<p>Ok does anybody else find NU's ap credit policies a little extreme? I mean, granted they expect people to be getting 4's and 5's, but, for example, the biology, arguably one of the most difficult tests, requires a 5 for credit, while calc ab, (in my opinion one of the easier tests) only needs a 4 for credit.
Most every class requires a 5 on the respective test which is pretty tough. It almost makes it not worth it to take a test unless you are sure you can five it...</p>
<p>I don't know, I guess I can kinda see how it's unfair, but often it's not THAT hard to get 5s on AP tests given the generous grading policies - there's a huge range of scores where you can get a 5. If you study really well, pay attention in class, and know the material really well, you SHOULD get a 5. Key word is "know," because really, it doesn't matter how hard you TRY and how hard you STUDY, it's how much you KNOW at test-taking time that counts. I know it feels unfair because we may have worked really hard and still gotten a low score (trust me, I know. I studied so hard for the AP Spanish exam and still felt like I did poorly because I just don't know spanish THAT well) Therefore, we feel like we should get credit for our hard work. However, with these AP policies, Northwestern's just making sure you know the material well, because it won't do YOU any good if, suppose, you get credit for a 3 and get to take a higher level class which you completely fail because you don't understand the material. Northwestern has a very high reputation, and they don't want students doing poorly in higher level classes because of lax AP policies letting them bypass lower level classes. We freshmen don't know how hard the higher level classes are, so maybe we should reserve judgment about NU's ap credit policies until we get into those classes. Then, perhaps we'll be like "they're right, students coming into these classes REALLY need to know this stuff as evidenced by their AP score." I mean, how else is NU going to know how well we've mastered the material if not by AP tests? And of course, if you don't like using AP scores, you can take their own placement exams anyway, so it's not too late. Then again, maybe we'll get to those higher level classes and still believe students with 4s...or even 3s...can handle this stuff. Who knows? I'm still waiting for my AP scores for this year, and I know I too will be disappointed if I get a 4 in a subject and won't get credit for it...but at least we've considered both sides of the argument before criticizing NU, I guess.</p>
<p>That said, the thing about NU's AP policies that <em>I</em> don't like is their limit on how much we can use. I mean, we pay $80-100 for these tests and can't use them to get credit?? That's a LOT of money lost. I hope maybe somebody can show me the other side to THIS argument, because I even read in one Daily Northwestern issue that some professors argued against such a strict AP limit, using the "why fix something that's not broken in the first place" reasoning. Using our AP credit, which we worked so hard to achieve high scores in the first place, will allow us to take higher level, more interesting courses. What's so bad about that? I'm willing to hear a discussion about this.</p>
<p>biology = 5 and you only get credit for a 100 class... the core bio class is 200s... but whatever, i guess they want to hammer it in you... which will benefit you in the long run if you're taking mcats..</p>
<p>The AP credits are a bit extreme, IMO. (Then again I'm a junior whose 4s gave her college credit. I really bad for the incoming freshmen. More money for Northwestern to take out of your parents' pocket since it will take longer to complete your degrees. This is also a factor to reduce the number of double-majors and minors.)</p>
<p>i wasn't aware of a limit on credit you can use. does that mean you can only get credit for a few good ap test scores? And I do agree about the courses being difficult, but one single test score from a week in May can't tell them everything you know about a class...</p>
<p>In most cases it wouldn't matter that much because we can only use so many of our ap tests for credit. I'm sure we can place out of other subjects after the battery of tests they give us. The only AP test that would have really been helpful for me would have been the language one which would take care of the language requirement, for anything else I would have finished the requirement with or without the credit. So even though you don't get a five on the AP test, you can still place out of the class given that you've still retained the knowledge from before.</p>
<p>Found the link, if you need to you should probably take care of this ASAP.
<a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/newstudentweek/before/placementexams.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.northwestern.edu/newstudentweek/before/placementexams.html</a></p>
<p>yeah, this is total ********. I disagree with what neom said, just because nationally, only between 5 and 15 percent (depending on what test) of takers score a 5. A 4 is a damn good score, and schools comparable to NU (best example being the UCs) give credits for 3s and 4s on most everything. I got a 4 on govt and lit, and am getting no credit for that. </p>
<p>On top of that ********, since we're on quarter system, you really cant get any credit for this. At other schools, its good for a whole semester.. at NU, a passign AP grade is worth less because its only good for a quarter.</p>