Using AP credits to pass out of intro courses

college316
Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:20:08 +0000

I can only speak to the Chem issue. Here’s my personal (as a premed coming in with AP credit in Chem) opinion:

I would say about 70% of the freshmen I knew coming in retook General Chemistry. The way it’s taught at Rice is INCREDIBLY different than the way AP Chem was taught at my high school, and I’ve heard this sentiment repeated from nearly every other GenChem student. Check out the GenChem course evaluations on ESTHER if you want more perspective on this. I do know some students who skipped right to Organic Chem and were fine, but these were mainly students majoring in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering–not premeds. Often, premeds want to make sure they have a solid Chemistry background, for the MCAT and also for the upper-level Biochem courses you will need to take later on at Rice.

one final thought–please don’t infer anything from “take home test.” They can be easier or harder than in-class exams and you really can’t draw any conclusions about the actual content of the exam based purely on whether it’s take-home or not.