<p>@stemit - My son (BSE) had a similar experience first year. He took one math that he could have placed out of because of an AP course, but he was really happy he had taken it after all was said and done. Princeton teaches the material at a MUCH greater depth than AP courses cover. As you said, there are plenty of good reasons not to place out - perhaps even for the more advanced students it was not entirely “GPA protection” but rather hesitation to assume readiness for the next course in sequence for those students in your daughter’s classes. The first year at Princeton can have a certain intimidation factor for many students. </p>
<p>With absolutely no previous programming experience my son found COS extraordinarily difficult. He heard from an instructor that Yale teaches the same material over 2 semesters rather than how it’s done in 1 at Princeton. In hindsight he would have waited to take this course second year and spent some of his summer before second year pre-learning some of the basics to be able to focus more on some of the more advanced concepts. It remains his only low mark on his transcript. Live and learn, I suppose, but BSE candidates without programming backgrounds would probably benefit by learning some of the basics of Java in advance. </p>
<p>In terms of math test/quiz grades, I think the kind of marks you describe could be found at many university math departments. Generally my son’s test marks were belled up (ie- his first math test mark was 66% which became an A). Having won every possible math award in high school he came home after first semester saying that he thought he was good at math before going to Princeton. But again, I don’t think this is an uncommon scenario at many post secondary institutions. I do know that incoming students at Princeton without significant and advanced math preparation are discouraged from pursuing math as a major (my son heard this from one of his profs). One of his closest friends (who is a math concentrator) came with having completed multivariable calculus somewhere around grade 10 or 11. My son says some of the students from Europe are even more prepared than that. This may be less evident in some other departments, but every department has some students who are truly exceptional. </p>
<p>The great thing about being around such advanced and talented people is that he was really pushed to find out exactly what he was capable of, and by the end of second year he actually had a really good GPA (it was just over average after first year). He learned better study and organizational habits and his profs/TA’s/friends helped him grow and develop in many areas. I’m not sure this environment benefits everyone in the same way, but for him it has been overall very positive so far. </p>
<p>I’m not certain his experience to date is one of “recovery” (assuming you mean grades) since it’s still too soon to tell. But I do know he heard often that first year is the most difficult and so far that assertion appears to be true. </p>