Advanced Placement in Mathematics at Rose-Hulman

Advanced Placement Programs and Credits 

The mathematics department accepts advanced placement credit and transfer credit, at the Calculus level (and possibly above) through several programs. The credits given are described in the table below. A more complete statement on AP and transfer credit is given on the  Admissions Advanced College Credit webpage.  Many entering students at Rose have advanced placement or transfer credit, especially in mathematics. Therefore, specially recommended course sequences and special sections are (usually) provided for advanced placement students. The Rose-Hulman Placement Exams are discussed in a later section of this webpage. Though this webpage covers most of the common advanced placement situations, special situations commonly arise. If you have any questions about mathematics advanced placement or transfer credit please contact the Department Head  brought@rose-hulman.edu. 
 

AP Program	Credit
Score of  4 or 5 on the AB test  for AP Calculus or an AB subscore of 4 or 5 on the BC test.	MA111-Calculus I (5 credits)
Score of  4 or 5 on the BC test  for AP Calculus	MA111-Calculus I  (5 credits) MA112-Calculus II (5 credits)
Score of  4 or 5 on the AP Statistics	MA223 Engineering Statistics I (4 credits)
Score of 5 or better in the International Baccalaureate Exam Mathematics Higher Level Exam For other IB mathematics exams consult Dept Head	MA111-Calculus I (5 credits)
Fast Track Calculus program	MA111-Calculus I   (5 credits) MA112-Calculus II  (5 credits) MA113-Calculus III (5 credits)
RHIT Placement Exam Part I  RHIT Placement Exam Part II  RHIT Placement Exam Part III prior appointment only, see below	MA111-Calculus I   (5 credits) MA112-Calculus II  (5 credits) MA113-Calculus III (5 credits)
Transfer credits from accredited colleges.	Credit as determined and approved by the Mathematics Department. A grade C or better is required.
RHIT credit by exam	As arranged and approved by the Mathematics department.

 

Notes: 

1. Credit through the standard AP tests, the International Baccalaureate exams and the Fast Track Program is automatic once the appropriate scores or successful completion of Fast Track has been confirmed.
2. If you write AP exams in your junior year of high school but no AP exams during your senior year, you should double check that Rose-Hulman has received those scores.
3. AP Credit and Transfer Credit do not carry a grade and are not averaged into the GPA.
4. Any special circumstances or questions should be brought to the Mathematics Department for recommendation or approval. 
5. Students are not required to take the Advanced Placement credit and may enroll in the equivalent Rose-Hulman course if they wish. The Mathematics Department should be consulted for advice. In these circumstances the AP credit or transfer credit will not be given.

Freshman Math Courses for Students with Advanced Placement 

Depending on which AP credits a student receives and the students major, the recommended sequence of mathematics courses taken during the freshman year are as given in the tables below. The general rule of thumb for most majors is to complete the freshman/sophomore mathematics sequence in the catalog order MA111, MA112, MA113, MA221, MA222, MA223/MA381, taking a course every quarter until the mathematics requirements for the student's major are complete. It is particularly important that freshman enroll in the prescribed mathematics class in the fall quarter. During the fall quarter a formal introduction to Maple is given to all first time Rose students in sections designated for freshmen, this is not repeated in subsequent quarters. By following the prescribed schedule students will not be delayed in taking other classes with math prerequisites, and, in some cases the classes may be taken ahead of schedule. For some students a different sequence of courses may be appropriate, though this must be discussed with and approved by the advisor, seeking advice the Mathematics Department as necessary. As always, the advisor must approve all courses taken by the student in every quarter.  The student's mathematics sequence should be continued into the sophomore year in the until all the required course in the basic freshman/sophomore sequence are completed.

CSSE Majors: Freshmen with advanced math placement in CSSE majors, with the approval of their advisors, may consider taking one or more of the delayed sequence MA275 and MA375 during their freshman year provided that they do not get off track in their Calculus sequence.

Changes can occur:  The curriculum of Rose-Hulman changes on a continuing basis. Consequently, mathematics courses taken by various majors are modified from time to time. The course numbers given in the tables are those that will be in effect for incoming freshman and transfer students for Fall 2005. This includes all updates to the 2005-2006 undergraduate bulletin approved during the 2003-2004 academic year. The mathematics portion of the undergraduate bulletin is on our Math Catalogue web page.

Credit Received	Majors	FR Fall	FR Winter	FR Spring
Calc I	All	MA112	MA113	MA221
Calc I, II	All but AB, CHEM and CS	MA113	MA221	MA222
	AB	MA113	MA221	MA223
	CHEM	MA113	MA221	MA223 or MA381
	CS	MA113	MA221	MA222, MA381, or MA elective
	SE	MA113	MA221	MA223, or MA elective
Calc I, II, III	AB	MA221	MA223
	CE, CHE, CPE,  EE, ME	MA221	MA222	MA223
	CHEM	MA221	MA223	MA381 (if MA223 not taken)
	CS	MA221	MA222 or any elective	MA381 or MA elective
	ECON	MA221	MA222	MA223 or MA381
	MA	MA221	MA222	MA371 or MA381
	OE	MA221	MA222
	PH	MA221	MA222	MA371
	SE	MA221	MA223	any MA elective

Notes:

• Many students take good advantage of their advanced placement credits by pursuing a double major, minor or certificate program. In this case the any MA elective course should be selected with care in order to achieve maximum benefit from advanced placements. Students in this situation should make out a four year timetable early on, in consultation with their advisor.
• MA222 is not a required course for CS majors but is frequently taken as an elective. If taken as an elective it should be taken as soon after MA221 as is practical.

Rose-Hulman Calculus Placement Exam

Parts I, II, III of the RHIT Placement Exam are administered during orientation week, through prior appointment only. It is our recent experience that although 40% or more of students receive some form of mathematics placement, only 2 or 3 students per year do so through RHIT placement exams. This is not because the placement exams are unduly difficult but rather that most students likely to achieve advanced placement have already done so through the formal programs described above. Thus the RHIT Calculus placement Parts I, II and III will only be administered for students who have not had the opportunities for formal placement, or are seeking a higher placement than they have achieved through the formal programs. It is expected that the students will contact the department head in advance of arriving on campus for an appointment and commit to substantial self-study and preparation during the summer.
Contact: brought@rose-hulman.edu

The topics covered in the three exams are approximately as in the table below. Current syllabi, including texts used, for the Calculus courses may be found here.

Part I -  Calculus I	Part II -  Calculus II	Part III - Calculus III
functions, domains, ranges, and  graphing ability to work numerically, algebraically and graphically with the following functions: polynomials, rational and algebraic functions,  exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions  inverse functions parametric equations limits, including L'Hopital's rule   derivatives, including formal definition, higher derivatives, all derivative rules, implicit differentiation and derivatives of the above functions velocity and acceleration as derivatives tangent lines, slope and concavity  max-min problems related rate problems curve sketching simple integration up to the substitution rule areas between curves	integration, Riemann sums,  Fundamental Theorem of Calculus integration techniques including substitution rule, integration by parts and partial fractions improper integrals Trapezoidal and Simpson's rule applications of integration including area,  volumes of revolution, surfaces of revolution, arclength, work, mass of a 1-dimensional objects   solution of differential equations by separation of variables  simple applications of differential equations:  population growth, exponential decay, cooling/heating, and falling bodies  sequences and series, integral, comparison and ratio test Maclaurin and Taylor polynomials and series Calculus I topics that form the foundation of the above topics	polar coordinates vectors in the plane and space, including dot product, cross product, projections lines and planes in space velocity and acceleration, curvature, normal and tangential components of acceleration partial derivatives, tangent planes, normal lines, gradient, chain rule, directional derivatives maxima and minima, Lagrange multipliers  double integrals in rectangular and polar coordinates triple integrals in rectangular, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates applications of multiple integrals including volume, mass, moments, centroids Calculus I and II topics that form the foundation of the above topics