<p>My S has been planning to take the AP Lang test this year in the hopes of placing out of freshman comp. He is a math/science kid (CS major) and while he has actually turned out to be a decent writer, he does not really enjoy it, and it seemed like freshman comp would be a waste of time. He tests very well and based on past AP performance we are assuming he can get at least a 4 and place out.</p>
<p>However, I have been reading comments from parents that rather persuasively argue that it’s good for every kid to have a freshman comp class, since writing is such an essential skill in pretty much all disciplines. I have also noticed several parents praising the English department at UA for its great professors and interesting classes, and many have said that their kids really enjoyed their freshman comp classes, particularly EN 103.</p>
<p>So now we are considering rethinking the plan. The advantages to taking EN 103 are that he would have one less AP to study for and that he would get 3 UH credits, and then of course there’s the idea that a freshman comp class is valuable for everyone. Drawbacks are obviously one more class to take, and in a discipline that is not his favorite.</p>
<p>What do you think? I realize it’s a personal decision but was hoping to get some different viewpoints. One other thought - would he be getting anything from EN 103 that he would not get from the required W classes later on? It seems like the W requirement addresses this issue to some degree, ensuring that all students have at least some writing.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input!</p>
<p>My S was fortunate enough to have taken a dual-credit, “college prep” English course his Senior year of high school through the local CC. It was accepted by UA in transfer credit and eliminated his requirement to take it at UA. He is also a Math/Science type (his mother is an HS English teacher - go figure!) and he doesn’t enjoy that type of class.</p>
<p>Had he not been able to get his class to transfer, I think he would have taken it at UA because my wife feels it is rather important to have demonstrated critical thinking and writing skills, regardless of career. I agree and think one is better served by taking it instead of testing out of it.</p>
<p>I took several CLEP exams while I was in college, and I targeted subjects such as History for the proficiency exams as I saw the value of them in an well-rounded education overall, but not core to my career goals. I am sure a History major or teacher would disagree… :)</p>
<p>My son (who is a current 1st year Bama student) took EN 103 in the fall with Brian Morrison. S is more of a math and sciences kid but really did well in EN 103 and really liked Morrison so much so he is taking him again this semester for EN 210 (Amer Lit II). </p>
<p>Business majors are required to take one of the 200 level Lit classes so it was really nice for DS to take the same prof again. His EN 103 class had 18 students in it so he really got to know the prof and the other students and as you say he got the Honors credit for taking the class as well…</p>
<p>Another plug for Morrison here.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d probably have my son take the AP test anyway, as that will come before BB. That will give you the option to decide to take it or not while putting together his schedule at BB. Just because he takes the AP test does not mean you have to take the AP credit for it.</p>
<p>There might be a writing intensive UH course that would give him the comp experience and honors seminar hours (which are harder to get than regular honors hours).</p>
<p>Skip, skip, skip if you can!! Ugh! </p>
<p>Both of my kids (thankfully) were able to skip both frosh comp classes. IF your child can write decently and knows the basic rules, knows how to cite references, etc, then let him skip!! </p>
<p>Frosh year is very busy and it’s an adjustment. Having to do a bunch of essay writing, rewrites, etc, while also keeping “up to speed” in other challenging classes is a pain. </p>
<p>Your child is a CS major. He needs to focus on those classes…lol.</p>
<p>My D did not take AP English (enrollment was very limited at her school and she wasn’t eligible). She took EN 103 and from what I could tell didn’t mind it and found it to be easy. I don’t think they covered anything she didn’t already know from high school. If she’d had the AP credit she would have skipped it, but it wasn’t a difficult class.</p>
<p>My D took AP Lang and AP Lit. She placed out of Freshman English. Your S can always take another writing class in fact, I believe something like writing in your major is a requirement anyway. My D is an EE major and has a required class with the “Writing Designation”. Anyway, what is funny is that she loves writing and is good at it. </p>
<p>As Class2012Mom said, take the test and decide later. Your S can always sign up for the class anyway. There is no CLEP test for English credit at Bama, just AP credit.</p>
<p>LOL M2CK! I am envisioning you skipping to your song, “Skip, skip, skip if you can!” ;)</p>
<p>My husband, a math guy, told our sons to work very hard in high school English so that they did not have to take freshman comp. The oldest son, had the AP scores to skip out of freshman comp. He took a world lit online from our local community college to satisfy his lit requirement. The younger son is currently in dual enrollment/AP English language. He’ll take DE/AP English lit next year. Given that he reallty dislikes English, he hopes that it is the last English class he ever takes. Spoken like a true math kid.</p>
<p>By the way, I am a high school librarian.</p>
<p>Just my two cents by way of a little story:</p>
<p>Like your son, I hated English/writing when I was that age. I also <em>thought</em> I knew how to write coming out of HS – had always gotten A’s, high score on the SAT CR, etc. But it wasn’t until my freshman Honors English class in college that I learned just how little I really knew and how many bad writing habits I had. My first written assignment grade in college was an F – not just an F, but an F complete with disparaging remarks from the prof, LOL! </p>
<p>Fortunately, I took the F and his comments as a challenge. I asked him to show me how I could do better and, over the course of a semester of working with him outside of class, during office hours, my grades improved from the F, to C’s and then finally, A’s. More importantly, the techniques and habits I learned then have seen me through law school and a pretty successful (so far!) career. Thanks to that professor, I overcame my aversion to writing – I still don’t particularly <em>like</em> to write, but I can sit down and write a 20-page brief in an afternoon without a problem.</p>
<p>So, yes, take freshman English Comp. HS English is nothing like a college Honors English class.</p>
<p>I should also add that based on the level of writing proficiency I see from the young associates in our law firm (all graduates of top schools), more of them should have taken English comp courses in college. There’s more to writing well than correct grammar and spelling.</p>
<p>UA requires two upper division writing-intensive courses to graduate, so students will get a background in writing.</p>
<p>I don’t see why students with AP credit for EN 101/102 would need to retake those courses. If they really wanted to take another English course, there are plenty of other options to choose from. If your student knows that a perfectly-formed paper need not have 5 paragraphs of 4-6 sentences each, they are already ahead of a lot of their peers in high school and college. </p>
<p>In middle and high school, my teachers would instruct their classes to “dumb down” their writing when standardized tests as the graders would often confuse higher-level writing skills for a failure to grasp certain “rules” of the English language. Their reasoning was that if one knows what they’re doing, there are few, if any, “rules” when writing in English. e.e. cummings knew this very well.</p>
<p>On a related note, I’m surprised at the number of people who are not aware that spellings are not always consistent throughout the English-speaking world.</p>