<p>So, my friend told me that even though we take AP Calc BC and get a 5 on the AP exam, lots of schools will require engineering students to retake, calc 1,2 and 3. Is this true with most schools?</p>
<p>Not for my kid’s school. But if you are premed, it’s a good idea to retake them.</p>
<p>My son started in Calc 3 based on his AP scores. </p>
<p>My D is a first year engineering student and she is taking Calc 3. Some schools do suggest engineering freshmen to retake Calc2 though.</p>
<p>Each school is different.</p>
<p>Two of my children did well in Calc AB and did Calc 2, 3, and 4 in college. Students of mine who excelled in Calc BC started with Calc 3.</p>
<p>You’ll need to take at least 4 semesters of calculus total. If you get a 5 on BC, you likely can get out of at least one semester. But a lot of colleges make you take higher level courses, like diff eq or numerical analysis, if you place out of easier courses.</p>
<p>Point is, some people don’t manifest their AP credits if they don’t want to be forced to take upper level courses. Or if they know a freshman calc professor is really good.</p>
<p>Like some posters above have said, it varies by school–however, I have not heard of any school requiring its engineering majors to take calculus I and/or II if they have AP credit to satisfy one or both of those courses. Engineering has enough requirements as it is; to start at Calc III is a benefit.</p>
<p>It is common for schools to make you retake calculus if you don’t get a 5 on the exam and they strongly recommend you do so even if you got a five.</p>
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<p>Probably only of a few colleges whose “frosh calculus” courses are significantly more theoretical than most (e.g. Caltech, Harvey Mudd). Most other colleges allow, but do not require, students with AP calculus credit to skip one or more frosh calculus courses (depending in AB or BC and what score). A few do not allow students with AP credit to earn grades or credits from the duplicate course (e.g. UCI, UCSD).</p>
<p>It would be a good idea to try the old final exams of the college math or physics courses that you are allowed to skip with AP credit, so that you can evaluate your knowledge compared to what the college expects. Then you can decide whether or not to skip math or physics courses with AP credit.</p>
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<p>Doing pre-med as an engineering major would make for a very crowded schedule. Retaking courses that can be skipped will just crowd the schedule more. So starting at calculus 3 if one’s AP calculus knowledge is sufficient to skip calculus 1 and 2 would be advantageous for a pre-med engineering major, in freeing up space to take biology and organic chemistry (and calculus 3 should fulfill medical school calculus requirements).</p>
<p>Don’t know about any school requiring Freshmen with AP Calc background to enroll in Calc 1. What I have read in several student posts is the recommendation for AB Calc students to nevertheless enroll in Calc 1, because the difference between a college-level course and AB Calc is typically quite substantial.</p>
<p>Getting back to BC Calc, it probably depends on the college, but I’ve not seen such a requirement. </p>
<p>I can’t read @DrGoogle’s mind, but my guess about his rationale for retaking calculus as a premed is about the easy A in a class that can be difficult for many. Premed, even more so than engineering, is about GPA and almost only about GPA.</p>
<p>No that’s what read on CC. Some medical schools don’t take AP credits.</p>
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<p>However, a pre-med engineering major will take calculus 3 anyway (should count as “calculus” for medical schools that want to see it), so it would be better to skip calculus 1 and/or 2 if the student is prepared enough to do so, in order to free schedule space for non-overlapping pre-med courses like biology and organic chemistry.</p>
<p>GA Tech you need to take Calc II even if you took BC Calc.</p>
<p>Don’t a lot of universities just give a math placement test?</p>
<p>They do, but it probably does not cover Calc levels. At UMich, the Math placement test is pretty much like SAT2 Math2. Even with top scores, it would not place you higher than Calc 1.</p>
<p>@scubadive yeah, thats where my friend got the info from he said. he was talking about ga tech, but i assumed that if ga tech does it, then other schools might do the same thing. i think it might just be a ga tech thing.</p>
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<p>Most universities give advisory or required math placement tests for students who do not have any AP, IB, or college calculus credit, in order to determine if they can take calculus 1 or if they need to take remedial math courses before taking calculus 1. Offering placement tests for those who may take a course more advanced than calculus 1 is much less common, though if the student can get the university’s old calculus 1 (and 2 if applicable) final exams and try them, that can be used as an advisory placement test for the student.</p>
<p>At my school a student may request credit by examination for pretty much any math course. The consequence, for better or worse, is that your score on the test (a comprehensive final exam), counts for a letter grade.</p>