Hello, I’m an incoming freshman that will be attending Georgia Tech this fall, and I have a question about AP credit and course selection. This year I took 4 AP exams and believe to have done well on all of them (4s or 5s). According to GT’s course catalog, I would be able to earn credit for most of them and place out of certain classes freshman year. However, I was wondering if it would be wise to do so, considering that the courses that some colleges offer are considerably more broad and rigorous than their AP counterparts.
For example, if I earned a 4 or 5 on my AP Calculus BC exam, I am eligible to place out of first year differential and integral calculus and take linear algebra instead. The problem with this though is that maybe by skipping GT’s version of calc 1, I’m missing out on some material I haven’t learned, or I’m missing out on learning at a much higher level of rigor that is now expected of me in college. Consequently, I wouldn’t be able to perform as well in linear algebra and possibly end up with some lower grades for my freshman year.
So my question(s) for current/past students who have gone down this path or a similar one, is placing out of classes with AP credit worth it? Are some classes easily able to be skipped when some shouldn’t be no matter what? Do most students who do use AP credit to place out of classes perform fine their first year? Thanks.
They have changed freshman math so I am not sure my answer would still apply, but her is my D’s story. She was an incoming freshman last year and used all of her 22 AP credits. She did fine in all her classes including Calc 2 where she got an A. She is not a math wiz, but did do Tech prep right before first semester. Those who use their AP credit do fine if they do the work and look for help when they need it. Tech is a huge change from high school. Also, using your AP credit improves your time ticket when it comes to choosing classes.
@jacksac67 : Usually linear algebra at any school is not taught at a level in congruence with the intro. calc courses, but multivariable usually is. The only issue at Tech is that calc. 2 usually includes a linear algebra component meaning that a complete linear algebra course may assume some knowledge of eigen values and things like that. However, it depends on the reasons why calc. 2 is like that. If it is because many engineering majors don’t need a full fledged linear algebra course (and will go on to diff. eq and multi), but do need some exposure or if it is just to make a smoother transition into lin. algebra.
Either way, this is 1502 at Georgia Tech: http://people.math.gatech.edu/~aleykin3/math1502fall12/exams.html It teaches a significant amount of the basics of linear algebra concepts unless they changed it. Nope, no change: http://people.math.gatech.edu/~loss/14FALLTEA/1502BQH/TESTS/Tests.html