<p>I'm trying to decide which tests to take for placement at Duke next year and could use some advice. I am interested in pre-med and am in the IB program.</p>
<p>Spanish:
I have taken it 4 years but am taking the SL IB test which doesn't earn credit/placement no matter how high I score. Does merely taking it 4 years in high school allow me to place into a high enough class that I only have to take one semester or is an AP/SAT II test required? (I loathe spanish). Also do you recommend that I go straight into a 100 level course if I'm not all that strong at Spanish? (I'm expecting to get around a 5 on the IB test).</p>
<p>Physics:
I haven't been able to take it at all in high school because of the way IB works at my school. Should I self-study an AP test? (I'm strong in math/calculus and the like). Basically will it look bad to med schools if I start off in "easy/intro" physics courses?</p>
<p>Chemistry:
Same as with Spanish where I had to take an SL test that won't earn credit. I could probably get a 5 on the AP if I self-studied. Necessary?</p>
<p>Thank you if you took the time to read all this. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help out, even more so if you are a current pre-med student who has gone through all of this. I'm unclear as to what I need to do between now and August even after extensively searching the website...</p>
<p>In response to your Spanish question, I heard that most of the Spanish classes here are quite rigorous and time-consuming. Unless you are very committed and interested in Spanish, I would try my best to take a 100-level course to get the requirement out of the way. From what I read on this Duke forum on the past, most people recommend taking 105 (supposedly the “easiest” 100-level Spanish class, but it is still pretty tough). But hey, you applied to Duke and are now enrolled, and you need to realize classes here are quite tough and are going to make you work very hard (but don’t worry either, if you work hard, you’ll be fine… just be prepared).</p>
<p>In response to your physics question, medical schools will not care if you don’t take AP Physics. Even premed students who have taken AP Physics usually take the same Physics class (I think it is PHYSICS 41/42, but I’m not sure) as those who never took AP Physics in high school. Of course, if you take a higher-level physics class (i.e. Honors Physics if Duke offers it; I’m not sure if they do) and do well in it, that will look better than taking the intro physics class and doing well in it. However, I wouldn’t sweat it too much… you should be fine just taking the introductory physics class.</p>
<p>In regards to your chemistry question, medical schools prefer that you have two semesters of inorganic chemistry in addition to two semesters of organic chemistry. If you AP out of gen chem at duke, you’ll have to take higher-level chemistry classes to satisfy the inorganic chemistry requirement. I think you’ll be fine starting in CHEM 31L your fall semester.</p>
<p>Hope this helps! I recommend going to the Office of Health Professions Advising website and email a prehealth advisor with any other premed questions you have.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks a ton. That’s exactly the response I was looking for. Sounds like I’m worrying about this too much. I might end up self studying physics anyway just for the background knowledge but it sounds like there’s no real advantage to taking the AP chem test because I’m already pretty familar with the subject.</p>
<p>Just to clarify:</p>
<p>Are you saying I don’t need to have an AP/SAT II in Spanish to get into the 105 level class? I struggle to scrape an A in high school spanish (my worst subject, I have no aptitude) so I’m guessing it would be better for my lack of interest in the subject and my GPA if I just take one semester and get something like a C rather than 3 semesters with all B-'s and whatnot.</p>
<p>Also thanks for making me aware of the Pre-med advising site, I didn’t know there was one!</p>
<p>I only took up to Spanish 3 in HS… and that was in 10th grade. I barely remember any Spanish right now. I think I’m gonna have to start at the very beginning unfortunately =/.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t understand why it’s even a requirement… I know enough Spanish to communicate basic things and I’m never going to go into a career that requires me to be fluent…</p>
<p>This has been the only real negative thing I’ve found in Duke as of yet but I suppose there are worse things.</p>
<p>Well, the Latino population is rapidly growing in this country, and not all of them are going to know English well. In the future, being fluent in Spanish will be a valuable skill that may differentiate you from other candidates for jobs. Spanish will be valuable for whatever career you enter. Duke is trying to prepare you for a global society, so I believe the foreign language requirement is a good thing. There have also been studies that associate learning a foreign language with better performance in English and some other courses.</p>
<p>The Duke Spanish department uses self-placement, so you do not need to take the AP/SAT II. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, but then took a year off before coming to Duke, so I decided to do a bit of a refresher and start in 76. Though 76 was quite tedious (way too many stupid little assignments), it was probably a good decision as I needed some serious review on subjunctive tenses, connectors, pronouns, etc. I would say that Spanish was one of my stronger subjects in high school, though that may not be saying much since our Spanish department wasn’t very rigorous. If you’re feeling like Spanish is a weakness, you may want to consider starting in 63 or 76. You can also take the SAT II in the Spring when you have a little more time just to give you a basic idea of where you stand – I did this the Spring before coming to Duke and it (pretty accurately) placed me into 76. </p>
<p>63 and 76 are very similar – they use the same book and I think 63 simply goes further back and reviews more basic verb tenses. 105 (the 100 level class I took) is definitely the way to go to complete your requirement. It is a speaking-based class, but speaking is actually the weakest part of my Spanish and I did well. It’s designed for non-majors and non-native speakers, so your classmates will likely be closer to your level. </p>