<p>My son will be majoring in Petro Engineering. Should he take Physics or take the credit. He has heard from several people to take the credit but the advisor is saying take physics.......he is taking math and chemistry even though he has placed out of it</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>From what I know the advisers pretty much say don’t take the credit for anything. (I guess the school needs the money.) But several students say take the credit if you can. We are debating how many math classes to take the credit for.</p>
<p>If you didn’t score a 5 off your ap test I would take math 151. They will advise you at NSC which Math they want you to take</p>
<p>The key is that they “advise” even though it is the students choice. I find it more helpful to talk to current students to get their opinion. Some advisers are a little too much by the book. </p>
<p>jbg I’d say he should go ahead and take the credit for physics if that’s the only physics course he has to take. However, if he has to take PHYS 208 (or 221 or 222) later down the road, he should go ahead and take 218 at A&M to get a feel for the courses.</p>
<p>Should go ahead and take credit for Math 151 too (if he passed the AP test), since it’s basically just high school Calculus all over again. </p>
<p>I’m a current senior Physics/NukeE double major so I thought I might weigh in on this:</p>
<p>I would take both PHYS 218/208 regardless the AP scores.</p>
<p>There are some arguments for not taking physics. You or your son will probably hear one of these arguments:</p>
<ol>
<li>Professors are unreasonably difficult</li>
</ol>
<p>This is flawed reasoning. Your engineering profs sophomore year will be just as bad. If you get the right prof for 218/208 the experience can in fact be much better than your sophomore year weed out engineering courses. My advisor put it
to me this way: Tackle physics the hard way since it isn’t going to be getting any easier from here. </p>
<ol>
<li>I can get ahead and pay less money.</li>
</ol>
<p>While skipping these courses and getting ahead can seem advantageous, I would argue it is detrimental to a student’s development. Engineering depends on physics. Statics/Dynamics/Fluids/Thermodynamics/etc are physics in action. Courses in all of these subjects will be essential in a PetE program. Taking PHYS 218 before statics and dynamics will put you in a better position to succeed since you will have a less steep learning curve than someone trying to remember their Physics from junior or senior year of high school. </p>
<ol>
<li>I did pretty well on my AP Physics exam and know everything I need to know already.</li>
</ol>
<p>Wrong answer. Unless you had an exceptional teacher in high school (they do exist but rarely), you
will not have received as solid of a knowledge base. Taking a year off freshman year will also not
be wise since you will inevitably forget some stuff.</p>
<p>As far as calculus, I would skip Calculus 1 if you crushed the AP Exam with a 5. If your son thought he walked
out of that exam with 85+% correct, then take the credit and go to calculus 2. It may lead to the opportunity to take Caluclus 3 the second semester while you take PHYS 208. This doesn’t have any huge benefit because PHYS 208 doesn’t require knowledge of divergence, curl, Gauss Theorem, and other multivariable calculus concepts that actually make the subject much easier to understand. However, it does bring some clarity to electricity and magnetism.</p>
<p>@aGGieENGiNeeR
</p>
<p>This is exactly the plan my son has when he starts this fall.</p>
<p>^^aGGieENGiNeeR—can you offer names of ‘right’ professors for physics 218/208? </p>
<p>^Ditto</p>
<p>aGGieENGiNeeR – Always nice to hear from a current Physics student. </p>
<p>My general rule of thumb regarding taking AP credit depends on whether the class is (1) required for the major, (2) required for the university core, or (3) not required at all (for your major).</p>
<p>I am having my boys take the AP credits for all classes that are not required for the major (courses in groups 2 & 3). I am having them skip taking the AP credits for those classes in the major. (The AP tests for classes in group 1 serve as an independent measuring stick or sorts.) </p>
<p>So, with one son a physics major and the other an engineer, they are taking (or have taken) the college physics and calculus classes, but claiming AP credit for English, Biology, Environmental Science, Macroeconomics, etc. My reasoning is twofold: (1) I have never seen a high school AP class that can match the rigor of a ‘real’ college class at a quality university in a highly rated program (for courses in your major, this is important) and (2) covering material a second time almost always leads to a much deeper level of understanding.</p>
<p>Specializing to physics, it is my experience to never – and I mean NEVER – let the physics get ahead of the math. So, if one ‘must’ place out of something, place out of the calculus, move one step ahead in math, and take the physics. </p>
<p>What are opinions regarding taking Physics 208 (second in series) at a community college for engineering majors?</p>
<p>I will not post my assessments of the profs on here, but I will p.m. anyone interested. I feel like that is better form.</p>
<p>Former Prof: Your reasoning is very strong. Also, I second the notion that you should never let the physics get ahead of the math. This is cruical. At most I would skip 151 assuming you had a very strong high school AP teacher. Even still, you are correct that there is not 1 AP course that measures up to an actual college course in the same subject.</p>
<p>Inspiration12: </p>
<p>Some would say it depends on the engineering field you are in. I say that it shouldn’t matter which field of engineering you are in. </p>
<ol>
<li>Sets a bad precedent.</li>
</ol>
<p>You can’t dodge a difficult 300/400 level course at the community college. If you decide to dodge 208, then just know you will have ZERO chance to do so with any other courses you take during the remainder of your degree.</p>
<ol>
<li>What!?!? Physics 208 is not THAT bad.</li>
</ol>
<p>You do not have to be the next sheldon cooper to be able to comprehend intro electricity and magnetism. Actually, you should be able to handle it as long as you apply yourself, don’t get behind, and go to the prof for help when needed. Three years down the road, you will look back on that class and realize it was not nearly as time intensive as your upper level engineering courses.</p>
<ol>
<li>Waste of money</li>
</ol>
<p>The difference between the course at A&M and the one at community college is huge. If you want to be hand held through the class and learn less, then go to community college. Again, this will be the last time your hand is held for the rest of the degree. If you want to challenge yourself, take 208 at A&M. </p>
<p>My S got 5 on the Calc AP test but chose to retake it anyway. He is now in multivariable calc and I asked him if he thinks he is better prepared for it than he would have been had he taken his AP credit. He said he felt that from the perspective math skills he thinks he would have had the skills even without taking the levels1 and 2 calc at A&M. He said however that he was glad he did what he did because it helped him to have the easier classes as he was learning to adapt to college life. He said he didn’t know if he would have done as well if he went straight into the more advanced classes just because he was learning how to succeed in college during his freshman year. As for physics, it wasn’t offered at his HS so there was no option to AP out. Once again I will put in my plug for A+ tutoring. They really should pay me! After his first freshman exam in physics he signed up and felt it made all the difference for him.</p>
<p>That seems about in line with what I was thinking. A 5 on the AP Calculus usually indicates at minimum a 65% on the AP exam. Sounds like your S was much higher than that minimum cutoff and had a really solid high school background which could have eliminated the need to take Calc 1 and 2. </p>
<p>^^^^but even with that, he has no regrets about not taking the AP credit. Everyone is different but for some avoiding shortcuts can have long term benefits. It is a good thing to go into soph year feeling successful. Clearly not the right answer for all, and not necessary for all. just another perspective…I think a big part of success with classes like math and physics is the ability to stick with it a work at it…and I think a big part of being able to do that is having a sense that you can succeed…As with most things it depends on the individual.</p>
<p>There is a website that has the Common Exams for each of the courses. My S is also struggling with which AP credits to take. He has maintained a 4.0 GPA in high school, scored 700 on his math SAT and scored 5’s on all AP tests. His Physics teacher right now is a college level instructor that worked for NASA for most of his life. My S feels very confident he can handle moving to Math 251 and also take his credits for both Physics 218 and 208. He is now reviewing all of the Common Exams to make sure he feels he can handle this move. He plans to lighten his load for the first two semesters rather than taking the suggested 17 and 18 hours. He feels the lighter load will give him more time to focus on the advanced classes. </p>
<p>Here is a link to the Common Exams for Math 151</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.math.tamu.edu/courses/math151/common-exams/”>http://www.math.tamu.edu/courses/math151/common-exams/</a></p>
<p>I also highly recommend talking to the departmental advisors. When my S attended the new student conference last year (he’s in PetE) , they had lots of data on success rates for different scenarios. For example, they had a scatter plot on GPA’s for kids who transferred one, two or three math/science (Core Body of Knowledge) classes vs. none and even a cross analysis on the math placement score in relation to the math SAT score to determine whether student is Calc 1 ready, grey area, or not ready. I didn’t see specific information on skipping physics and taking AP credit, but I’m sure they could give you an idea. I remember the advisor saying over and over and over again that “math is key” and “take math and science at TAMU”.</p>