<p>These questions are for ppl already attending chicago:</p>
<li><p>How many placement tests do we have to take? (i know i have to take calc and maybe bio, and i will take spanish, but anything else?)</p></li>
<li><p>How difficult is the calc placement test?</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve heard that if u don’t do some extra preparation durin the summer, calc classes can be REALLY hard (i will be an econ major) especially if u place into a difficult class. Should i do some prep? if so, how should i go bout preparing?</p></li>
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<li><p>You are essentially required to take calc and bio. All others are optional. You should take at least one language placement, if you can. </p></li>
<li><p>It deals with essential material in basic ways. The last questions are difficult unless you've studied those concepts, in which case they're not very hard. It's meant to show how much math you've done and which class you'd be most ready for during the year.</p></li>
<li><p>That's not true. Honors Calculus is always difficult (I'm not even going to get into Honors Analysis because you seem to only be asking about calc)--reviewing material makes no difference at all since it's an entirely proof-based curriculum. The 130s are usually thought to be like BC Calc, and the 150s are a level above that. I took 153 autumn quarter (the placement was 153, strongly urged to take 160s; it's a common placement for students who got 5s on BC Calc), and it was fine. I didn't get a very good grade, but I did almost no work for the class and didn't pay attention. :) Most people find their math classes fine, especially after the masses of students drop down from 161 to 153 second week of the quarter. But, yeah, don't prep. The placement will place you where you ought to be.</p></li>
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<p>thanks corranged. but is it possible for a student who has never taken calc BC (my school didn't offer) to be placed in 153? then i'd struggle wouldn't I? sry i'm bein so worrisome. My mom jus scared me with a story of a friend's son who almost failed first quarter calc cuz the class was "over his head."</p>
<p>Wait..should I start taking tuitions this summer? Because the last time I did calculus was for my exams in May and its slowly leaking out of brains. Including the HL Bio and HL Chem for IB.</p>
<p>Do not study over the summer. You will be placed into the math class you should be taking. It doesn't really matter which one that is. If it's too difficult, you can easily drop down a level (say, from 151 to 131). It would be unusual for a student who hasn't taken BC calc to be placed into 153 unless your class covered more than the normal AB material and went into BC topics. A 5 on the AB Calc tends to place students into 152. Lots of students start off at 151, 131, 161, or another math class such as 112. It's not something to worry about. You will be placed in the level that's right for you, and if it's not, you can easily switch.</p>
<p>I did IB Math Methods SL</p>
<p>Could somebody tell me about the placement tests? I don't know anything about them.</p>
<p>Don't study. That's all you need to know.</p>
<p>The exception is if your dream is Honors Analysis or an Honors science, in which case you'll want to brush up a bit on the harder material.</p>
<p>I have a rather complicated question concerning credits.</p>
<p>I will be taking the Japanese placement exam and will most likely test into at least 301 (at least, so says my high school Japanese teacher who has thick ties with Chicago Japanese professors). Anyway, I also have quite a bit of knowledge in German and could probably test out of the first year of German. The maximum number of credits one can contain by placement tests (in electives, at least) is six, however, so if I tested out of 2 years of Japanese and 1 year of German, I'd only get six credits. What's worrying me is that if you're a math major, at most grad schools it's required that you know to a reasonable extent either German, French, or Russian, but in most cases you are pre-qualified if you have already taken a year of one of these languages as an undergrad. So my main question, I guess, is that if I test out of 2 years of language and only receive 6 credits, will there still be some kind of way to let the German show up on my transcript so I won't have to take an extra German course? Otherwise, I don't think it's worth it to take the German placement exam.</p>
<p>um...if i understood correctly, youre thinking the test might be a waste of time since you'll only get siz credits and you want people to know youre good at german. A few things- yes, there will be a note on your transcript if you pass out of your language requirment, though since there is only one language requirment, they may just give you a certificate for german and write that you passed Chinese. you really ought to ask, this is proabaly something left to your advisor. And if it really bugs you, our dean is totally willing to help with weird technical things- you can petition to have the fluence show up. But also, these tests arent easy- while i have faith in your ability to pass chinese, you may be underestimating how tough these tests are if you think you're gonna get six credits. We have some of the greatest/most intense language programs in the world, and the tests demand a lot. But finally, couldn't you just tell grad schools you're fluent in german? There is a section that asks for languages that you know, and it doesnt ask whether you learned them in college or got them from a fairy. It should be all the same, really.</p>
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But finally, couldn't you just tell grad schools you're fluent in german? There is a section that asks for languages that you know, and it doesnt ask whether you learned them in college or got them from a fairy.
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<p>This isn't something to look good on my transcript to gain entrance into grad school, it's a requirement of grad school (in mathematics, specifically). For example,</p>
<p><a href="http://math.mit.edu/graduate/program-structure.html#dept%5B/url%5D">http://math.mit.edu/graduate/program-structure.html#dept</a></p>
<p>under language requirements. But anyway, thanks for the info... it sounds like I'll be able to work with it as long as I pass the placement test. (And trust me, I know Chicago has an amazing reputation in language. ^^)</p>
<p>you'll be able to chat with your adviser about things like this on multiple occasions during O-Week. I sure don't know the answer.</p>
<p>but again, like corranged said, studying for the placement tests defeats the purpose of it. do a simple refresher if you feel you need to, but don't overstress about it. If you do well on the test, you'll be put in a more difficult class, and if anything your first quarter, you want to take easier classes instead of harder classes to adjust to the environment and to see how you do work. (And to also to get used to the fact that yes, there are parties, and yes, sometimes they are on weeknights).</p>
<p>one tip about the math placement test-- start at the end and work backwards. I skipped over a lot of questions that involved integration, which was never my thing, and instead wrote up the delta-epsilon proof for the definition of a limit, which was totally my thing. Had I only done the integrations, I probably would have had to take some more calc to get core credit, but because I knew the delta-epsilon proof, I was able to test out of requirements.</p>