<p>I'm a mother to a son who is currently a freshman. He is considering, but not sure, about med school (engineering major). He scored a 5 on AP Bio exam in high school, which means at his university that he has credit for 8 hours of Biology (Bio I and II, plus labs). He is considering using the Bio I credit. Will this make him "ineligible" for med school, because he didn't actually take Bio I through his university? For that matter, should he use both the Bio I and Bio II credit and skip those entirely?</p>
<p>Sorry if this is a dumb question. I know every med school is different, but there must be some kind of "rule of thumb". Advice?</p>
<p>Doubleplay at D's school you will find the Health prodfessions advising staff advising them to retake the courses. At D's school you will find the chem and bio prof's advising potential chem and bio majors to retake the introductory courses even when they are NOT pre-med. Even with 5's. </p>
<p>Some kids do, some kids don't. My kid took them again and feels more prepared for the upper level bio's she is taking this term than she would have coming from high school.(She says the pace is tremendous as they expect you to know a good deal prior to taking the course.) At least at her school , she says there is no comparison at all between the work required to get a 4-5 on an AP and the work required to get an A or A- in the college course. It is several magnitudes different in her opinion. I have heard that at other schools it is similar or only slightly different than the high school course.</p>
<p>Suggest that he talk to kids who done both, and see if he can find any consensus. It will be different on a school to school basis IMO.</p>
<p>cur is right that the course content of an AP science course is FAR different from a good college one. I would argue that in many cases, an AP course is more like a college survey course for non-majors. </p>
<p>Some schools, e.g. U. Chicago, even offer an accelerated bio course sequence for kids that got a 5 on the AP bio exam. My D took honors chem her first year and found they covered the material from the AP course in a few weeks.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the pre-med advisors did not advise her to take physics or math, to use her ap credits instead.</p>
<p>An AP course is not equivalent to a college intro course. The college course, in general, will cover more material and will be more challenging. But, this doesn't mean that you can't get by on the MCAT with an AP course because the MCAT is not equivalent to a college course either. MCAT physics is much simpler and more narrow than the physics you'll experience in college.</p>
<p>do med schools care if u chose not to use AP credit and took an intro course? (like when u get a 5 on the AP)</p>
<p>As we've explained on the thread which is linked at the very top here, medical schools usually don't accept AP credit. Therefore you MUST either take more advanced classes or retake the original set. Either option is fine.</p>
<p>trust me, take it over in college... it certainly shouldn't hurt your gpa in college and it won't put you behind. It doesn't hurt to refresh your memmories either after HS. Likewise with Bio. </p>
<p>You want to be the absolute best, not the fastest. It isn't a race to the finish line, it's to be the best possible doctor you can be. Know your material, it will help later.</p>
<p>if it's a weedout class, you might not want to take it in college though</p>
<p>if you can't handle a class in college that you got AP credit for (ie- intro biology), then I fear for you in upper level courses.</p>
<p>I would retake.</p>
<p>oh yeah of course, my objective is to take all of the intro courses for the sciences to make sure my foundation is solid (like for MCATs)</p>
<p>i'm just worried about colleges not allowing students to take intro courses if they already have AP credit</p>
<p>It's not a big deal if you can't retake. The MCAT tests at an AP level anyway. There's not a lot of material covered.</p>
<p>but if i have to go right away to higher level bio courses for example and spend a ton of energy on those, would i kind of forget what i would've learned in intro bio?</p>
<p>when u mean AP level? like a crappy AP class or an exemplary one? i know physics is quite below AP level</p>
<p>By the time most people take the MCAT, they will have forgotten most of what they've learned in intro bio anyway. The MCAT covers so little material that it can be refreshed in a matter of weeks.</p>
<p>AP level=below college level (AP courses whether at a top HS or a crappy one will not be comparable to a college course)</p>
<p>and when u say that the MCAT tests at an AP level, then technically would a class like AP Chem or Physics be sufficient knowledge-wise?</p>
<p>Knowledge-wise, yes. </p>
<p>The MCAT isn't a test of knowledge though.</p>
<p>oh for the test, is 10-10-10 the minimum really to have a shot at most med schools? what if someone has 10-10-15, that's still good, since all of them are double digits right?</p>
<p>1.) Assuming you can get a 5 on the exams, yes -- after all, your course may have been poorly taught or whatever.</p>
<p>2.) Generally, a balanced thirty is the cutoff at which you can be pretty confident of being able to get into some medical school, somewhere. (Remember, the standard is higher in CA.)</p>
<p>If a 10-10-10 is good enough, then a 10-10-15 is a better score, so... yes, it's still good enough.</p>
<p>how would u characterize the chances of sub-30 MCAT students for med school? would they have to have almost the best ECs to get in?</p>
<p>Depends on how far below, their race, their geography, their grades. EC's, too, but those four first.</p>