<p>I'd love to hear current students recommendations regarding placing out of math classes. My son took Calc AB in 10th grade, Calc BC in 11th grade (5s on both AP exams) and this year took Lienar Algebra and Differential Equations at our local community college. He got an A in Linear Algebra, but a B in DE as he was really pretty busy with other stuff. Other than taking 11M instead of 11, do you think its wise to try to place out of 11M, LA and/or DE? (He did not take Multi Variable Calc yet)</p>
<p>I don't think he should as I don't know if the quality of community college math is the same and if he would be missing some fundametal stuff and be at a disadvantage down the road. Is there really much advantage in acccelerating?</p>
<p>I’d like to hear the answer to this as well. My background in Physics and Chemistry is very strong, but I would’ve been out of HS for nine months by the time fall semester rolls around.</p>
<p>To everyone I would recommend waiting till orientation and taking placement exams forany relevant courses you think you would like to pass out of. If you can do most/all of the questions pretty easily, then and only then would I recommend passing out. If you still have some difficulty, even if you can get a good number of questions right, I would nevertheless recommend retaking the course. There’s no need to rush, and anyways, the instruction in these courses at Mudd is superb - it can’t hurt to retake them at a higher level with such great teachers. No need at all to go through as many courses as you can. Take your time.</p>
<p>he might want to consider whether or not he really wants to skip those classes. harvey mudd is a very, very good place to study math. he might enjoy the experience of learning from the teaching at HMC. also, racing through the math courses might leave him unprepared for some of the math at HMC.</p>
<p>If your son felt he had a good grasp of the mathematics in AP and the community college, I would recommend placing out of math. Your son will probably pass out of single-variable calc, linear algebra I and diffeq I. If he’s missing pieces, then he can fill in the gaps with linear algebra II and differential equations II. I wouldn’t use the placement exams as a good reference because they’re designed to be very difficult to pass. The actual finals are easier than the placement tests.</p>
<p>Both of my roommates and I placed out of 3 courses (one actually placed out of 4) and we were still adequately prepared. The Academic Excellence program for math classes is generally good, so anything that’s still unclear can easily be resolved. In hindsight, all three of us were glad we placed out.</p>
<p>Placing out gives your son more flexibility, which will be very useful in planning his courseloads sophomore year. Engineering majors benefit even more.</p>
<p>If your son is hardcore, though, to be honest community college math classes are simply inferior to Mudd’s math classes. But I consider the advantage of added flexiblity and lighter courseloads to be well worth a mild, short-term sacrifice in mathematical competence.</p>
<p>Thanks all. An interestsing range of responses. My concern was the same expressed by IBFootballer - that by rushing through he would miss some of the fundamentals and may struggle in later math courses - especially if he’s taking them against more expereinced students. I also thought it might not hurt in the GPA department to take classes that he has had before (at least if some are in second semester). </p>
<p>On the other hand, the flexibility could be helpful as he may want to study abroad. He is not likely to be an enginnering major. Probably CS (maybe math or physics). </p>
<p>I’m sure he’ll figure it out. I just wanted to see if there was a rousing chorus of “don’t do it” to see if I should discourage him. Sounds like it’s not an easy call.</p>
I just wanted to see if there was a rousing chorus of “don’t do it”
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FWIW, a rousing chorus of “don’t do it” is exactly what my son heard when he asked this question of some current Mudders at pre-frosh orientation. Their rationale seemed to be that Mudd math courses give students the specific background they’ll need for other (non-math) classes in following years.</p>
<p>To gain any real course flexibility he’d need to tests out of at least two levels, wouldn’t he? … since those first math classes are only 1/2 semester each?</p>
<p>yeah… but if you have to take all of 6x level (II-level) classes still there is no way of passing those without the fundamentals.</p>
<p>i still say pass out of a few of the 1x level (I-level) classes if you have a very strong foundation but prepare yourself for the 6x level…</p>
<p>this will give the student more opportunities for upper division tech electives if he/she plans to be an engineer (which has a ton of requirements)</p>