<p>I agree on the “fluff” class. You really need to get some input from kids who have already taken the class. My very smart nephew took an into to Astronomy last fall to fufill his science core requirement. Hardest class he took all year. </p>
<p>At orientation kids in my S’s major, finance, were warned against taking bio, chem or physics offered to first year majors in those subjects even if you really, really like bio, chem or physics and got a 5 on the AP exam. They were told to take “survey of science” or what I call science lite if you want a science class. They were told it is nice to have lots of interests and college is a good time explore them but not 1st semester freshman year and not by taking a core class for other majors.</p>
<p>My son took a film appreciation class. Before the class started, the prof posted a message that it was not a fluff class, that they would be expected to read the entire textbook, write a brief paper after each film, that each test would be cumulative and that they would have to write a major paper at the end. </p>
<p>Yet, I have known kids at other schools for whom “film” or “theater” appreciation is truly seeing a certain number of shows outside of class and writing a paragraph about each.</p>
<p>From what I have seen, non-majors rarely take majors’ courses in physics, chemistry, or biology anyway. The only exceptions would be students at places like MIT that have science graduation requirements and don’t have “science lite” courses, engineering majors with respect to physics (and sometimes the others, depending on major), and pre-meds with respect to biology (pre-meds often take chemistry and physics that are easier than the majors’ courses, but harder than the “lite” courses for humanities, social studies, and business majors).</p>
<p>Particularly for the language class I would try to look at a copy of the syllabus of the proposed level and the level below. Speaking casually to friends or coworkers is a very different thing from being able to write a paper with correct grammar, etc. Even placement tests are not great at assessing whether her high school curriculum is aligned with the college one. Probably the reading lists for each class are on line - I would check them out to help make a decision.</p>
<p>Does not seem to make sense. Juniors in calculus (two grades ahead, the students who are the best at math) should be able to handle calculus at the pace that university freshmen (zero grades ahead) are expected to handle it (i.e. BC or similar over one year).</p>
<p>On the other hand, schools may have a perverse incentive to encourage spreading calculus over two years in order to “double dip” on AP tests (“look at how many AP tests out students take”). I.e. a student who just takes a BC course and the BC test counts as one AP test taken, while a student who takes two years and takes AB one year and BC the next year counts as two AP tests taken.</p>
<p>one of the best things my dad did for me was forcing me to take precalc this summer. i really wanted to take calc 1, and i thought it would be a huge waste of time because i already took precalc as a senior in HS this year. he basically told me if i took precalc and understood it inside and out, i wouldn’t have much trouble in math for the rest of college. i have actually learned so many things and have really built a strong foundation for the rest of my years in math as well as a much deeper understanding of the topics. in college the instructors go much more in depth and actually explain the reasoning behind the formulas, in contrast to a lot of HS teachers who just say “memorize this formula.” the quality of teachers in most highschools is horrible
most of the classes that i was given the choice to opt out of, i decided to take anyway. in english i got a 36, and had the option of exempting freshman composition, but i decided to take it anyway because my writing is horrible and it’s such an essential skill that’s used in pretty much every class. unless it’s an elective class that your daughter would not really need (ie. history, psych, government), she shouldn’t skip it, especially if its an intro course pertaining to her major</p>
<p>I skipped ahead one calculus class and two Chinese classes. I found the calculus class in which I was placed to be very in line with what I had in high school, and, in all honesty, the Chinese class I placed into was easier. YMMV.
I understand that freshman year can pose many challenges, but I still don’t totally buy into the mentality that one should only skip ahead in strong subjects, do some repeats, etc. As midwesterner says, I suppose it depends on your aim.</p>
<p>It depends much on school and subject and major. D’s first college Bio covered AP material in first 2 weeks. Most kids in her class had AP Bio with 5 on exam, some di not survive the very first college Bio and completely changed their college track or major. However, D. felt that she wasted her time in college Honors English. Not her choice. She had only 4 on AP exam, so she was required to take one semester. At least it was an easy “A”. Again, had to take Chemistry since no AP was offered at her small private prep. HS. It was beyond easy, she rarely had below 100+%. completing all extra crdits, but again, she had no choice and it was not exactly waste since she was hand picked by prof. for an SI job that she had for 3 years. She definitely was prepared much better than others who had AP Chem in HS.<br>
It all depends, no general rule, no general advice. Foreign language college level depends on placement test. D. could not register for her first semester until she took both math and Spanish placement tests. Placing at higher level in Spanish was very benefitial, increased D’s skills tremendously, ended up being one of the best college classes.</p>
<p>Here’s an idea: I’ve never heard of any college that prevents students from taking various lower level courses even if they’ve tested out of a specific class.</p>
<p>Let’s use English as an example. Your daughter tested out of freshman English comp - great! That doesn’t mean she can’t take another lower-level course in English. Rarely do schools only have one course in a department on each “level.” For example, most schools I know of offer a standard (often required) English comp class for first-year students. However they also typically offer a broad, wide variety of intro-style classes in various discipline areas. Maybe Shakespeare 101 or a survey of American poets is more her style? </p>
<p>You could wash/rinse/repeat this advice for all areas she’s interested in for the first semester.</p>
<p>In other words, don’t set up a false dichotomy where the options are either “intro” or “advanced.”</p>
<p>I like the above suggestion. The U our S attended gave the kids with 4s & 5s AP credit AND still had them repeat for engineering UNLESS they fought to be exempted. They also had to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep merit awards. We were happy that S got his 60 credits for his many APs but still repeated the coursework and was able to ease into college, devoting more energy to social adjustments since the academics were pretty comfortable.</p>
<p>Since you have indicated that her U won’t allow your D to repeat the courses she is exempted out of, she could take other lower level courses rather than jumping ahead to upper division & grad courses.</p>
<p>I tested out of the 1st 3 semesters of Spanish in college. I had no intention of majoring in it, so I took conversational Spanish on a P/NP basis & enjoyed it. I took it for several years until eventually there were only Spanish majors in my classes & then dropped it to have more space for other courses. Taking courses P/NP if they are not required for your major is another way to explore & be comfortable while you find your bearings.</p>
<p>Justmytwocents makes a very good point. Almost every department will offer classes that are midway between the basic freshman intro and the heavy-duty courses for majors. I try to steer first-semester students to these courses if they have advanced placement. For instance, many kids who place out of “freshman comp” are still not proficient college-level writers, and will benefit from taking a more advanced writing-intensive class (I know I certainly did back in the day, and I had won national awards for my writing in high school.) Many English departments also offer literature courses for underclass and nonmajor students–an “introduction to close reading” or something of that nature, which is going to spend more time on shorter reading assignments, and on getting students’ writing up to speed, than an upper-level class for majors will. I always have some eager AP 5 freshman showing up in my upper-level fall classes, as they are permitted to do, and while some end up doing well, others flounder badly. There’s no way to tell in advance. I meet with this group after my first class meeting and tell them that if getting a C or a D is going to freak them out, then they should take something else.</p>
<p>Another option would be for your D to start some new areas where she doesn’t have prior credit, e.g. psychology, politics, etc. Then she won’t have to decide whether or not to accelerate until she has found her feet.</p>
<p>I always suggest that students consider retaking Calc if they are studying engineering. Soooo much builds upon those calc basics. And it seems a good idea to have an easier class first semester learning the ropes at college. </p>
<p>When my D started at an Engineering school, we heard Calc 2 was one of the hardest classes on campus. Some kids fail it more than once. I encouraged her to retake Calc 1, despite her 4 on AP Calc. I did let my son skip to Calc 3 with his 7 on IB math, but his hs prep was very rigorous. </p>
<p>OP - If your D is a good test taker but has challenges getting assignments (especially long term projects) handed in, she may have some issues adjusting to college workload. So your concerns are valid. On the other hand… you don’t want an ADHD kid bored in class. It’s good you’re consider the pros/cons here. No answers, just kudos to you for caring ;)</p>
<p>Our S got a 5s in Calc A/B but re-took calc for engineering; he also got 5s for AP Physics B & C, as well as CompSci (two semesters) & had no problems with the calc, physics, or comp sci in college. He did admit that there was a substantial amount of review but had no regrets that he had the sound base for engineering and had no stress about maintaining a GPA well in excess of the 3.0 required to keep his merit awards. He even was able to graduate with honors, so all in all we were happy with his choice not to exempt out of anything (even if he COULD have potentially gotten a bachelors & masters in 4 years if he had decided to exempt out of some of the courses, rather than just his BEE with honors).</p>
<p>Some schools deduct AP credit if the student takes a course that duplicates the AP credit. This may be something to watch for if the student is depending on all of the AP credits to make up the minimum credits for some degree requirement.</p>
<p>Yes, each school has its own policies. All the Us were willing to give S their max # of credits for all the coursework & APs he had completed. They did have different policies about repeating vs. advancing when he matriculated. At the school he attended, the default is to repeat everything; to do anything else, you have to challenge and work with the school you are majoring in. Many of the kids just go with the default & much (if not all) of the freshman engineering class at the U our S attended is in fact repeating the APs they took in HS.</p>
<p>As things worked out, my ADD S didn’t take a single first year class his freshman year and it worked out great. As one poster said, sometimes ADD kids do a bunch better when they are challenged. We were nervous about him launching into organic chem and MV calc right off the bat, but in retrospect he did get to skip a whole year of weeder classes. What made his mind up not to retake AP classes (and btw - he won’t get credit for most of them - just placement) was that he basically gets to take 32 classes during his college career (plus assorted labs). If he started back, he would only be able to 22 new classes, or something like that. For someone who wants to learn, that’s just not okay. Even skipping ahead there’s no way he can take all the classes he wants to.</p>
<p>The AP credit will give your daughter some flexibility in exploring other subjects, which is good. I skimmed the thread, so forgive me if this is a repeat. However, DD has found that she can tell very quickly whether she is placed right. Her switching around has driven me up the wall over the past two years, but it seems to work for her. </p>
<p>My suggestion is that your daughter familiarize herself with her college’s policy on dropping classes in case she gets in trouble with over scheduling. The other thing that is available is that most colleges offer a pass/no credit or pass/fail policy. If a student thinks she is not going to earn a high enough grade, sometimes she can switch the status (these policies ALWAYS have rules so check them early).</p>
<p>My daughter cracked me up with her maneuvering. She said that it helps when your mom is a prof.</p>
<p>I used to be the same way, but I learned how to ask for help and be more dependent this year. I think it is simply a learning thing. My aunt was the same way as well, until she failed an exam in undergrad. (I am a rising senior tho so it might be different)</p>
<p>The only courses I’d consider retaking are lab sciences (AP classes may not be enough to move to the next level in college). Schools that do not think that certain APs are at their college level do not give college credits for them.</p>
<p>A lot of HS grading depends on tedious HW that some students find boring and unnecessary. If she tested out of intro classes AT HER COLLEGE during orientation, repeating those classes may result in boredom and lower grades.</p>