<p>It is my understanding that you are required to take placement exams sometime during the summer, and if you do poorly on them, you are placed in preparatory classes; if you do decently, you are assigned to normal classes; if you do well, you are able to validate a course. Can someone elaborate on that, please? Are those exams similar to SAT II, AP, or IB tests? </p>
<p>The reason I'm asking is because every test is very different (eg: my IB Calculus test was very conceptual and heavy on calculus, while AP Calculus exam was much more in-depth and had a lot more trigonometry in it). I probably won't have enough time to review every single topic on every subject, so if someone could give me a general idea of any test, I will greatly appreciate it.</p>
<p>Most tests are taken online for weeks before you report. The math tests consist of algebra, geometry, and trig, which will be fairly simple if you did well in math in high school. If you do well on these, you'll then take the calc validation tests (still online). If you got a 4 or 5 on the AP calc AB you'll validate calc 1 anyways, and if you got a 4 or 5 on the BC you'll validate calc 1 and 2. Chemistry validation is taken the first week at the Academy during the summer. Theres 100 or so questions, and if you do very very poorly (less than 5 correct) then you'll be put into pre-chem. If you do decent, you'll be in chem 1, and if you get ~65 you'll validate chem 1 and they'll have you take the chem 2 exam. English is also taken during the summer, for us it was a 2 essay exam. If you did very poorly, you were put in "trucker's english," if you did very well, you validated english 1. </p>
<p>Theres a lot more opportunities to validate, especially if you took AP's and got 4's or 5's (ex, I validated "human behavior NL200" because of AP psychology. This is an elective that likely won't even come into play until firstie year, but it's good to have.</p>
<p>Jaybee and USNA2012mom have done a great job of explaining validations taken before or during Plebe Summer. Just remember that you can always ask whether you can validate a class. The worst that will happen (if you ask respectfully) is that you'll be told "No."</p>
<p>Also, there will be a course validation test (NOT during Plebe Summer!) the first day of your first swim class during the academic year. If you can swim 200 meters in 3:30 or less, you can validate the first semester of swim class.</p>
<p>She's right, one of my friends who previously did NROTC was able to validate American Naval History by asking (nobody ever validates this class). He showed them the powerpoints from what he learned at ROTC and the dean cleared it.</p>