rainynightstarz

So what ASE are you guys taking, and what are your plans for studying?


I took chem AP last year, so I don't remember much. Thus, I won't bother trying to take the ASE for chem. Only 1 person I know ever passed it.

I am taking Bio AP this year, but I read somewhere that only 16% passed the ASE in the class of 2011, so I am not too sure how hard I should study for it. I want to take it so i can get all the bio GIR stuff over with. My AP teacher is pretty awesome. We got to do PCR and other fun experiments with plasmids and making bacteria glow, but probably far from enough for ASE. I can get the text books and just study them, but I don't know how much that is going to help. Any comments/suggestions? ( There wasn't that much info on bio in last year's thread)

I took a supposedly Calc based Mechanics Physics at a community college (it is suppose to one of the top CC in the country...-_-). I am trying to go through all the lectures and psets and exams for 8.01 by the end of summer. Apparently the teachers at the CC often get lazy and use problems from MIT OCW.

There are a lot of stuff I want to do over the summer. So might not have time for any of them if I get a internship.. ahhh

I want to pass out of at least one so I can take two none GIR classes (2.00B (9-credits!) and 6.01) for 2 majors that I am interested in during spring semester.

So what are your plans?

p.s. I should seriously press the thing on myMIT that says " Yes, I will go to MIT" before I forget...

p.p.s any info on FEE and the limitations of HASS classes if we fail FEE would be very welcomed. Clearly I can't write English. No joke.

molliebatmit

To study for the bio ASE, I would check out the archived 7.01x sites. They have former problem sets and keys, as well as former exams and keys.

There will be a lot of information about ASEs and the FEE (and more!) on the First Year website starting May 1.

As far as I recall, students who fail the FEE have to take one of four writing classes (the first four classes described here). I've heard positive things about the classes.

rainynightstarz

Thanks Mollie! I saw you when I checked in for CPW on Thursday morning. You were helping someone, so I didn't say "hi".

I just checked one of the practice final exams for 7.012. It looked a lot like my Bio tests. Some questions require a clearer understanding of concepts, but overall with a bit of reviewing and studying, I hope it is do-able.

la montagne

For the Bio ASE, do you get to choose what area of bio you want it to be in?... since you can pick different 'flavors' of core bio and all...

molliebatmit

I'm pretty sure there's just one bio ASE, and they probably make the test from the material taught in 7.012 and 7.013 (which are pretty similar to each other with only a slightly different focus). 7.014 is kind of the odd one out of the intro bio classes.

rainynightstarz

Is the 6-credit Freshmen Advising Seminar very time consuming? Or do you just meet with them once a week.

molliebatmit

Just once a week. And with free food! It's not 6 units because it actually requires 6 hours of your time, just because 6 units is the effective minimum number of units a class counts for at MIT.

I didn't take a freshman advising seminar, but I wish I had. My friends all had a lot of fun in theirs.

rainynightstarz

Sounds awesome! There are some pretty interesting topics for the seminars.

kryptonsa36

The Bio ASE is very do-able (speaking as one of the 16% who passed out). It is, after all, a 16%, and not a zero. They made practice tests available, and those were a great asset.

PiperXP

You have nothing to lose by trying the ASE. It won't go on your record, it doesn't count for a grade (ASE's are considered pass/no record in the fall*). If you know it, you'll get out of it. If you don't, you'll take it here. Simple ^.^

ASE'S ARE ABC/NR DURING IAP. If you take a class during IAP, it's still P/NR, but an ASE taken during IAP counts for a grade. Just so y'all know =D

curious8582008

Are the ASE's as hard as the class that you're trying to get out of? I'm not so into skipping classes just to be ahead and want to be really prepared for future classes and jobs. If the ASE's are really hard, then they'll be an accurate measurement of whether I'm prepared. I'm asking because the advanced placement tests for honors math are ridiculously easy and don't actually test the material that you're trying to skip.

LauraN

The level of difficulty varies between classes, but I can promise you that you will not pass unless you deserve to.

iostream

and even if the ASE's weren't up to the difficulty of the actual exams, you could just learn about whatever the test didn't cover/do harder problems later. you know, classes aren't the only way to learn stuff. furthermore, you can hone your skills in other classes that have them as a prerequisite -- teachers don't expect students to remember every single detail of what they learned in prereq classes, so you'll probably have some time to warm up and refresh your memory (e.g. 18.02 is crucially necessary for the vast majority of physics courses beyond 8.02, linear algebra is used a lot in 8.06, etc.)

i passed out of every single ASE offered this year, and i don't feel like i missed out on anything.

tachobg

The ASEs are very similar to the final for the given class. However, the final tends to have easier and more straightforward problems than the problem sets. I tested out of 18.02 and the ASE was pretty straightforward -- the course I took in high school was more than enough preparation. My roommate is taking 18.02 this term and sometimes asks me stuff about the psets, and from that I can tell that the MIT version is considerably more in depth, and that the problem sets are more challenging than what i had in high school (hws were mostly easy textbook problems). but it's not really worth it to take a class just to learn a few extra things which you'll probably pick up quite easily if you ever need them.