<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I took the AP Biology exam and got a 5. Under Berkeley's MCB department website (Prospective</a> Students in High School), people with 5s get credit for Biology 1A and 1B. However, since I want to transfer there, should I take the courses to transfer anyway?</p>
<p>Thanks for your time and help.</p>
<p>If you are a planning to major in Biology I would recommend you retake the courses in a college rather than using your AP courses to substitute for the college courses. My son is a senior in high school and is getting an A in AP Physics. Having majored in Astronomy as an undergraduate myself I took a keen interest in what he was learning. It is my opinion that while AP Physics is certainly a challenging course for high school students it is not as a rigorous as an Introductory Physics course taught in a college setting. I imagine the same is true in other sciences like Biology with the result that AP courses taken in high school will not provide the foundation in Introductory Biology needed for upper division courses.</p>
<p>The class setting of transfer-level bio and AP Bio wasn’t very different. We did many of the same experiments and used the same book. The AP Bio test itself was definitely harder than anything in transfer-level bio.</p>
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<p>You’ve demonstrated mastery of that AP course, which you found to have an articulation agreement with Berkeley that fulfills credits for the 1A and 1B courses. Therefore you don’t have to take the courses in order to transfer. Now the question of whether taking the courses will boost your chances of earning admission to Berkeley, I cannot answer, as I’m not good enough for Berkeley and hence never really looked into the way they do things :P</p>
<p>But I can say quite confidently that you aren’t obligated to take those courses, by virtue of your 5 on the AP Bio exam.</p>
<p>Thanks for weighing in, guys, I appreciate it. I’m trying to figure out my schedule for the next year and a half. Seeing as I want to apply to transfer for Fall 2012, I don’t know where those bio classes fit in.</p>
<p>I’m torn. I fear that opting out of taking them will hurt my chances of acceptance, as well as my chances of understanding material in later classes. However, since I got a 5 I wonder if I’ll develop a huge case of big-fish-little-pond syndrome and/or it’ll be a huge waste of my time and money, though of course education is never a waste of time/money :P</p>
<p>I would also like to add that this question is not just for Berkeley, but for other UC campuses as well (as well as Cal Poly SLO). I’ve just done more research on Berkeley than the others so that’s why I asked about Berkeley specifically.</p>
<p>Which biology courses would you be able to take that follow Bio 1A and 1B? Can you get any of them at the community college? If so, that might be a better use of your time.</p>
<p>I was a bio major. My son took the AP bio test and did well but will not be a bio major.</p>
<p>At least at my college, college bio was really a notch up from what a student learns in AP bio, especially with the labs. As a bio major, it was very very helpful to have had first year bio at my own school. i would not recommend that a bio major claim the credit. In the long run, it is better to take the classes.</p>
<p>For a non-major (who likes but does not love bio), it is a great idea to go ahead and use the AP credit.</p>
<p>I suggest you think in terms of the long run.</p>
<p>If you already took at least gen chem 1 and you did well in it, there really isn’t anything new for you in the intro bio classes. The labs in those bio classes are easier than the labs in gen chem and the material you already have mastered. Interestingly enough, whereas we went through the entire Campbell bio book in AP Biology, our bio 1a/intro to bio/etc. course didn’t even complete its assigned part of it!</p>
<p>Ahh… given that MCB is my major (and out of fear… well mostly fear 
) I think I’ll try to squeeze in the classes. I could always brush up on my cell processes anyway. Thank you all for your help :)</p>