<p>Can a current student help? The website says
"3. Students scoring a 5 on both the advanced placement (AP) microeconomics and macroeconomics tests or a score of 7 on International Baccalaureate (IB) economics test may petition the Director of Undergraduate Studies to have the ECON 1A (but not 1B) course requirement waived. Students do not receive units credit for placing out of ECON 1A."</p>
<p>Why do we have to "petition"? Is it not automatically allowed? And can anyone give a bit of advice on whether ECON 1A is worth taking? </p>
<p>For ECON 1B, which books are required and where can I read comments on the profs? Is there a particular website ect. that can answer such questions?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot in advance! </p>
<p>PS This is my first post, kinda nervous haha. I've been lurking for a long long time :P</p>
<p>Woah I didn’t know that. Might be new. I think a reason you may have to petition instead of it being allowed is they don’t want students to think that they get credit for the class. In the case of a lot of the other AP tests, students get credit for placing out of the class. </p>
<p>My guess would be that if you get 5s on the tests, Econ1A wouldn’t be worth taking unless you want a GPA booster, easy credits for an econ major, or a review of basic economics. I hear it’s like AP Econ all over again, with a bit of added nuance. </p>
<p>From Stanford Courserank reviews for the class:</p>
<p>“You’ll have no trouble if you’ve taken AP Econ micro.”
“I took AP Econ ahead of taking it, and made the course pretty easy (and worthless), but there are a couple of tricky things added in that isn’t covered by the AP exam.”
“If you’ve taken AP Econ (macro or micro), it should be a breeze.”
“For those who have taken AP Econ, don’t think that this class has nothing to offer you. I got a much more in-depth understanding of the relation between curve shifts than I had from AP Econ.”</p>
<p>I wonder if a 4 would suffice, since 4’s count for every other subject Stanford allows? I don’t see the need to do an intro class for macro and micro again, just like you’ve stated. I’m fine with not getting credit!</p>
<p>The Econ Dept. has constantly revised its Intro Econ courses over the years. Back when I took Econ, there was only one Econ 1 micro/macro mixed course that could be skipped with two 5s on the AP. They changed the requirement and AP credit by my junior year. </p>
<p>Econ 1A is harder than AP Econ, which is part of why the petition is required (people who score 5s on AP Econ don’t necessary get As in Econ 1A) and arguably provides a better transition to calc-based Econ 50 than AP Econ does. Are you a hardcore prospective econ major? If so, I’d petition; if not, I’d go with Econ 1A.</p>
<p>May I ask why a hardcore prospective econ major should petition in your opinion? Wouldn’t it be more necessary for a prospective Econ major to have a firm fundamental understanding of the basics?
Oh and will skipping allow/require me to choose one more higher-level course?</p>
<p>Depends on how well-versed in econ you are - presumably the more hardcore you are about econ, the more prep you’ve had before college. You’ll have a chance to determine whether you need to brush up on fundamentals during the course shopping period - if the first few lectures of Econ 50 make you feel uncomfortable, then that’s a pretty good sign you should start with Econ1A/1B (or brush up on Calculus).</p>
<p>Since Econ 1A and 1B occur over the span of two quarters, some higher level courses that list the Econ 50 series as a prerequisite won’t be accessible to you until after freshman year. Some of these courses are very interesting and realistically don’t require an Econ 50 skillset to complete. You might miss out on some cool profs or courses that are only available during certain years.</p>
<p>Will skipping allow you to choose one more higher-level course?
Technically, with respect to time made available, yes, since it frees up 10 units.</p>
<p>Will skipping require you to choose one more higher-level course? Maybe, but typically no, since students overshoot the minimum number of units required for their major anyways.</p>
<p>Realistic Protip: Better safe than sorry. Unless you are supremely confident in your econ skills, wrote your college app essays about econ-related topics, and/or want to shoot for the top in the dept., I’d go with Econ 1A for the GPA security.</p>
I guess that’s what happens when you take eco as a sophomore.</p>