I’m going to Brown University (doesn’t offer AP credits). The only reason I would take the AP exam for Calc AB is because I could move up to a higher math class. This however can also be achieved by taking Brown’s math placement test. Is a college placement test significantly more difficult than an AP exam? Should I just wait and take the placement exam or should I take the AP exam?
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Brown math placement: http://www.math.brown.edu/~calcplacement/
However, if you are currently in high school, you cannot be sure that you will be admitted to Brown, so you may want to take the AP test for the likely event that you will attend some other college.
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AP Credit at Brown is convoluted in the sense that instead of receiving “credit,” we receive a “test notation:” the equivalent Brown course is listed on our transcript as 0.0 credits, but it can and will place you out of introductory courses and into higher-level courses in many concentrations and count towards pre-medical requirements (though not every medical school accepts AP credit, which is another story.)
If interested in a STEM field, I would strongly recommend taking AP Calculus AB----even if you were to take the course again at Brown, it’s helpful to have a background in Calculus, and if interested in Engineering, the introductory courses (ENGN 0030 & 0040) specifically recommend at least Calculus AB to have been taken in high school.
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Thank you! That website has just about everything I need to know.
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Thanks!You were seriously helpful, I’m definitely taking AP Calc AB. I appreciate your help!
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the introductory courses (ENGN 0030 & 0040) specifically recommend at least Calculus AB to have been taken in high school < In particular, the drop-out rate from Engineering tends to be higher for first-years who enter with little or no Calculus and are trying to pick it up at the same time as they are dealing with engineering and science courses. It can be done – the material in those courses is organized to hold off on the need for Calculus initially – but some find it overly stressful.
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Engineering class sizes vary over the years, but using mine as an example we started with about 200, were down to about 150 after the first semester, and closer to 100 by the end of the first year (there didn’t seem to be a lot of attrition over the next three years). Just as a guess, those drops are less severe in modern times given the higher math preparation of typical applicants.
Another consideration is that for most people, the finer points of first-year Calculus tend to slip away fairly rapidly after they’re done taking the course. A placement test might be the best way to zero in on the right college course to take based on where your skills are at the time instruction is commencing.
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OP, are you an athlete? Or how do you know you are going to Brown.
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