Placement Tests

Hey all,

I'm just graduated high school last Friday and will be attending Northwestern Preparatory School on a Falcon Foundation scholarship. I have taken single variable calculus 3 times if you include my AP Calculus BC course, a course that I took at a local university in the summer between my Junior and Senior year, and self studying calculus on MIT's open course ware website (which I highly recommend as a study aid as well as a source to learn entirely new subjects). This summer I am studying multivariable calculus (which, I have been told, is equivalent to Calculus III or Calculus IV). I have also taken two AP Physics courses (B and C) and have done extensive research in both classical Newtonian mechanics as well as electricity and magnetism.

Taking all this into consideration, as well as the fact that I will be taking more advanced mathematics and physics courses during my spring semester, how far would the academy let me place out of classes? Is it possible to, say, verify Calculus IV? I've been having some trouble finding this information on the Academy's website.

Thank you for your time.

You will take a math placement test during basic at the Academy. They will use the results of that test, along with your prior grades/SAT scores, etc., to determine what level of calculus is right for you. Some are placed in a pre-cal class, some in the standard Calc 1, some in Calc 2, etc. One of the girls in my son's squardon was placed in what would be comparable to the 4th level calc class (although I don't think it's called Calc 4). I haven't heard of anyone being placed any higher than that, but I suppose it's possible.

When I went through, they came around with my math class placement, which was Calc 3 at the time. I put in a comment saying that I'd already taken that class (at a college). Next thing I knew, I was taking the placement test for that and became one of two in my class to get out of Calc 3, moving on to Diff Eq ... interesting times being the only Doolie in a class of 2 and 3-digs straight out of Basic.

My son is a BC for class of 2016. He took AP Calc as a junior (received a 5), has taken Calc II, Multivariable Calc, Differential Equations, and Non-linear Dynamics and Chaos (all the latter courses were taken at a liberal arts college and he received A's). He contacted the math dept. before inprocessing, but wasn't clear on whether he would be able validate/transfer/test out of all of these. We are sending his notes for Acceptance Day so he can review and test out of these. Would he need these earlier for placement exams, or is his assumption correct that he wouldn't take these more advanced placement tests until after Acceptance Day? - I know he would really like to avoid retaking any of these classes.

vls said:

My son is a BC for class of 2016. He took AP Calc as a junior (received a 5), has taken Calc II, Multivariable Calc, Differential Equations, and Non-linear Dynamics and Chaos (all the latter courses were taken at a liberal arts college and he received A's). He contacted the math dept. before inprocessing, but wasn't clear on whether he would be able validate/transfer/test out of all of these. We are sending his notes for Acceptance Day so he can review and test out of these. Would he need these earlier for placement exams, or is his assumption correct that he wouldn't take these more advanced placement tests until after Acceptance Day? - I know he would really like to avoid retaking any of these classes.

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If they are following the schedule we had during basic last year at all, they have already taken the placement exams. We took them within the first week because the registrar has to create all of the schedules. If he sent his college transcripts in, he may be able to get transfer credit, but that is up to the Math department and he would need to speak to them because transfer credit is not always given.

Math Placement Exams

vls said:

My son is a BC for class of 2016. He took AP Calc as a junior (received a 5), has taken Calc II, Multivariable Calc, Differential Equations, and Non-linear Dynamics and Chaos (all the latter courses were taken at a liberal arts college and he received A's). He contacted the math dept. before inprocessing, but wasn't clear on whether he would be able validate/transfer/test out of all of these. We are sending his notes for Acceptance Day so he can review and test out of these. Would he need these earlier for placement exams, or is his assumption correct that he wouldn't take these more advanced placement tests until after Acceptance Day? - I know he would really like to avoid retaking any of these classes.

Click to expand...

According to the schedule posted by Webguy, the Class of 2016 took the math placement exams this past Sunday (1 July).

Nav84 said:

According to the schedule posted by Webguy, the Class of 2016 took the math placement exams this past Sunday (1 July).

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We just got our first letter and he took the tests for Calc I and II, but not the others. From our understanding before he inprocessed, that is what he expected and that he would take other exams later...? Anyway, I'll just send his notes and see what happens. He has sent all his transcripts, course descriptions, etc. per the Appointees booklet, so the math department has those.

Nav84 said:

According to the schedule posted by Webguy, the Class of 2016 took the math placement exams this past Sunday (1 July).

Click to expand...

cadet15 said:

If they are following the schedule we had during basic last year at all, they have already taken the placement exams. We took them within the first week because the registrar has to create all of the schedules. If he sent his college transcripts in, he may be able to get transfer credit, but that is up to the Math department and he would need to speak to them because transfer credit is not always given.

Click to expand...

Thanks! He did speak to the Math department before he left and sent the required information for transfer credit. I'll just have to wait and see!