What's with all the class placement tests?

<p>Hey I read something on the Upenn site about AP Credit and how they test you to see if you get credit for the normal class. I thought if you got a 5 on any AP Test (besides the ******** ones that don’t matter like Music Theory or some crap) then Upenn would give you credit.</p>

<p>For example I got a 5 on both Biology and Chemistry, but from what I understood Penn expects me to remember the whole course for like 2-3 years and then get tested on it before I come in as a freshman. If I do poorly on the test I just get credit towards graduation but I don’t skip any classes.</p>

<p>Am I missing something? I want to take AP Calc BC test this year and test on the AP Test a 5 and get out of Math 104</p>

<p>No test is necessary if you have a 5 on the BC calc.</p>

<p>Placement exams are only necessary for Chemistry and Biology, I believe.</p>

<p>The placement test for chemistry is pretty sexy. It's definitely something to check out.</p>

<p>thats definitely the first time i have ever heard anyone call a test sexy ;)</p>

<p>That's just how great penn is :)</p>

<p>I found this:
<a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/advanced.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/advanced.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I don't see the point of having an Chemistry 091 credit... that's pretty useless</p>

<p>that's kind of the point...</p>

<p>Within a couple of years Penn and the other Ivies will not be honoring AP credit at all, at least that's what my advisor has told me. The rationale being than a high school AP class is not equivilent to a college class, period. After taking AP bio in high school and getting a 5 on the test, then taking a year of bio for my premed requirements, I have to agree with them.</p>

<p>They can always make the AP test harder and add a "6" as the max grade.</p>

<p>Colleges aren't accepting APs cause they don't want to lose $$ by kids graduating early.</p>

<p>Flavian: Welcome to IB. Scale of 1-7. Hard tests, but accepted pretty much nowhere.</p>

<p>I heard that if you take the academic office secretaries out for a steak dinner, they can do wonders with their quick typist fingers, and change a '5' to a '6' in no time. So much so that you'll never think of AP tests ever again...</p>

<p>are you sure there's a bio placement test? my academic advisor just told me to decide whether or not i want to take the credit...i never heard of a placement test :(</p>

<p>Yes there is a bio test if you want to place out some intro bio courses, or get some credit if you don't have AP. They allow retakes so you can come back next semester and take it if you don't pass.</p>

<p>the deal for bio placement tests: you don't have to take it if you received a 5 on AP, because you can just skip into bio 121 or bio 122. for a bio major, you need the sequence 101-102, or AP-121 or AP-122. you can take a bio placement test to place out of 121 or 122, but a background in AP won't help you much in these tests, i don't think. i took 121 after AP and knew really nothing.it's much more in depth.</p>

<p>This is the deal for bio placement tests, in addition to what was stated above. You DO have to take the placement test to place out of 121 or 101 even if you have a 5 on the AP. AP credit gives you credit for bio 091 or some number like that, a useless class unless you're not a science major and need to fill the 4th science requirement. 101-102 and 121-122 are equivalent classes, they count towards the same thing, etc., and whether you take one or the other is simply a matter of personal preference. 121 focuses much more on molecular biology than 101, which is much more macrobio, including plants (101 is most like AP, though only really the second half of it). In fact, most people who take 121 first semester switch over to 102 second semester, as 122 is apparently just a crappy class, and enough faux-premeds get culled out after first semester to make such moves easy.</p>