<p>sylvan, my undergrad school did actually require every incoming student to take a math placement test. They then looked at the courses you took, your AP scores, and chose a math class to put you into. The math classes were broken up into quarters, so students could be put in right where their knowledge left off. They also had different classes for kids with backgrounds in calc but needed a refresher versus the students that hadn’t taken calc before. Most people I knew that didn’t get out of freshman calc, but had experience tested out of the first term, but had to start with the second quarter of calc in the first half of the first semester. That way, people with a background were able to be separated fairly reasonably from those without.</p>