plumazul

@maureenk,

Did your daughter score a 5 on the exam?
If not, she should retake the course. If so, did she take the exam for AP Physics B or AP Physics C
If the answer is "C", then she can take the third semester in the sequence (modern physics, optics, relativity) and this will satisfy almost everyone.
If the answer is "B", then your daughter should check each school she is considering.

WayOutWestMom

I think the SUNY advice is based upon 2 things:

1) there is a wide variation in the quality of AP classes. Even a 5 on the AP does not mean the course covered all topics in the necessary depth. Radioactivity, atomic physics, circuits, optics and electronics often get little or no coverage in AP classes.

2) there may be some concern about whether your D will remember enough physics by the time she takes her MCAT at the end of junior year.

plumazul

@WOWMom,

1) this could be an issue for AP Physics B, but not for C. And a 5 on the exam means you covered enough of the topics in the necessary depth.

2) ? Isn't that why you study before the MCAT?

i_wanna_be_Brown

plumazul, your response to 2 is true, but if your MCAT studying is the 3rd time you're reviewing the material, that's better than if it's your 2nd.

of course whether it's worth retaking the class is dependent on more than just the MCAT.

maureenk

WayOutWestMom and Plumazul....all excellent thoughts. She took B and C. I really wasn't thinking about how much time will have passed until she is a Junior in college. It probably seems pretty recent to her now but will certainly slip in a couple of years. Thanks for such a quick and thoughtful response. It might make more sense to do physics 1 and 2 just as refresher at that point rather than physics 3, which might hard to be up to speed on by that point. By Junior year it will be 3 full years since Physics and Calc 2. I can see retaking. Back to her shuffling her courses around to squeeze it in!!!

Good thoughts ...Brown. Thanks for the ideas.

ImOnOne

I have completed intro bio and genetics. I have room for a biology class next semester and was wondering what is most recommended? From what I have read, it seems as though that would be cell bio or physiology? Does anyone have any input on how helpful a neurobiology class would be?

Hazy24

I'm a freshmen who received AP Bio credit(4 on the exam) but I'm insure if I should retake the intro bio course anyway because:

1. My AP Bio teacher was a 1st year teacher that took the job after the previous teacher, who had been teaching for 32 years, retired.
2. We did less than half of the labs. Closer to a fourth probably.
3. While I did get a 4 and I had a very good understanding of the material before taking the exam, I feel like I only did well because I was able to memorize a lot in a short amount of time and I'm not sure that the class prepared me for MCAT related materials as well as college bio course would.
4. I'm worried that med school admissions will frown upon using AP credit to get out of the intro course.

At the moment I'm signed up for one of the harder Bio courses which will cover ecology, physiology, diversity ect...Basically what the OP said not to focus on. Should I switch it for the intro bio course?

plumazul

@Hazy24, I would not accept AP credit unless I scored a 5 on the exam. Some schools still give credit for a 4, but the trend is to only accept 5s. If you scored a 4 on any AP exam, because of the way they're scored, it means you missed an unacceptable amount of questions. Retake it.

BTW, your point 4) is not an issue.

Hazy24

Thank you for the quick reply plumazul. I think what your saying makes sense. I could have got 50% on the FRQ and 60/100 MC and still gotten a 4, so I think I will just go ahead and take the intro bio course.

Unfortunately though, this semester one of the bio teachers has been described as making things overly complex, being smart but not able to "teach" or break things down to students, and then at least 15+ people said that the other one available only reads off the slides provided with the textbook verbatim and doesn't answer questions.

Because of this I'm hesitant to take it now, so I think I'll push it to the summer...am I justified in doing this? I know that I will eventually run into a bad professor here and there, but at the same time, isn't getting off to a good start important?

WayOutWestMom

While getting off to a good start is important, please consider 2 things:

1) in college, there is a paradigm shift in how learning occurs. Learning becomes the student's responsibility, not the instructor's. Very few profs who teach large lecture-syle class will have the time to answer questions during lecture and many will only read slides in order to make sure they cover all the necessary material. You have other resources beside the professor to help you succeed in a course: the TA/recitation, office hours, other students in the class (study groups), the academic support center, peer tutors, library secondary resources (other textbooks and readings). These are resources will need to succeed in all your college coursework. (And later on in medical school). Learn how to use them.

2) generally speaking, summer school coursework for pre-reqs can raise a red flag for medical schools because summer classes tend to be less competitive and cover less material than regular session classes.

Will one summer class keep you out of med school? Of course not.

Hazy24

Thank you for the advice on summer pre-reqs, I will definitely remember that. I'm also guessing it's frowned upon to take many pre-reqs at a local CC opposed to your own university?

As far as the professor issue goes...I am 100% willing to put in the work. Reading the book, taking notes, attending EVERY class session, going to office hours, and attending study/review sessions. My concern has less to do with the teacher teaching and more to do with them possibly making things far more difficult and complex than it needs to be, to the point where it becomes almost...unfair. In a perfect world, putting in hard work and devoting time to a subject would result in a good grade every time, but it doesn't. And these types of professors are part of the reason, the ones who do everything in their power to trick students. Poor wording of questions, purposely making HW probs much easier than exam questions, having MC questions with options a and b, b and c, a b and c ect...

Sure, there is the question of whether or not the person taking the subject has the skills to handle the subject in the first place, but that's a discussion for another time.

WayOutWestMom

Very much so.

WayOutWestMom

RE: Remember that one of the unstated purposes of intro level science courses is to weed out the weaker students. Science and math both have a pretty Darwinian, survival of the fittest mentality. The discipline prunes out weaker students at every level--all the way up thru the professional level. And pruning continues ever there.

And I doubt that any prof purposesly makes HW much easier than the exam. (It's simply too much work on their part. Hey, I know a whole bunch of college profs and believe me they do NOT sit up at night trying to think of ways to mess with their students.) HW is designed to assist the student master concepts, but the student is still expected to go beyond "just" the assigned problems if they want to achieve mastery and fluency with concepts.

As for the multiple choice questions that offer overlapping choices...um.... many years ago when I was getting my M.Ed. and was taking a course on test design from a prof who had worked at College Board designing the SAT, GRE, MCAT, LSAT etc, I learned that these kinds of difficult choices are often a hallmark of good test design. (Those options are called "distractors" and distractors are designed to attract those students who have a weaker, less finessed grasp of the material.)

fe2011

I know this topic has been brought up before, But I am planning to take Microbiology and Organic Chem 2 in the Spring/Summer at my institution...yes or no? Any chemistries i can take together? I know I can for biology. But I just need some advice!

demonstrandum

Hi,

This is my first semester in college. I took two sequence Math course. It is slightly more challenging that three sequence calculus. I got a B+ on the course. Is that bad start? I am just worried.

Please, I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

Thanks