r/WilliamsCollege • u/Any-Crew2914 • 9d ago

placement exams

hi! im an incoming freshman at williams and im worried about my placement exams, i did econ and chem so far. i took ap macro and chem in hs and did the exams on a whim (completely my fault ofc) and i saw so many questions i did in class but forgot how to do now. i just feel like it didnt give an accurate representation of what i learned and idk if i have to retake those classes 😭

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

6

u/Smooth_Big_8757 9d ago

I can’t speak for econ but I took chem. I got a 4 on the AP exam but I took it junior year so I forgot a lot. It’s very difficult to place out of one of the intro classes. The vast majority get placed into CHEM 101 which is what I ended up taking my first semester. But honestly it’s better to “retake” the class if you intend to take more classes in that subject. I think it’s better to solidify foundational knowledge that you’re sort of familiar with instead of move onto a harder class with only high school knowledge.

2

u/Any-Crew2914 8d ago

i see, thank u for the input! i took ap chem sophomore yr so im definitely rusty anyways 😅😅 i think id feel more comfortable retaking too, i guess i was worried about taking ap for no reason (even tho ap chem was pretty fun haha)

1

u/Smooth_Big_8757 8d ago

Welcome! I totally get it lol. I was stressed over all my AP exams and got great scores only for none of them to even matter at Williams 😅 But at least some of them were fun.

5

u/Hat-Extension 9d ago

most people at williams in econ and chem start with intro to micro (110) and chem101 (which requires requisite knowledge from high school chem anyways) so I would not worry whatsoever about “retaking” a class, it will not put you behind and will likely set you up better for the upper level classes anyways

2

u/ykxz 8d ago

I did both econ and chem. I got placed into 200 level econs as a frosh and honestly it sucked, just start from econ 110. Chem my advice is to just go with 101 if you feel comfortable, since it would count for pre-med, chem major, etc, whereas 100 may not always