<p>AP econ is a waste of time taking again. Math 104 is not a free grade; 1/3 the class had AP calc before and 30% of the class get A’s. We can safely assume there are people who see it for the first time and get A’s. Just go for 114.</p>
<p>so I can’t expect Econ or Math to be easy As? Since it would be two years since I took single-variable calc, do you think taking Math 104 would be a good idea for foundation for Math 114 and beyond?</p>
<p>What about Stat 111? I’m considering taking AP Stats self-study this May, is it worth it?</p>
<p>Just for kicks: should I take my Physics C & English Lit credit?</p>
<p>I apologize for all the questions, thank you!</p>
<p>if you get the AP credit, use it imo. Why pay like $5k to take a course you already know well?</p>
<p>You may receive a more rigorous foundation enrolling in introductory courses than you attained through AP in high school, but GPA is a major factor considering the difficulty of the curves.</p>
<p>Intro courses definitely give you a more solid foundation than AP courses, but as i has been said, they can potentially put a dent in your GPA. As far as math and science classes go, getting a 5 on the AP exam does not at all mean you’ll breeze through the class. Remember, 1) Lots of people probably got 5s also, 2) Everyone is smart (this is Penn), and 3) Only a minority of the people in the class can get an A. Everyone is trying for that A, and most won’t get it.</p>
<p>That said, if it’s been 2 years since you took Calc, you might want to try Math104. It starts with integrals and assumes you and proficient in all-things derivatives (which is covered in Math103). People who get 5s on Calc BC generally go straight to 114. There is definitely material at the end of 104 that is not covered by a Calc AB class–that said, it wasn’t even necessary to know for 114. </p>
<p>If you get a 5 in AP Micro, go ahead and skip Econ001. No point in taking it again. </p>
<p>5s in Physics C will not place you out of any class; they will give you general credits, though.</p>
<p>5s in English Lang or Lit will not place you out of any class either. They give you an “English Freshman Free” credit, which I still have not figured out the benefit of. Again, it gives you a general credit, but doesn’t service any purpose. Also, if you get 5s on both, only one can count, so you can’t get 2 general credits.</p>
<p>A 5 on Stats will place you out of Stat111, so go for it if you want–if Stat111 is a requirement for a major you are considering, it’s probably worth it.</p>
<p>4.0 at Penn? I’m sure they exist, but I don’t personally know any of them. </p>
<p>Why is it so difficult? </p>
<p>As people said, if you’re in Wharton, nearly every class is curved, with the standard distribution being approximately 30% A 40% B 30% C or lower.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that 30% A includes both As and A-, and it can be lower depending on your teacher, my accounting professor had a hard cutoff at 20% A total.</p>
<p>Beating the curve is hard enough, but beating it consistently means you have to be on your game for every test, one mess up is enough to kill your grade, especially in many classes where the distribution is relatively close.</p>
<p>As an example, I had a five question final where the mean was a 90, I missed one question, and I was a standard below the mean and ended up with a B-.</p>
<p>For the college, science, math and certainly engineering classes are brutal, especially the classes that are uncurved (those are the ones no one gets an A in)</p>
<p>That being said, keeping a gpa in the 3.5-3.7 range is doable, most people are really only impressed if your gpa is above a 3.8, I know maybe less than 5 people who have that.</p>
<p>I don’t get it…why would you want to get a 4.0? Who cares about the difference between a 4.0 and a 3.7 anyways? Employers? I doubt it highly. Might as well enjoy your time some.</p>
<p>^ How much time do people with high GPAs typically invest in studying? (For instance people with 3.70+ GPAs)</p>
<p>From what I can tell in Wharton, a lot of it is about natural talent… and of course, how many classes you take, how many extracurriculars you participate in, how strong your time-management skills are, etc. The kids I know here with the highest GPAs seem to work less than I do. But, they’re also not in many clubs or take 4 classes a semester. At the end of the day, I would say that the most you can do here is work to the best of your ability and see where your grades end up; the rest is out of your hands.</p>
<p>I think the ones that do the best are the ones with the best time management skills. You typically do better in a class if you genuinely keep up and make you “mark to market” your understanding of a course as you go along, as opposed to procrastinating and trying to cram too much into a short timeframe such that you miss something. Making sure you attend all your classes is also necessary, as some questions on tests derive from lecture-only material (i.e. you won’t get the answer from the textbook/online notes/etc).</p>
<p>Aiming for a 4.0 is a bit silly, though. A 3.7+ will get your foot in the door anywhere. The kids I know with fairly high GPA’s are both naturally intelligent and good with their time management. The ones who NEED to study all the time CAN wind up with a good GPA, but usually not in the 3.85+ threshold.</p>
<p>@ the person thinking of not waiving math 104:</p>
<p>FOR THE LOVE OF @#)$(#@)%(!@#!@# DONT DO IT! They have these horrible things called supplementary questions that our TAs (who are grad students) couldn’t solve within half an hour. Granted, you get these questions beforehand and they appear as is on the midterms/finals. Catch is, each question takes forever and by the final you have a few dozen of them. Do you really want to spend 2 full days without sleep grinding on these questions before the final? Seriously, just waive the course if you can. I had the same mindset and it screwed me. It’s actually a time sink unlike the other math courses which you can breeze through by self-studying.</p>
<p>As for GPA, I’ve noticed that it also depends alot on intended major/concentration. Typically more obscure majors will get higher gpas since they won’t curve as much (my rather specialized history course had no curve). STAY AWAY from the intro courses. They’re labelled ‘intro’ but are actually much harder. Took intro to IR this semester and it ended up that 2/3 of the class were upperclassmen, plus it was curved. Managed to pull an A- but only because I spent insane amounts of time on the readings (I liked them, but I guess most would not). The smaller the class is, generally the easier it is.</p>
<p>disgradius, I’d simply say that what you describe is not a typical Math 104 class. Most problems given don’t take long at all on the finals (assuming you know what to do, but I never had to use more than a page for a given problem and I write fairly large). </p>
<p>Intro classes tend to be pretty brutal only because there are so many people. The material isn’t as hard as what you’ll be doing later, but any silly mistakes will cost you.</p>