<p>How harshly curved are dmouth freshmen science courses? Examples would be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Is it worth using the AP credits to jump into a higher level science, and possible getting a lower gpa?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>attached is the registrar's link</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Ereg/%5B/url%5D">http://www.dartmouth.edu/~reg/</a></p>
<p>click courses:</p>
<p>click median grade information</p>
<p>then you could see the median grades for courses, term over term</p>
<p>oka i really suck at all this course stuff. Does a low median mean its easier to get an A in class?</p>
<p>a low median means the middle grade in the class was low ... which to me implies that it is pretty hard to get an A ... if the middle grade is an A-, it would appear to be easier to get an A - it's simply one mark above 'average'.</p>
<p>median is the "mid-point" from two sides. So if the class has 11 people, the median grade with be the grade of the 11th highest (and lowest) score on a test. Low median generally means the class is harder.</p>
<p>If you arrange the students in an 11 person class from lowest grade to highest grade, the median would be the grade of the 6th person.</p>
<p>Basically, the median grade is where the 50th percentile is.</p>
<p>Yes, it's worth it to skip classes with AP in science. Get as many 5's as you can in Physics C, Chem, Econ, Stats, Bio, Calculus BC, etc.</p>
<p>sorry i meant 21 people...</p>
<p>how much of information must we be able to recall in order to do well at the next level? </p>
<p>As in if I skip 1st year bio using AP, how much information do I need to remember from the AP course in order to do well at the 2nd year bio course?
Is it minimal or substantial?</p>
<p>i dont remember, but i've head intro classes are the hardest of the lot</p>
<p>well, you can't skip "first yr bio" ... no such class exists. For AP Bio, all you get is an unspecified bio credit .. it doesn't do anything as far as placement. You get to take BIOL 11, like everyone else, as the catch-all intro bio class and prereq for the entire department.</p>
<p>Taking an AP for physics also doesn't really get you anything, Physics C gets you PHYS 3 and 4 credits, but to take anything else in the department you need PHYS 13 and 14 ... you can try to test out of these during orientation, as well as test into the honors intro track (P15 and 16).</p>
<p>As for Chem, you can get CHEM 5 credit and take a test during orientation to either get into CHEM 10 (honors intro chem) or get CHEM 6 credit (the other half of 'intro chem').</p>
<p>There is no reason to waste your AP credits retaking a class. You will be bored, and you will limit the number of awesome classes you CAN take.</p>
<p>What would the unspecfied bio credit do? Does it have any use? </p>
<p>As for physics, since med school requires 2 courses (or is it years?) of physics, why not just retake PHYS 3 and 4 and get a high mark? I'm not that keen on physics anyways. Thoughts? </p>
<p>I took ap chem last year and got a 5. Would it be wise to skip Chem 5? I'm afraid I've forgotten some material. </p>
<p>Final question sorry. How does the honors track benefit in terms of med school admission? Because the way I see it, honors would drop your gpa, and your courseload is far hard. And when you're already "ivy" status, how much could honors make a difference? Thoughts? </p>
<p>Thanks for all the help.</p>
<p>the bio credit really doesn't have much use ... it counts towards your 35 credits needed to graduate ... I'm pretty sure it doesn't count towards a bio major or anything.</p>
<p>Physics - yes, you can retake 3 and 4 ... but why would you? It's not like 13 and 14 are that much harder ... plus, they probably better prepare you for the MCATs. From my friends who took 13 and 14 after taking Physics C in HS or who just had a basic physics background, they didn't think either was very hard ... in fact, they found it pretty easy.</p>
<p>Chem - definitely skip Chem 5 ... there's no reason not to. I hadn't seen chem since my Soph yr of HS, but Chem 6 is still review; don't worry about forgetting material ... some will come back to you, and anyway not too much material carries over. Retaking classes is just wasting tuition money to be honest.</p>
<p>In terms of med school admission, I don't know. However, honors probably wouldn't drop your GPA .. unless you didn't put the work in. I didn't feel I worked especially hard in Phys 15 and 16, but the classes are curved, and everyone works together. It is more work, yes, but you get a better understanding of the material, and really get a sense of where all the theorems and laws come from, instead of taking them as truth with no proof.</p>
<p>Honors should not be taken simply for the sake of taking honors and boosting your chances of med school admission. Time to move out of that stage of your life and start taking hard courses because you are genuinely interested in the material. That's why you're coming to college after all.</p>
<p>I'd definitely get Physics C and Chem credit. Though you only get Phys 3,4 credit with the AP Phys C test, during orientation, there will be a placement test to upgrade your credit to Phys 13, 14 credit. From there, you can go on to Phys. 19, or take the honors track 15 and 16. </p>
<p>Phys 13, 14 credit is really important, as it's required for a lot of science and engineering majors. You'll be glad that you skip out on two courses. If you ever want to double major, these two extra classes will give you more room to schedule courses you need or want to take. </p>
<p>Same with Chem 5. Why waste a credit taking it over?</p>
<p>Does Dartmouth and sort for placement tests for Biology? My AP Bio class goes pretty far beyond the curriculum, and I really don't want to be bored out of my mind in Cell Biology.</p>
<p>Also, what kind of material is covered in the Chem Honors and Physics Honors placement tests?</p>
<p>i took chem 10 (its the honors chem class). that was a mistake. its a very, very fast-paced class. i dont think i belonged in there. i didnt realize what i was doing at the time - im not a chem major, nor am i premed, so basically i had no business in there. the only nice part was that its a small class, good profs, and the curve was somewhat generous. also, chem 10 has 2 fewer labs than does chem 5.</p>
<p>the placement tests are basically just what you did in AP chem/physics (if you took them...) its really not that hard of a test. plus you dont need to do all that extraordinarily well in order to pass it.</p>
<p>I think that bulldogbull brings up a really good point that college is not high school, and doing well in an AP course may not necessarily translate to your having a cake walk in the same course once you get to college especially in the sciences (where AP courses do not remotely cover the depth and breath of a college course). </p>
<p>The great thing about leaving high school and going to college is that you start with a clean slate. However, keep in mind that your college transcript is forever. It is no shame to go into a beginning level class ensuring that you know the work than trying to accelerate to a higher level course and possibly jeopardizing your gpa (especially if you are looking at grad/professional school) in the process.</p>
<p>it's not a race where employers/grad/professional schools care if you completed college early, in fact some professional schools frown upon it with the thought that although you may have graduated early you may not be mature enough for the next level. As rightnotleft mentions, program and take classes that genuinely interest you.</p>