<p>Hey, so i know pomona has that 30 class minimum rule, but what is their policy on placement with APs. Do you have to test out in every subject, or can you earn any advanced standing by AP score results?<br>
Thanks.</p>
<p>You can skip into higher level classes with AP credit, if that's what you mean by advanced standing, but you can't use AP credit to graduate in, say, 2-3 years. This may seem unfair now, but when you get here you'll realize that you don't want to short yourself of the time you spend at Pomona anyway. </p>
<p>The advanced standing is helpful if you want to be further along in a major on case you plan to double (or triple) major, as well as study abroad, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply- do you know which classes they will let you place out of and with which scores? I heard about placement exams; which classes do you have to take placement exams in, and will AP scores excuse you from certain exams? And yeah, i know i still have to take 30 classes, which i'm fine with, i just don't want to have to re-take classes that i'm already pretty confident in. Also, i don't want to have to take my AP lit exam, per se, if they will already give me english placement for AP lang.</p>
<p>You can take as many or as few of the placement exams you want. The most popular ones are for foreign language, math, chem and physics.</p>
<p>As far as the English department, the sequence of classes isn't hierarchical like say Math (where you have Calc 1,2,3,Linear Algebra, and so on), so I don't think you can "place out" of classes even if you have 5's on Lit and Lang.</p>
<p>FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
If you get a 4 or 5 on an AP, >650 on SAT2, or 6/7 on IB, you can get out of the foreign language requirement. If you didn't do standardized tests in foreign language, a placement exam will put you in the right class. (Side note: Even if you can place out of foreign language, the departments are fantastic, and you should consider taking at least one of those classes anyway) </p>
<p>With Econ you can skip Intro Macro or Micro if you've taken both APs</p>
<p>With Math, you'll probably want to take the placement exam so you have an idea of what class you should be in (A lot who 5'ed CalcBC took Calculus II again anyway)</p>
<p>With Chemistry: General Chemistry is usually a two semester course. If you do well on the Chem AP and take the placement exam, you can take Chem 51, which covers the same material in one semester, and makes it a little easier if you're pre-med.</p>
<p>Physics has a similar setup as chem, if you've taken AP Physics C, they give you a different placement exam to figure out where you should fall in.</p>
<p>Hey, sorry to keep bothering you- so for math, can you place out by AP scores alone, as in Econ/language? Is the placement exam mostly to get an idea of where you stand, and if you pass it you'll be recommended to go a level up? And does the English department have any required courses besides the critical inquiry course (random question)? How hard are the placement exams, like if you get a 5 on an AP, are you most likely going to succeed on the placement exam?</p>
<p>You can conceivably enroll for any math class you want, but the placement exams will give you an idea of where you belong.</p>
<p>Critical Inquiry (ID-1) isn't part of the English department, but is a seminar course that every freshman takes. The English department is restructuring the major requirements, and I don't have the new catalog yet, so I'm not exactly sure.</p>
<p>The placement exams for math (and possibly some other subjects) are self-graded. They are used as an indicator of where you ought to start, but the results will not confine you to taking any specific class.</p>
<p>for the major requirements or pre-med, will calc BC satisfy the condition of a math class though? I'd like to double or dual major or study abroad if possible, so this could be helpful. I'm trying to find if there's any tangible advantage to taking the actual AP tests. Math is a particular problem since i took BC junior year and realllly don't want to take it again / not exactly sure if i remember it.</p>
<p>That is an interesting question. I know a person who is going to med school next year, and didn't take a single calculus course in college. He took the AP Calc AB exam in HS, and his college gave him credit for that. He regretted this when it came time to applying to med school because some schools, including Harvard and JHU, didn't accept AP calc AB. I'm not sure if it would have been different were it BC instead of AB. However, he is going to a top 15 med school anyways, he just couldn't apply to some of the top schools.</p>
<p>Should I take Lang or Lit?
Will it make a difference? As in, will I get to skip even a single semester with a 4 or 5?</p>
<p>I need to know ASAP. Thank you :)</p>
<p>I’m really glad to hear about how they have the math set up :)</p>
<p>To those that go to Pomona:</p>
<p>Do you recommend testing out of a class through APs? One of my friends at Stanford told me that testing out of freshman classes was a big mistake (esp. if you took the AP in 10/11 grade) because you don’t remember most of the stuff, and its harder to be thrown into a sophomore class. Is that the same deal w/ Pomona?</p>
<p>most classes you can’t really test out of. For chemistry, you have to take a test to get into accelerated gen-chem, and for math there is a placement test “recommends” which class you should be in. Everyone has to take bio (genetics) if he intends to be a bio or biochem major or is premed. I took a ton of APs and they’re all basically useless here, except you only have to take 30 classes (instead of 32) if you have >=2 AP credits.</p>
<p>If I am not very good at spanish, can I take it pass/fail to satisfy the language requirement?</p>
<p>I think you can-- but you need to take/pass up to spanish 44 or equivalent (3rd level of spanish, after 22 and 33). However, you can always take the spanish SAT II before you graduate high school; all you need is a 650. I took the French SAT II senior year because i only got a 3 on the AP. The SAT II was muchhh easier, and if you really don’t want to take a language class i would recommend it, but the language classes are really fun i’m told.</p>
<p>You can pass/fail foreign languages at the 33 level to complete the language requirement.</p>
<p>So… these are the APs I’m taking in about a month. Will any of these APs help me? I’ve been studying a bunch for these and I’ve been telling myself that studying for these will help me do well next year regardless of whether the credit counts… but I guess it would be really nice to know which (if any) would be helpful next year. </p>
<p>Bio
Calc AB
Lit
Gov
US</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Sorry one more thing. Will AP credits count towards a minor/major? Like if I walk in with 2 5s in history classes and see that I need say 7 history credits to have a minor… can I only take 5 history classes to say I’ve minored in history?</p>
<p>Interesting discussion. Daughter will receive a concurrent AA degree from the local JC when she graduates high school in May (mix of college and AP classes). Her purpose was to graduate from a UC in two years. Then she visited, fell completely in love with, and was accepted to Pomona. Her admissions advisor said that only two AP classes could be applied towards graduation, but that placement exams would put her in the proper classes and that she would repeat very little, if any, coursework. (Placement exams are done on a departmental basis.) She chose to apply to Pomona as a freshman rather than a junior transfer because so few transfer students are accepted. All thoughts of completing college in two years have gone by the wayside - she is so happy about the prospect of attending Pomona.</p>
<p>You can only count 2 AP credits toward the 32 credits/courses needed to graduate. Students must take 30 credits/courses for the BA degree. All courses used to satisfy the major must be taken for a letter grade; there may be exceptions depending on the major.</p>