and 20 for linear algebra. You can always appeal to get in, which is pretty easy since the classes were always packed full anyways.</p>
<p>Thanks, you’ve been a great help ‘failboat’. I’ll sign up for MVC, and then change to DE / LA depending on how the placement exam goes.</p>