I’m going to be a freshman this fall at UA and I’m majoring in electrical engineering. I was placed in Math 115 because I have a 28 ACT math score and around 10 points below what was needed on the SAT (can’t quite remember). I believe I need to start in Math 125 my first semester because according to the flowchart I will be taking Physics 2nd semester which has to be taken along with Math 126. I took AP Calculus BC this past year and got an A. I haven’t received my AP exam score. I have taken the practice exam for the Math Placement Test and I’ve been scoring in the 90%-94% range. Is that enough to qualify to take Math 125 first semester? I’m scared to take the real test and either mess up or discover that a score in the low 90s is not high enough. Does bama have a special policy for engineering majors? Would they make an exception for me because I scored so close to the qualifying score and have received an A in AP Calculus?
Please respond if you have any information regarding this situation.
Thank you
I believe you can be placed based on your AP score. If you attend Bama Bound before your score comes out in July you can get an override to register either for Cal I or Calc II. I am not sure what score you need for the placement test (I would think a 90% or above would place you in Calculus, but I don’t know for certain). On the Bama Bound site there is a tab where you can send an email and ask a question. Perhaps you could ask about the placement exam score of you are not sure how what your AP exam score will be.
Thank you very much for your quick and helpful reply. I would rather not stress about my schedule until July because it may be too late then. I’m not too confident in my AP score. Also, I don’t want to test out of calculus, I would like to take it again. I will look for the email address. Thanks for telling me about that.
Also, could you clarify what you meant by an override? Could I put down Math 125 even though I was placed in Math 115?
I would just go ahead and take the online Math Placement exam. If you have already taken AP Calc BC and gotten an A, then presumably you’ve already taken and done well on the equivalent of MATH 126 and should not have a problem scoring well enough on the placement test to be placed into Math 125. If you don’t do well on the placement test but get a 3 on the AP test (either on the whole thing or the AB subscore), you’ll place into Calc regardless. (You don’t have to take the credit - you can take MATH 125). I would think that a student who earned an A in the course should be able to get a 3 (essentially a C) for the AB subscore. I think if you ask for placement based on coming close on the SAT/ACT, you’ll be asked to take the placement test anyway.
Thank you, beth’s mom! I took the BC course but the AB test because my class ran out of time to cover it all. I was wondering about the AP credit so thank you for clarifying that.
@amelia1212, an override would be to allow you to register for Calc without first getting your AP score. So if you attend Bama Bound in June you can go ahead and register for Calc 1 before getting your score in July. But as beth’s mom said, you should be fine taking the placement test. And you never have to take credit for any AP course that you don’t want to, even if you send in the AP score. Good luck and Roll Tide!
^ Important point @BlessedMom3 makes about AP credits: you don’t have to take/apply them if you don’t want to.