If you knew then what you know now...

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by thetygerlily

Testing into (or out of) classes is a flawed system for sure. I had 4 years of Spanish and 1 of French going into college. Thanks to my Spanish, I tested very well in the multiple choice French placement exam. I effectively skipped 2 years of grammar and vocabulary, and did not do so well.

Academically, I wish I had been more conservative and pushed back on my optimistic adviser who signed off on the French level. She also waived the pre-reqs for a junior level course... my first term. I switched advisers a couple of years later but that damage was already done. Sometimes being an overachiever just needs to be talked down!

^^^^^

THIS is why I (against my parents' and high school guidance counselor's advice) did not test out of my college French coursework (I needed 4 semesters.)

I took all the way up to French 5 (the most advanced French course my HS offered.) Pretty much everyone I talked to was like "Violet, you should definitely CLEP out of your freshman and soph year college French courses. You've already taken 5 years of French (I started HS French in 8th grade) and you're excellent. Practically all the other honors seniors are doing it."

My gut reaction was "No way! Wht if I test out of everything and end up taking some crazy college senior level French course that I'm not prepared for? It's not like I'm a French major or anything."

So I didn't do CLEP like everyone else. Come freshman year, I was in French 10001 while peeps from who DID CLEP were in Advanced French Comp or some other junior/senior level French course.

Don't get me wrong, it was somewhat annoying to be in a French class where half the class was struggling to count to 100, but come the end of the semester, I got an A. Every other person who CLEPed into a higher French barely got B's or in some cases Cs/Ds, because excelling in HS French doesn't = getting As in junior level composition.