molliebatmit

I think that's a great philosophy to have!

There will be some events during orientation to help students decide whether they want to start in more advanced classes or stick with the basics, so definitely don't feel like there's pressure to decide to take ASEs now.

kryptonsa36

As a trend, however, all the Olympiad campers I know here opted (and succeeded in) testing out of the intro courses in their prospective majors.

But of course each case is unique. A USAPhO-er I'm friends with wasn't interested in being a Physics major, so he actually didn't bother testing out of 8.02 (I'm not sure why, as that would've cleared up a requirement that he could've used the room for to take a class in his major instead). He's a Math major, so he passed out the 18.02 and 18.03 ASEs.

Your son can make his own decision about how he'd similarly want to approach testing for Biology & Physics, though as you can see, the Bio ASE was both a very popular one to take because of dropped AP credit but with one of the lower pass rates (16%).

cellardweller

There are definite benefits to taking ASE in order to achieve sophomore standing by spring freshman year:
-No limits on credits spring semester
-Ability to take a class as exploratory in the Spring (which can be dropped to listener status AFTER you get your final grade).
-Declaring a major.
-Preferences for UROPs in the department of your major

In regards to sophomore standing the criteria are slightly more liberal than what Mollie listed as my D just was offered that option:

-You need to have taken 4 (out 6) Science GIRs, which is easy if you either place out of 8.01 or 18.01 with a 5 on the AP exam or take the ASE.
-CI-H requirement
-25% of total graduation requirements requires an additional 36 units which can be achieved with 36 AP elective credits (you get 9 AP credits for every score of 5 on a non-science AP exam, so you need 4 APs).

Taking an ASE during IAP has its risks as the grade WILL show on the official transcript even though it will not be counted in the GPA.

The one possible benefit of taking the ASE (and you don't have the AP credit) is that if math or physics is not your main area of interest you can avoid taking 18.02 or 8.02 for a grade in the Spring. My D, a course 9 Major, breezed through Calc in HS, placed out of 18.01 but found 18.02 hard. She is definitely happy it was only P/F. She is now done with the math requirements. She now wishes she had taken AP physics in HS and had placed out of 8.01 as well so she would be done with physics. She is not looking forward to 8.02. Obviously, for many MIT students these intro classes are easy!

Olo

I agree with cellardweller's list, but have two things to note:

- Keep in mind sophomore standing takes you off ABC/NR
- You don't get preferential treatment for in-department UROPs with anything BUT course 9, which is the only major that requires a UROP (if I recall correctly), so don't stress out about it too much.