<p>I'd suggest you place out of 18.01, and take the 18.02 placement test at the beginning of your freshman year. (This would require you to study a lot during the summer, but I believe it's well worth it!!) The nice thing with this is, if you fail then it doesn't go on your record at all, whereas if you take placement tests any other time during your career @ MIT (yes, you can take them at the beginning of every semester and IAP), they go on you record. Even though the grades are not factored into your GPA, it still sucks if you have a C or something.</p>
<p>I was studying for the 8.01 placement this summer and I did a **** poor job of it. I was unfocused and totally undisciplined. I failed the placement exam and had to sit through a semeseter of pure crap in 8.01. Do yourself a favor, ace the AP Physics C exam (both Mechanics and E/M), and place out of 8.01!</p>
<p>In answer to h88, yes, every course listed in the catalog is actually offered unless the course description specifically says that it is no longer being offered. </p>
<p>However, that's not to say that each course is offered in every semester. Some are, especially the highly popular ones. However, many others, particularly the upper-level stuff and in particular many of the graduate-level courses, are only offered once a year. And others are only offered every other year.</p>
<p>How hard is it to place out of 18.02? Is it insanely difficult, or pretty easy? What about 8.02?</p>
<p>Also, what exactly do 5s on humanities APs help with? What are "general elective units" used for/how many do you need (the website says you receive 9 general elective units for 5s on each exam, but I'm not sure what this means)?</p>
<p>No, you must take or place out of 18.01 or 18.02. They're part of MIT's General Institute Requirement (GIR) along with the physics requirement (8.01 & 8.02), comp sci (6.001 or 1.00), biology (7.012, 7.013, or 7.014), and some other things.</p>
<p>Before your FIRST SEMESTER as a freshman, the C on the placement test would be a P. However, after that first chance at the placement, all bets are off and letter grades start appearing.</p>
<p>Placing out of 18.02 or 8.02 is reasonable. My roommate took mutlivar in high school and passed out of 18.02 via the test, and my friend placed out of 8.02 after a fair amount of studying.</p>
<p>To be honest, I'm not exactly sure of the purpose of general elective credits, just that you need a certain amount to graduate (plus if you want sophomore standing, you need 90 credits by the end of 1st semester, so general elective credits help). If you don't understand how it works, you get 9 credits for every AP Humanities. For example, I got credit for AP Euro, AP Comparative Govt, and AP English Lang (which also places you out of the FEE, so study for it!). That gave me 27 credits + 54 from classes from first sem and UROP and + 36 credits for placing out of 18.01, 18.02, and biology. Basically, they really cushioned me into sophomore standing,b ut besides that, I'm not sure how useful they are.</p>
<p>so lets say you dont have any credits coming in (im sure i will have some) and dont place out of things, how do you get to 90 credits after first semester?</p>
<p>or are you just talking about getting sophomore standing in your first/freshman year</p>
<p>I would point out that the whole first semester pass/fail system is not completely 'foolproof'. While you do get an official letter grade during your first semester classes from your profs, it is true that your 'official' transcript will only list a Pass or a Not Pass, and therefore many of you are probably thinking that it doesn't really matter what grade you get as long as you pass because nobody is ever going to see the actual true grade you got or care. And that's usually true. But not completely. There are certain graduate programs that will insist on seeing those hidden grades and will insist that you release those grades to them if you want to be admitted. For example, consider this quote:</p>
<p>"Please note, that grades for courses taken under pass/no record during freshman year are important to a few medical schools. Although not common among the majority of medical schools, Johns Hopkins University does request to see your freshman hidden grades. To release pass/no record grades contact each individual academic department and have your released grades sent to the MIT Careers Office (12-170). Your released freshman grades (not your official transcript) will be sent with your recommendation letter packet to the schools you apply to. Please submit the Hidden Grades Form to the Careers Office to indicate which grades you want to be sent to schools."</p>
<p>Now, I don't know how that affects those placement tests. For example, it's possible that you might get a C in a placement test that gets converted into a P grade, but then gets reconverted back into a C if and when you do apply to these graduate programs. I don't know if that happens, I'm just saying that it's entirely possible.</p>
<p>Regardless, my real point is that you don't want to find yourself getting bitten in the butt. You don't want to be cruising along with straight C's in your first semester (which all look like 'P's') and thinking that you're sitting pretty only to find out that those hidden grades are not-so-hidden after all.</p>
<p>i heard that MIT has one of the highest drop-out rates for such an elite college because it is insanely difficult. also, if kids dont drop out, they just switch to an easier major like philosophy or something more liberal-artsy</p>
<p>Even if they switch majors they still have to take several MIT math and science classes which is no easy feat. The freshman retention rate is 98%, graduation rate is 91%</p>
<p>I think the high MIT freshman retention rate has something to do with the pass/no-record and ABC/no-record freshman grading policy. It's sophomore year when the proverbial shi* really hits the fan. </p>
<p>There is actually some truth to the fact that more students do drop out of MIT than out of a peer school like that 'other' school in town. Let's face it - MIT is difficult and doesn't coddle its students the way that many of its peer schools do.</p>
<p>But hey, you shouldn't complain too much. After all, the dropout rate is worse at a certain school in Pasadena.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Originally posted by sakky But hey, you shouldn't complain too much. After all, the dropout rate is worse at a certain school in Pasadena.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>ROFL - Well I wasn't aware of the dropout rate at Caltech. But we still can say everything IS possible. If you want to pass, it is neither impossible, nor easy! I have many friends at MIT - and they talk about they put in all nighters before tests and exams. They also told me why you are encouraged to take humanities courses, so you can boost your GPA with them. :)</p>
<p>As shocking as it may seem, a lot of my friends hardly ever go to class, and they get an A fairly easily.</p>
<p>So overall, it isn't really hard, Caltech might be worse, but I'd rather go for a penetrating education approach than an easy one.</p>
<p>So you say that you like MIT for its penetrating educational approach, and then you talk about how a lot of your friends hardly ever go to class and get an A fairly easily.
Hmmm, what's wrong with this picture?</p>
<p>Duh :P.. it might sound contradicting.. but I do know of some students that hardly go to classes (particularly the humanities ones).. But I am aware that engineering courses (and no doubt the lab assignments) are too time consuming.</p>
<p>Just to elaborate on this part: "As shocking as it may seem, a lot of my friends hardly ever go to class, and they get an A fairly easily."</p>
<p>Obviously, I never took a course at MIT, but these are first-hand accounts from many students there. MIT is accommodating and does offer alot of facilities that aid students, such as videotaping(?) and the recording of some lectures. Haha, but no doubt, it IS penetrating.</p>
<p>Besides difficulty, how are MIT classes different from those AP classes? More labs and applications? How do the kinds of hw and projects you get differ?</p>