<p>Mootmom, thanks for those links; they suggest that not so many students will end up passing the intro classes based on the MIT placement test. (I have a son who is applying early to MIT this year, so I’m folliowiing the news there with interest.)</p>
<p>I think it’s a great idea to have multiple tracks of intro science classes, I hope MIT develops some. Harvard physics does this with the 15a/16 split,but the biologists have decided that everyone regardless of background should start with Life Sciences 1. Meanwhile, over at Columbia, students with a strong grasp of AP chemistry can start with an honors organic chemisty class, the physics department has two tracks that both start with basic mechanics, and students can talk their way into upper level bio classes with having taken the intro sequence.</p>