<p>What is the placement test situation at CMU?</p>
<p>When are they taken (during Orientation week?)</p>
<p>How long (time or number of questions) are they?</p>
<p>For which subjects are they required?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<ol>
<li>There is a math placement test for almost all majors. </li>
<li>During the summer. They will notify you of such tests.</li>
<li>6 sections and even though it says around 2 hours, most people finish in an hour or so without cheating. Of course you can cheat and it may take longer. </li>
<li>I only took the math one.</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks AcceptedAlready--</p>
<p>Are other placement tests available? Are they necessary (in addition to AP exam scores) to place out (or receive credit) from a course? I noticed that to receive credit an AP Calculus exam score and placement test were necessary and was wondering if this was also necessary for other AP exams.</p>
<p>P.S.- Why would anyone need to cheat on these tests?</p>
<p>There might be a CS one (heard some others talking about it) but I do not know if that is required or just necessary to surpass a few classes. </p>
<p>I know for sure the math one is definitely special and I received other AP credit like AP Science without having to do any kind of testing. </p>
<p>PS: Because they want to be put into a higher math :) Most kids don't cheat though because they know the consequences would be a lower grade. It is seriously better to be put into a lower math and have the ability to boost your early GPA to get A's instead of B's.</p>
<p>AcceptedAlready, does CMU allow you to completely opt-out of a requirement if it is fulfilled with the appropriate AP & placement test scores? For example, if only a year of calculus is required, can this requirement be fulfill by getting a 5 on the AP Calc BC test + good placement test scores?</p>
<p>The idea of retaking some classes (from AP classes) had crossed my mind--allowing me to strengthen my GPA since taking another round of these courses should make it less stressful. However, if i I retake these classes, that would leave less "free" time to explore other courses.</p>
<p>Also, I am taking the AP Environmental Science test this May, and MCS awards credit for scores of 4 or 5. Will I be able to use this credit to fulfill an elective course? The Environmental Science credit would take the place of the CMU-equivalent course: "66-210 Science, Technology, and the Environment". Or, could this credit only fulfill requirements for a major that has "Science, Tech, and the Environment" course requirement? Sorry if I am not being too clear about this!</p>
<p>The math requires you to take the placement exam. Do not even stress because it is so easy if you know how to do the material. It is just the basics of things like differentiation/etc. </p>
<p>You can check the list of AP credit (some are not allowed like AP Econ :() but don't worry too much about such things. You definitely have the time to explore courses and AP credit does not actually help much at top schools since they only give you UNITS and not count towards major requirements. </p>
<p>My AP science gets me 9 units or something so I think it will definitely help you. Get a 4-5 in that one and do well in your Calc test (though this is not as important). </p>
<p>I think I answered most of your questions but I am half-writing an essay while I'm typing this so feel free to re-post your q's if I haven't made myself clear.</p>
<p>My basic summary is to do well in the Calc/AP environmental exams since the Calc one helps you with the Calc assessment and the AP E. gives you units BUT it will not fulfill MAJOR requirements like the sciences that MCS students have to do.</p>
<p>Probably the cheating Accepted is referring to is that you're not allowed to use a calculator on the exam, and quite a few people I spoke to did. It's an online exam that covers all sorts of stuff, pretty much a little quiz from each year of high school. The test is untimed though, so if you really wanted to spend a ton of time on it you could....</p>
<p>The math exam is probably just some calculus, so if you really wanted to cheat, you could Mathematica everything (if you have Mathematica).</p>
<p>CS majors also get a programming test (you write Java code to solve a fairly simple problem) and a discrete math placement test (the one I took was 20 multiple-choice questions; though I heard rumors that it was being changed). They determine what intro programming class you get placed into, and whether or not you have to take Concepts of Math (a high score on the discrete math test gets you out of it).</p>
<p>The CS department requires everyone to take all three tests (math, programming, discrete math) regardless of AP/IB credit or previous experience or whatever.</p>
<p>Enrolling in CMU -> you have mathematica. I think people would be more likely to cheat with TI graphing calculators.</p>
<p>Alright this might sound a tad ignorant since I've already enrolled and stuff. But can I take the placement tests without having taken AP's?</p>
<p>My maths is beyond basic calculus, and my CS should be pretty good( I especially want to skip CS...I hate programming).</p>
<p>EDIT: Is there any site that can fill me in on the American grading system and general course procedures? I don't want to come there completely unaware.</p>
<p>Oh wow, this is rather interesting! Well... I got accepted for IS, but am very interested in learning more CS classes.... so I can apply to take placement tests for programming too? Furthering programming classes would definately rock! :)</p>
<p>IS requires some programming classes. I don't know if you can place out of some of them or not. You're of course free to take higher-level programming classes, but I think in general IS people don't because they have other classes to take.</p>
<p>Upper IS courses are amazingly fun (from what I've heard). There is a massive amount of group cooperation and everyone finds their "niche" in the project. Some of the best consultants come from IS and with real-work experience and cooperative projects they accomplish a lot of things similar to real top consulting firms.</p>