<p>I know that getting a 3 or above (at most colleges) will allow you to skip certain intro classes or claim elective credits. But I was just wondering… If I am good enough to skip those classes, I should be able to get easy As in them, and thereby boost my GPA. Since I am thinking of applying to law schools that is very important. So wouldn’t it be to my advantage to not skip those courses, even if I am qualified to skip them? I am not really interested in skipping right ahead to advanced material and stuff b/c i’m not sure if I can handle it yet.</p>
<p>If your goal is just to skate by then, by all means, take the courses again.</p>
<p>If the courses are math or science, it may not be to your advantage because you might benefit from a review.</p>
<p>If the courses are in things like history or literature, skipping intro courses may help you delve into early courses that are of more interest to you than the intro courses, which tend to cover a lot of material. The upper level courses allow you to focus on a particular area, which could be something that you especially like. They also tend to have fewer people in them, which leads to more discussions instead of having to hear lectures all of the time.</p>
<p>When I was a freshman, upperclassmembers told me that upper level courses were easier and more interesting than were freshmen survey courses. I didn’t believe them, so loaded my schedule with freshmen survey courses. When I started taking upper level courses, I found that what the upperclassmembers told me was true.</p>
<p>Interesting… thank you for the feedback.</p>
<p>Is it beneficial in terms of econ? Probably not, right? I am planning to major in it, and if I get 5s on my macro and micro exams I get to skip the introductory econ classes.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s beneficial in terms of econ. Before making a decision, you can always ask the intro econ profs for their syllabi and how they teach their courses. Department head can tell you who teaches the course if it’s not in the course catalogue. You also can get syllabi for upper level courses and ask the professors for info.</p>
<p>At most Uni’s it would probably be OK to skip econ. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t do it at a school with a highly rigorous economics program (MIT, Chicago?), because it is most likely that the content in those courses will be much more advanced than AP.</p>
<p>Some schools require you to actually sign a form in the registrar’s office to take a course which you receive AP Credit. Thus “declining” the AP Credit.</p>
<p>Check closely the school’s policy of “declining” AP Credit. I don’t think most schools will allow you to register for a course you recieve credit for.</p>
<p>As to Introductory Classes - I wholeheartedly agree with “protecting” your GPA as much as possible. Therefore, take some intro classes but be smart and ask upperclassmen who the best professors are!! I was pre-med and it’s a numbers games more so than undergrad school.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>For most of my AP classes, the credits don’t move me up in placement but rather get pre-reqs out of the way. It also allows me to pick up some elective credit.</p>
<p>I needed a fine arts elective (3 hours) and I was able to use my Art History AP score to get rid of that requirement, thus allowing me to take an interesting and useful class (American National Government) rather than some stuff my friends took to fill the requirement like Music Appreciation and Dance Appreciation. If I want, I can use the extra 3 hours (my score earned me 6 hours) as an elective for degree requirements.</p>
<p>I used my English Lit. AP score to exempt English 101 and was able to take English 102 first semester instead. This did not hinder me - I got an A in English 102. Now I’m taking my second to last required English course freshman year. </p>
<p>I needed a history elective (3 hours) for degree requirements, and was able to use my US History AP score to get rid of that requirement, allowing me to advance further into my course of study. If I want to, I can use the extra 3 hours (my score earned me 6 hours) to fill another random elective. </p>
<p>My Environmental Science score ended up giving me credit for a 3 hour lecture and 1 hour lab, which was huge for me. For my degree, I only have to take two natural sciences and just one lab, so this means that I won’t have to take a lab in college.</p>
<p>I started college with 19 hours. So far I have used 13 of them to exempt a requirement, and I can use the other 6 if I want to. I’m in my second semester with 34 hours already, and am well into my degree requirements. After this year I’ll be finished with my general education requirements and everything I will take is related to my degree/electives. </p>
<p>I’m very happy with the way things have turned out. If your credits are unrelated to your field of study, DEFINITELY use them. It will allow you to take fun an interesting classes and potentially take a little less of a courseload some semesters while staying on track for a 4-year degree. Challenge yourself. For most subjects (again, not all), a 4 or a 5 means that the college considers you qualified enough to move on. If they think you’re qualified, why not?</p>
<p>I would suggest skipping the intro classes unless you are really really, legitimately interested in them. I forfeited my AP Calc credit (5) to retake Calc I, since I thought I’d need a GPA boost; instead, the way my teacher taught was completely different from anything than what I was used to, and it brought down my average. Since I have to go up to Linear Algebra/Diff. Equations, I could’ve finished math in 3 semesters instead of 4. So it’s not always to your advantage to retake a class that you’ve gained AP credit for.</p>
<p>Those introductory courses will most likely help you refresh on the material for the upperdiv classes and especially if you feel confident that you can do well in them, it won’t hurt but improve your GPA.</p>
<p>My advice:
If you are never going to take another class in that subject again, take the credit.
Foreign language: take the credit and advance
Calculus: take it again, unless you are really, really good at it and got a 5, or you took it in 11th grade or earlier and advanced to Linear or Differential Equations in 12th. Everyone in the college calculus class has taken calculus before.
Econ: I really don’t know
History: Take the survey or introductory course again. There is no way that an AP class is the equivalent of a college class. Advanced history classes will go into historiography, which is not part of the AP curriculum
Biology/Chemistry/Physics: take again, unless you are a genius AND got a 5
Statistics: Take an introductory class that derives more than the AP class
Others like Human Geography, Environmental Science, Psychology: I don’t know</p>
<p>Don’t bother retaking the large majority of classes (unless it is science or math, and you are a science/math major). Skipping introductory college courses if not important to your major, will save you either money (because you can graduate earlier) or allow you to get boring prerequisite classes with 500 kids in a lecture hall out of the way, allowing you to take more classes within your major or elective classes that interest you</p>
<p>maybe register for the next class, sit in on it for a week and see if you understand what they’re talking about. if not, drop it and take the intro class.</p>
<p>I’m an econ major and I had no issues when I skipped the intro level class. I would suggest taking a lower level elective first (one that doesn’t require intermediate macro, intermediate micro, or econometrics). It’s a good midlevel difficulty between retaking intro (easy) and the intermediate theory courses (often quite difficult), plus you’ll probably have to take a few electives anyway for the major.</p>
<p>^also an econ major, I opted out of intro to macro/micro with AP as well. In college I got into intermediate macro/micro and had no problem with either, especially since a lot of the class was reviewing/expanding on concepts that I had already learned in AP econ.</p>
<p>AP credits let me skip a ton of boring freshman classes I might have been able to get an easy A in (or a difficult B depending on if it was a weeder class or not), and instead let me take a ton of upper-level classes which tended to be easier, graded easier, and a whole lot more interesting.</p>
<p>It also let me graduate a semester early and save about $10,000.</p>
<p>Back in the day, I placed out of an introductory biology lab with AP credit. It was not an option to place out of the general bio survey class. Off and on for the rest of my 4 years, my classmates knew which stain did what or something key about the microscope that I was completely lacking. On the other hand, I also placed out of all but one semester of Latin. I was dreading it, but instead had a dreamy, recent Harvard grad teacher who spoke Latin like it was French. We girls were swooning! I regretted that I only needed one semester to fill the requirement!</p>
<p>It really depends on the course. I definitely support the syllabus route.</p>
<p>You’re making a pretty big assumption that the mere fact you have AP credit will result in an “easy A” in the intro course.</p>
<p>I would take the AP credit generally. I took AP Physics C: Mechanics and got a 4 on the exam. I went into my first semester thinking that I would take Advanced General Physics I, and after a few weeks in the class my professor came to me suggesting that I moved up to Physics II. I did, and although I missed the first three weeks of the class it was definitely a good decision as the class was a lot more interesting than physics I (where I was incredibly bored). It has also allowed me more space in my schedule for other classes, and I’m done with all of the physics requirements for my Engineering major, whereas most people won’t be done until after the fall of their sophomore year.</p>