<p>Anybody know how hard the Advanced Standing Biology exam is compared to the AP Biology test? I'm debating whether to self-study for the AP Biology in the month or so I have left (I'm not taking a biology class at school and I haven't prepared at all for it yet) or to just study for it over the summer and take the Advanced Standing exam at MIT.
Also, why does everyone advise to test out of everything possible? Because the classes are boring/annoying/a waste of time, or just in order to take other classes? Is this recommended for just the GIRs, or every class possible?</p>
<p>The AP Bio test will probably be substantially easier. I APed out, but I have heard a number of people wishing they could just go take the AP bio test (as a college student) to get out of Bio rather than taking the standing exam or the class.</p>
<p>I'm definitely going to take the course. I have not done Bio in 2 years because I am not doing it for A Levels, so there is no way I will be able to force myself to learn all the material in time.</p>
<p>any AP test is going to be easier than the advance standing exam. But a lot dont give credit</p>
<p>getting out of classes that cover things you already know gives you time to take more interesting classes. even if you already know the material and don't necessarily have to go to lecture to learn it, you're still likely to have psets/exams or maybe projects and papers that'll suck time.</p>
<p>this thread appears to be covering so many questions, i can't even begin to address them all. i saw some stuff earlier about humanities classes, however, and i'd like to clear some of that up. first, yes, there's no humanities classes directly in the GIRs...but part of the reqs is that you have to take 8 hass classes before you graduate, ie, one a term, and there's other content/writing requirements attached to that. communications-intensive, what? also, they're not just in fields like poli-sci, econ, and psych; literature, anthropology, bunches of [group] studies, writing, comparative media studies, languages, music, drama, art, all these fields offer courses that, while they may not be top-notch, aren't really awful, provided you're careful about choosing them. i've found enough interesting-looking courses in these areas that i'm not sure i'll have time to fit them in before i graduate (assuming i do).</p>
<p>as for "what use is general elective credit", in case i missed a good response to that, it's useful for getting sophomore standing (which you might want to, say, break the credit limit second term) and either graduating early or doubling.</p>
<p>Do they make available past advance standing exams? I'm thinking of placing out of calculus and physics. Do you know where I can get the lists of topics covered in the exams? Thanks! :)</p>
<p>It's okay. I found it!</p>
<p>For physics:
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/physics/undergrad/firstyear/asc.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/physics/undergrad/firstyear/asc.html</a></p>
<p>mm, yeah, i'm pretty sure they don't give out actual practice exams, but the topics covered are certainly available.</p>
<p>Be4 my MIT alumni interview MIT was my last choice, but after the interview MIT was my FIRST choice. My interviewer was the nicest man I've ever met, and he made me imagine other MIT people like that. Too bad I got rejected. But I still like MIT as it is.</p>
<p>Oh, come on valecollegorian, I somehow doubt that someone can shift MIT from last choice to first :)</p>
<p>can anyone find the topics for the advance standing exam for math ?</p>
<p>The math test is a "do it at home during the summer" test. They give the chemistry test during orientation. I don't know about the others.</p>
<p>sleepy23: <a href="http://math.mit.edu/%7Eapm/1801.html%5B/url%5D">http://math.mit.edu/%7Eapm/1801.html</a></p>
<p>This is for Calculus 1. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. There are also a practice exam for part 1 of the test and its solutions for you to download.</p>
<p>over30: I'm guessing the math test you're talking about is the Math Diagnostic Test, not the Calculus Advanced Standing Exam? I understand that all Advanced Standing Exams (Calculus, Biology, Physics, and Chemistry) are given during orientation. I'd be cool if they let us do the Math Diagnostic during the summer.</p>
<p>Yep, sorry for the misinformation.</p>
<p>thank you very much geniezclone. Can anyone here recommend a specific way to self study the advance placement tests. Should I study using the information on OCW or is does that information cover extra material?</p>
<p>Ognjen, all I want to go is a research school. Sure, MIT is. But most people who don't apply or who get admitted and don't attend believe the institute is too nerdy. For me, there were misunderstandings my interviewer really clarified. What he said simply turned my view about MIT upside-down i.e.
1. Frat systems there were so tightly knit that my interviewer still remembered most of his friends' names and that he was still in contact with his best friends since his MIT's time.
2. MIT people help each other a great deal, and many people he met there became lifetime friends. (I thought science-serious people were more self-studious than that, so MIT was not my favorite at first.)
3. Advanced standing exams and the double-major possibility. He's an engineer+econ and I wanted to do biology+computer science.
4. My goal was 'direct-to-research', but he said "MIT does
not produce professionals, it does not produce doctors, scientists or
engineers. MIT produces brilliant people with the analytical and
problem solving ability to excel at most any profession."
5. You can do as many UROP projects as you want (and can handle), and the UROP professor can be the one who teach you.
6. Besides all, he was always smiling and showing that he was so proud to have studied at MIT.</p>
<p>Man, I made an ownage thread. Too bad I'm going to Stanford now.</p>
<p>Someone said that they studied 20 hours/day, or 14 hours/day. I'm not a fantastic student (A/B, slanted toward A's), but I study/attend class considerably less than 20 hours/day. There literally aren't enough hours in a day for that between extracurriculars, actually talking with friends (because what's the point of college if not to grow). Averaged across the week, I have 5-6 hours of classes a day. I spend about 1.5 hours a day getting stuff ready for the class the next day (small assignments, readings), and before exams, I study about 20 hours. It takes 5-10 hours to finish a problem set, 15 to finish a lab report, 10 hours to do a paper, so let's see...</p>
<p>For my 5 class courseload (MIT average is 4 classes), and overestimating because sometimes psets will take 2 hours, and some of the labs might take 5 hours, and please note that most people take considerably fewer lab classes, so it comes out to them having more psets, which are much faster to complete. Also, this is a Junior/Senior class load:</p>
<p>Psets (some classes with no psets)= 15 psets x 7.5
1 paper every three weeks or so = 4 x 10
lab reports (my major has a lot of them); 12 a semester = 12 x 15
exams (2-3 per class, not every class has them) = 6 x 20
TOTAL = 452.5 hours/term</p>
<p>13 weeks/term, 7 days/week =>
5 hr/day classwork + 1 hr/day prep work + 5.5 hr/day classes</p>
<p>= 11 hours/day, much less than the reported 20, and on par with the average given. But this is kind of misleading, because, mostly, I and many others did 2-3 hours of work/weekday, and spent half the day Saturday, all day Sunday, and most of the night before a big project was due working on the project. That's pretty standard for most students. It'd probably be healthier for me if I tooled more per day and didn't let it pile up, but MIT is really a culture of working with others, and most peoples' schedules don't line up until the project is due the next day :).</p>
<p>Freshman year, I did very little work. :) Psets took less than 5 hours to complete, and I had no lab reports.</p>
<p>Not all classes are curved... in fact, I don't think I've been in one with a curve. Usually, the class ave is set to be a C+/B- (sometimes a B), or there is strict numerical grading, at which point, some classes have averages that correspond to a C-. Neither of these are classic curves.</p>
<p>Some alumni's told me that the homeworks are so long and difficult that they have to work together in a team to finish their homeworks (like each work on a different problem). Otherwise, it can never be finished. Is that true or it applies to certain major only?</p>