<p>corranged, what you say is not quite true. You can meet the Natural and Mathematical Sciences requirement by (1) getting a 5 on the BC Math AP exam and doing well on the calc placement test for 3 quarters, and getting a 5 on either the AP Chem exam or the Physics BC exam, if you took both mechanics and EM. </p>
<p>You could also place out of the language requirement by scoring a measly 4 on the French, German Latin or Spanish AP exams.</p>
<p>So right there you could place out of a year’s work if you are not majoring in math or science. Math and Science kids have a host of complicating factors, such that most kids in these majors forgo some or all of their AP science credits in order to take more advanced classes. For instance, in some of the courses designed for those that score well on AP exams, like honors Chem or the AP5 bio sequence, the course reviews essentially all the AP material in less than a quarter. </p>
<p>Note that you cannot test out of or use AP credits for any of the Humanities, Civilization Studies, and the Arts (6 Quarter-Courses). You might say these are the “core” of the core, since all students, math, bio, literature or psych major, take the same courses in this part of the core, whereas in science and math, they don’t: “The College takes steps to make sure a History concentrator isn’t in a class for Biology concentrators.” </p>
<p>The beauty of education at places like Chicago is the electives, though. One has small classes taught by stellar faculty with motivated students. That’s why the OP’s desire to plow through in as short a time as possible is sad.</p>