<p>I would like to know how difficult/challenging the first year writing classes at UVA are... is it worth taking the first year writing class over the summer at a community college or is it a cakewalk class?</p>
<p>Are you sure a community college class would transfer correctly as the first writing requirement?</p>
<p>UVa’s English dept. is very good. You might learn much more by taking it at UVa.</p>
<p>There are several different composition “tracks” designed for students of different ability levels. The composition page (on the English Dept. webpage) gives a description of these options; your SAT score should give you a sense of where you might fit, but if you think your SAT score does not reflect your actual writing ability, you can always petition for a higher placement via a writing portfolio. If you have a 5 on the AP English Language test or a 720 or above on the SAT writing section, you may not have to take freshman comp at all. You would still have to take a “second writing requirement” class, however; this could be an advanced comp course or any other humanities/social sciences class that requires 20 pages of writing or more.</p>
<p>The first year writing requirement is not hard at all. In my opinion, it’s essentially taking writing conventions you already do intuitively and giving them labels. For a while I thought it was a kind of silly, but I’m definitely seeing the benefit now. Writing papers has gotten much easier now that I can more easily determine what my claim is and where to include opposing views, etc. etc. Even though it can be a bit tedious, I think it’s useful just for gaining confidence in your writing skills.</p>
<p>I agree with Anne.</p>
<p>Check this link out to see if you’ll be exempt from the course:
[School/College:</a> - College of Arts and Sciences - University of Virginia - Acalog ACMS?](<a href=“College of Arts and Sciences - University of Virginia - Acalog ACMS™”>College of Arts and Sciences - University of Virginia - Acalog ACMS™)
Click on the link that says “Competency Requirements” and you’ll see the section for the First Year Writing Requirement.</p>
<p>Here’s another link:
[url=<a href=“http://www.engl.virginia.edu/undergraduate/writing/placement.shtml]Welcome[/url”>http://www.engl.virginia.edu/undergraduate/writing/placement.shtml]Welcome[/url</a>]</p>
<p>If you meet any of these requirements, you can opt out of the class. Although the class may be beneficial, I wouldn’t recommend taking it if you meet the requirements. The English department feels as if anyone meeting these conditions has the potential to excel without the course. Plus, there’s a Second Writing Requirement that all students must meet.</p>
<p>If the links I provided didn’t help, you should email the English department asking about their policy concerning transfer students.</p>
<p>On the advising page of the sis it says that I have not satisfied my 1st writing and must take 1505/1506 even though I scored 700 on the writing portion of the SAT. So I should have to only take 1510 in the spring. The English department site states that this score should satisfy these courses. Why is SIS not recognizing it?</p>
<p>Based on the first link in coolpg’s post #7 exemption is granted with a SAT writing score of 720. With a score of 700 the following would apply:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unless you have a secondary factor stated above (IB/AP Comp/AP Lit) you are not exempt.</p>
<p>From the English departments site…</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.engl.virginia.edu/undergraduate/writing/placement.shtml]Welcome[/url”>http://www.engl.virginia.edu/undergraduate/writing/placement.shtml]Welcome[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Section I.C. States that I can fulfill 1st writing by taking 1510, because of my SAT score, it does not say anything about the AP scores. However, SIS still says that 1505/1506 is required.</p>
<p>Now I think I understand…You are correct, you can take 1510 but that is to complete your first writing requirement, not via any exemption. It is an alternative to taking 1505/1506 which is a two semester course sequence for students who scored 480 or below on the SAT writing. You don’t get credit for these classes, you simply don’t take them. You can take 1510 to fulfill the requirement.</p>
<p>From the second link of coolpg’s post:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>NOTE: We crossed posts… If your SAT is reflected properly in SIS then contact them to see if everything is as it should be.</p>
<p>The above post #7 from coolpg is from an archived 2007-2008 catalog, not sure it relates to 2011-2012.
[url=<a href=“http://www.engl.virginia.edu/undergraduate/writing/placement.shtml]Welcome[/url”>http://www.engl.virginia.edu/undergraduate/writing/placement.shtml]Welcome[/url</a>]
This is the current site and it refers to the English Department for FWR exemptions and placements.</p>
<p>Contact who? how?</p>
<p>The 2011-12 FWR states what I quoted in post #11. 1505/1506 is a two semester sequence to fulfill the first writing requirement if you have a SAT writing score at or below 480. Your score of 700 makes you eligible to meet the first writing requirement through 1510. You don’t get credit for 1505/1506.</p>
<p>If your SIS is correctly showing your SAT scores but still showing you need to take 1505/1506 I would contact SIS @ Help Desk: (434-924-4357) or <a href=“mailto:4help@virginia.edu”>4help@virginia.edu</a> OR the Department of English @ Bryan Hall (434-924-7105).</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your help!</p>
<p>Yes, whenever you look at the UVa websites regarding course requirements (particularly from the Registrar), make sure you are looking at a current version. They keep old versions online and they often show up in a google search. The year is usually listed towards the center of the top of the page.</p>
<p>Yes, that was my error. I pulled from a link up-thread and didn’t check the date until I was looking at the second link. I should know better as I’ve run into this on SEAS as well. :o</p>
<p>Wait are you in SEAS or CLAS? They are totally different schools with totally different requirements. SEAS has no writing requirement like the college has and AP credit is different as well.</p>
<p>CLAS…but I think I figured it out.</p>