I am a bit worried about this upcoming fall 16-17 semester. I am currently a senior in high school and will graduate with many college math classes already completed.
My question is, how hard are math classes at A&M compared to community colleges?
I am currently taking calc 1 at a local community college and I have an A. I am taking calc 2 (summer 1) and calc 3 and differential equations (summer 2). Assuming I pass (which I feel as if I can, since I have chosen both very good professors and I always put in at least 30 hours of studying before tests (well thats what I did for calc 1 and it has worked). I recently took the MPE didn’t get a very high score. I got a 21. Although my score doesn’t entirely matter because I already came in contact with advisers that told me once I completed those summer classes, I would be in Linear Algebra. The MPE is mostly to determine whether you are calc ready. So even if I don’t get a least a 22 (min to take cal 1, I will be past that). A lot of my friends think that I won’t do good because my college algebra, trig and pre calc skills aren’t the best. I got a C in college algebra and a C in pre calc and a B in trig. But calculus has been the first math class I did really good in because it makes so much sense. Will having weak college algebra skills hurt me even though calculus makes perfect sense. The MPE exam was very hard for me and it had only a couple questions even relating to calculus.
Hoping to get some feedback from someone that may have been in the same situation as me? I don’t know many students that will be upcoming freshmen that will be already done with calc 1-3, let alone start off at Linear Algebra.
My major of interest is Industrial Engineering if that helps.
I would retake the MPE and make sure you pass. I was in a business NSC 6 years ago and two students in our small group did NOT pass the MPE although they did pass the AP exams/college credit and were required to go back and retake math at TAMU. The students were livid, the parents were outraged, but the school held its ground and they had to enroll in the math course level that they qualified for by the MPE score. I would NOT just ignore your MPE result, the advice you got could be true ( or not ) regarding it ‘not mattering’. 7 years ago, MPE scores did not matter. Then, 6 years ago they started counting. It is a big university and your advisors may not have the final say on what will be the process for your NSC. Study for it and re-take it. It would be a bad idea to start off with a strike against you when you are going to compete for majors, especially one that you have the ability to control.
Also, don’t have someone else take the MPE for you. An aquatinace of mine son dropped out of college engineering at Texas Tech his first semester last fall. I found out later, that the mom had had the elder brother, who was in his second year in college, take it for him. The classes he was put in ate his lunch. He is a smart kid but was so unprepared.
Here’s the link to info about MPE and engineering… note the one that says “Are the MPE results binding? Yes”https://engineering.tamu.edu/easa/areas/academics/math-placement
@AGmomx2 Yeah I saw that too, but I already made sure to call them and they said even if we fail the test (dont make a 22) then we can still make the choice to take calculus. They only STRONGLY recommend as they told me. They only tell people it;s binding to pressure them to do good. The MPE is used to determine how well you will do in the math courses at A&M as well as to see if you can handle calculus. BUT, as I said, I will already have taken calc 1-3 at a community college. So regardless, even if I get a good score, I won’t be placed into Calculus, but into Linear Algebra. I sent an academic adviser an email asking if my courses would transfer and if I would start at Linear Algebra and she said YES. But overall I am just worried about whether or not the difficulty will be too much for a freshmen.