<p>I still see the value in repeating first-year courses at MIT -- I took calculus through my local community college as a high school senior, and got straight A's... I decided to re-take the course at MIT my first term and got a C-. (On pass/no record, of course, thank heavens.)</p>
<p>At schools like MIT, the introductory science courses are not designed merely to teach students that the central dogma of molecular biology is DNA --> RNA --> protein, but also what to do with that information, how to design experiments to test it, etc. I took MIT's introductory biology course (because I did not take AP bio in high school), and I was much more prepared for my upper-division biology electives than my classmates who had used AP credit; they knew how to answer multiple-choice questions about biology, but biology tests and problem sets at MIT are never multiple-choice.</p>
<p>There are some students whose high school backgrounds or self-studies would prepare them adequately for the next level of science classes, and those students are free to take the advanced standing exams offered during orientation. There are a lot of students who don't fall into that category, and they'd be well-served by taking the introductory classes.</p>
<p>Aedar, remember that the passing percentages for the MIT advanced standing exams are with the current AP policy -- students who got a 5 on the AP test would presumably have a higher rate of passing an advanced standing exam in a subject, but do not currently take the tests because they can get credit with their AP scores. The students who currently take the tests generally either did not take the AP course in that subject or did not earn a 5.</p>