<p>Does MIT have a World History requirement for undergrad students? I read the website about the GIR's but I didn't really understand it.</p>
<p>No, you're required to take eight courses in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, but you have a great deal of freedom in terms of which courses and which types of courses you'd like to study. There's no requirement to study history specifically, and if you don't want to take a history course, there are lots of other courses and departments to choose from.</p>
<p>If I don't report this AP score, would admissions think worse of me? Or should I just report the 1?</p>
<p>You can choose to report or not report any AP score you like. My suspicion is that it won't be a huge deal whether you report it or not, but you should do what makes you most comfortable.</p>
<p>molliebatmit, you give better feedback than a typical CC member. For example, some people would be like, "If you got a one, what makes you think you can pass a class at a competitive school?"
Lol. You are awesome!! (:</p>
<p>Thanks. My goal is to ratchet down the panic around here a couple of notches whenever I can. :)</p>
<p>And for the record, I don't think getting a 1 on an AP exam suggests that somebody can't succeed at a top school. I suspect that it suggests lack of interest/preparation for the AP World History exam.</p>
<p>Exactly!! (: Some kids can really put others down. For example, I put a thread regarding the consequeces about getting a 1-2 on the ap test, and, although i read positive comments, some were really negative. Lol.</p>
<p>I guess I'll just report it then. Colleges like honesty. I hope it doesn't hurt me. D:</p>
<p>Thanks for your help mollie!</p>
<p>OP, I PMed you.</p>
<p>needtostudy, you will find that the MIT board does skew "kinder" than many of the other boards on CC, and of course, you are correct that mollie is quite wonderful.</p>
<p>Are there any AP courses that give you humanities credit at MIT?</p>
<p>Mikalye, I'm blushing.</p>
<p>
A 5 on any humanities AP exam will get you nine units of general elective credit, which doesn't replace any course requirements, but is a nice cushion to have in case you want to drop a course at some point (an MIT degree requires 180 units of such credit for graduation). In addition, getting a 5 on one of the AP English tests will exempt you from taking the Freshman Essay Evaluation, and will allow you to start freshman year in any humanities course you like.</p>
<p>I don't understand this general elective credit stuff at all. If you want to graduate earlier, will having lots 5s on HASS AP exams help?</p>
<p>Possibly, but it depends on your major.</p>
<p>To graduate from MIT, you need to do three major things:
1. Complete the General Institute Requirements (GIRs)
2. Complete all the courses required for a major
3. Take at least 180 units outside the GIRs</p>
<p>For some majors, completing all the courses required for the major will give you 180 units or more outside the GIRs. Other majors have more space for electives.</p>
<p>The way the graduation requirements are set up, if you take all 17 GIRs at MIT, you need to take four classes per semester for eight semesters. If you want to graduate early, you need to take more than four classes per semester for several semesters and/or have credit for several GIRs coming in.</p>
<p>
[quote]
There's no requirement to study history specifically
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My respect just went up by a lot for the system ;)</p>
<p>I hate the idea of being told exactly how I should get my breadth requirements done.</p>
<p>Also, OP, just a general thing - you're not going to actually care that much about one or two breadth requirements here and there. Yes it can help to pass out of something, but eventually, if you're the type who procrastinates the requirements and leaves them to the end, you're going to do it anyway, and +/- epsilon doesn't really matter. </p>
<p>Of course, unless passing out of a given subject is a huge deal to you (and yes, I can think of cases where this applies to me).</p>
<p>How do you get credit for GIRs coming in? Are there credit-by-exam kinda things?</p>
<p>And I don't understand what you mean, mathboy.</p>
<p>Oh just a comment that I find it's common to feel an exaggerated enthusiasm for passing out of general education requirements when considering entering universities, but that once you're stressed out enough with your major, it might be refreshing to have something else.</p>
<p>That said I recommend passing out of the specific subjects you really don't want to be chained to ever again, if you feel the danger of being so. (Example, I didn't want to take a foreign language class ever again.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
How do you get credit for GIRs coming in? Are there credit-by-exam kinda things?
[/quote]
Yes, there are exams called advanced standing exams which are held during orientation. If you pass an advanced standing exam, you receive credit for that GIR as if you took it at MIT. The most common ASEs that people take are for GIRs, although they're offered for a wider range of classes.</p>
<p>In addition, high scores on some AP exams will get you credit for certain GIRs. Most notably, a 4 or 5 on Calc BC earns you credit for 18.01, and a score of 5 on both parts of Physics C earns you credit for 8.01.</p>
<p>It's also possible to earn credit for courses that you took elsewhere as a high-schooler, as long as the transfer credit examiner determines that the course you took was substantially equivalent to the MIT version.</p>
<p>Yeah mathboy, I hate being forced to take subjects I don't even like when I'm already passionate about something else.</p>
<p>And mollie, are there any resources to prepare for GIR ASEs?</p>
<p>People mostly use previous exams from the courses (from OCW or from the current course's website) to study -- the ASEs are supposed to be equivalent to the course's final exam.</p>