<p>Hey.</p>
<p>I am weeks away from graduating from high school and later going off to Purdue in engineering with premed. If i have gotten a 5 on the ap exams for physics, chem, bio, and calc, should i test out of them or retake them. I know some people think that retaking them gets you easy A's and helps your gpa but i have been told that you can always take fluff classes at the end to get your gpa up if you need it. Also if you don't have to take those classes you can concentrate your time on fewer classes throughout your 4 years. Please give me your thoughts and opinions on this issue.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Here is [Purdue’s</a> AP chart](<a href=“Learn about Purdue University - Undergraduate Admissions - Purdue University”>Learn about Purdue University - Undergraduate Admissions - Purdue University).</p>
<p>For AP Calculus, if you get a 5, it would be a waste of time to start over. Either take the more advanced course recommended by the school’s math department, or start over *in the honors freshman calculus<a href=“Purdue%20Math%20181,%20182”>/i</a> if you want to learn the material with more theory. Students very confident in their math ability may choose to jump directly into the more advanced honors courses. If you get a 4, then you need to think about how confident you are in your calculus knowledge in terms of whether to advance ahead or start over (Purdue gives no subject credit for a 3 or less).</p>
<p>For the science courses, check with the departments in question and your major department for recommendations on whether to advance ahead or start over. If you get a 5 and have to start over, you may want to consider the honors version if offered.</p>
<p>Advancing ahead effectively gives you additional free electives, though if the course is a core requirement for the major and the university course goes into more depth than the AP syllabus, you may want to retake it (possibly in the honors version if offered). Note, however, if you are pre-med, medical schools do not want to see AP credit used for pre-med requirements, so you may have to retake the courses, or take more advanced courses in the pre-med subjects.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information.
If anyone else has any comments from experience it would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>As an engineer you are going to have to take further calculus classes, and perhaps some others. One issue to consider is whether you’ll end up in off-semester scheduling. A class such as Calculus normally runs on a year-long sequence; your 1st semester you take Math 1A and the 2nd you take 1B. If you get credit thru AP for only 1/2 the year then you either take 1B your 1st semester or wait until the 2nd semester to take it. </p>
<p>If you want to take Math 1B 1st semester you’ll find out they don’t offer as many classes of it. There may be only 1 prof teaching it, while there may be several teaching the 1A class since so many more people are starting the sequence. Which has 2 implications. First, you’ll be taking the 1B class with all the other kids that came in with AP credit, so they’re probably smarter than the average 1A student and the curve could be tougher. Second, you won’t have a choice of times or profs. If it coincides with another class you want or the prof isn’t that highly regarded, you’re stuck.</p>
<p>Also, as pointed out, med schools sometimes require that you satisfy their requirements with classes taken in college, not thru AP credit. This is something you should look into to make sure you don’t end up having to take advanced versions of the classes you get AP credit for.</p>