Freshman Course Selection Advice: Should I use an AP credit to skip Econ 101?

Hi everyone. I’ll be attending Duke this fall and plan on majoring in economics. I have a few questions regarding course selection and would appreciate some advice from current or former students.

I took AP Economics as a sophomore in high school and received a 5 on both the macro and microeconomics exams; therefore, I have the option to skip Econ 101 (Economic Principles) and go directly to Econ 201D (Intermediate Microeconomics I).

According to what I’ve read, Econ 101 is a very difficult weeder class. However, I’m worried that if I skip Econ 101, I won’t be adequately prepared for Econ 201D (especially because I took AP Economics so long ago – I’m not sure how much I remember…).

Which class do you recommend I take? Is it possible to jump into Econ 201D, or am I going to be lost without the background information gained from taking Econ 101? Is Econ 201D as difficult as Econ 101?

Ideally, I’d like to move through the core economics courses (Econ 101, Econ201D, etc.) as fast as possible because I’m far more interested in the electives – but if the AP credit would leave me without a stable foundation, I’d rather not use it.

Thanks!