How to petition a college course prerequisite?

May 22, 2012 12:21 AM

My community college requires a basic, high school level Physics course as a prerequisite to any other course in the subject. While I took such classes in high school, I have no proof of this on my transcript. My only option at this point is to appeal to the head of the department of Science and Mathematics. While I do plan on making as compelling of a case as possible, I've been told that they want to see some kind of proof that a student would succeed in such a class before granting the petition. Does anyone have any idea what kind of things they might be looking for? What might I be able to do to prove that I know the material and would be able to handle the coursework?
posted by zazzles to Education (18 answers total)

Could you take an AP test? Or the Physics SAT II?
posted by en forme de poire at 12:28 AM on May 22, 2012

Best answer: Why not take an intro calculus-based physics textbook, and do a dozen medium-hard problems from it? (The ones which don't have answers in the back of the book.)

Then talk to one of the instructors: "I'd like to take intro to mechanics; I'm comfortable with high school level Physics, as per these worked problems. Is it ok if I take this course, if the department head signs off on me, and here's my situation: [blah blah], after I talk to the department head, if he emails you, will you support my taking this course?"

Physicists tend to be straightforward, non-rule-bound folk. This should work.
posted by sebastienbailard at 1:12 AM on May 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Seconding sebastienbailard's suggestion: the best way to succeed in your petition is to demonstrate that you can do the kind of work that they expect an incoming student to be able to do.

It would be a good idea to get the textbook(s) used for the course(s) that you would like to take and examine the first couple chapters, which are usually a review of the kinds of concepts of which the course presumes some knowledge. It could be that the prerequisite is more about ensuring familiarity with concepts such as force, mass, charge, and field, rather than about being able to solve problems per se. After all, a lot of people who took physics in HS have probably forgotten how to solve problems, or at least need to be reintroduced to it.

Once you've done that, talk to the instructor of the course in which you'd like to enroll, or if it's a course taught by adjuncts, then to the head of the department. If there is a pre-test that is given to students at the beginning, offer to take it.

I'm curious as to why your HS transcript doesn't show that you took a basic physics course if you, in fact, did so. Could you get your HS physics teacher to attest that you did, in fact, take physics?
posted by brianogilvie at 1:35 AM on May 22, 2012

You might also want to check the college's website or call the admissions office to see how they deal with homeschoolers (the other big group of people who may have done high school work without having it on an official transcript.) If there's a placement test homeschoolers take or specific documentation they provide, you may be able to make the case for doing the same thing to document your own previous work in physics.
posted by Wylla at 3:09 AM on May 22, 2012

Emphasize your math grades. I think at most schools there would be two introductory physics sequences--with calculus and without--and you'd prove your readiness for physics with calculus mostly by showing you've taken calculus, where the other sequence would typically have nothing more than algebra/trig as a prereq.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 3:11 AM on May 22, 2012

Best answer: Can you do inclined planes? Can you do simple concave and convex lenses? Can you do simple velocity & acceleration problems? (Falling objects, for example). Can you do F=MA? How about I=E/R? That should cover it.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:04 AM on May 22, 2012

Oh, maybe also potential/kinetic energy.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:04 AM on May 22, 2012

Many community colleges offer CLEP tests, which for a modest fee (@$35) allow credit-by-exam. Have you asked about that?
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:37 AM on May 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

You might also want to check the college's website or call the admissions office to see how they deal with homeschoolers

Also ask them about how a hypothetical middle-aged person who wanted to learn physics could get into the class. In principal, community colleges shouldn't have classes with a priori prerequisites. You shouldn't have to rely on your high school experience, you should be able to take the class after completing the necessary prerequisite classes that are offered by the college.

Emphasize your math grades.

Seconding this. Hopefully the school is just trying to protect their general physics classes from becoming de facto calculus classes.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:09 AM on May 22, 2012

You might also want to check the college's website or call the admissions office to see how they deal with homeschoolers

Having just gone through this with my son, they will want a transcript or test results. Did you take the ACT? A decent science score from that should be good enough.
posted by COD at 5:23 AM on May 22, 2012

Seconding CLEP exams.
posted by mareli at 5:24 AM on May 22, 2012

Thirding the [e]mphasize your math grades suggestion--and, if there are similar issues with their documentation, take the Calculus CLEP.

It's unlikely that even a calculus-based college intro physics course will require much memory of concepts from high school, since people frequently forget them between high school and college--or never learned them properly in the first place. Your command of algebra, calculus, and mathematical problem solving will be far more important, and a competent department chair ought to recognize this, even though the registrar's office may have been reluctant to authorize it.

The other thing they might care about is that you've had experience in the physics lab--so perhaps be prepared to talk about that as well. If you saved any lab writeups, it couldn't hurt to bring those in as well. (For that matter, might as well bring in any other papers--homework, exams, course description--from your high school class, if you saved them.)

But then again, they might not. I took a CC calculus-based physics class literally never having cracked a physics textbook or done an experiment in my life--and consistently scored at the top of the class. Math skills are so much more important here. (And yes, high school physics was technically a prerequisite as well. Since I was non-matriculated at the time, however, I slipped under the cracks at the registrar's office. I'm sorry it's not so easy for you!)
posted by beryllium at 5:36 AM on May 22, 2012

Best answer: Have you asked the head of department (or his secretary) what he'll want in an appeal? That seems the easiest road. Seeing you do problems, taking a national test, taking an in-house placement test ... you won't know until you try.

I had similar but slightly different placement issue where I simply chatted with the head of the department for 10 minutes and he said, "Okay, clearly you have done this material at a high enough level." They had a problem where most schools called it "Subject X" but actually it was "Pre-Subject X" and 99% of students with "Subject X" on their transcript had hardly any Subject X, just some low-level stuff vaguely related to Subject X. I had been affronted they were insisting I retake because I had done full-on, ass-busting Subject X. But it was actually really easy, the department head knew my school offered "real" Subject X because he knew the topic well, and by talking to me for a few minutes he was able to figure out I knew the concepts in the higher-level material and had done "real" Subject X.

Anyway, ask the guy first so you'll know what HE wants.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:17 AM on May 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is the issue really an honest questioning of your abilities, or a bureaucratic one caused by your transcript not showing something that you actually did?

If the issue is really your abilities and knowledge, by all means offer to do some problem sets (maybe with a physics professor; I doubt someone in the admissions office will be able to evaluate your work). But if the issue is a paperwork hurdle, then I think you should try to fix the underlying paperwork problem before it causes more problems.

Does your highschool still exist? Are there people there who still remember you? I'd contact them and get them to fix your transcript. If you honestly took a physics course, it should be on your transcript. If for whatever reason you can't get your transcript modified (and you should), then I'd try to get a letter from your physics teacher saying that you took the class, and that your transcript is in error if it doesn't show it. The more formal the letter (on letterhead if possible, definitely signed rather than an email, etc.) the better.

Sometimes these sort of problems are best fixed by getting a signed piece of paper that the bureaucrats involved can stamp and staple and approve and generally file somewhere, and going along with that process and providing them something official-looking is easier than fighting it or trying to prove that the system is doing something dumb.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:33 AM on May 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Another vote for talking to someone in the department. If you can talk to an actual instructor, that might be better since sometimes, as people slide into administration, they feel more and more rules bound, where someone who just teaches the class can ask you two or three questions and can sign off of you if they don't see a glazed over look in your eyes when they say "vector" or "ray tracing".
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 10:07 AM on May 22, 2012

Not all institutions will handle it exactly the same way, but almost always you can take a course without a prerequisite "with consent of the instructor." My recommendation would be that you talk first to the person teaching the class you want, rather than the department head. (The instructor can refer you to the chair if necessary.)

The policy in our physics department is to chat with the student about their previous class (was it calc-based or algebra-based? Did you cover topics X, Y, and Z?) and if it sounds like what you did was roughly equivalent, we'll let you take the higher-level class, but keep a close eye on you in the first few weeks to make sure you're not struggling.

As mentioned above, the main concern is your competency in math. If you can do basic vector addition and subtraction, interpret a graph, and do algebra, that will likely satisfy them.
posted by BrashTech at 11:17 AM on May 22, 2012

I also think you are more likely to convince the instructor than the administration, which probably won't deviate from the rules.

How is it that you took classes that aren't on your transcript?
posted by twblalock at 1:13 PM on May 22, 2012

Try asking the department chair for an over ride. Bring in your grades and the appropriate form for him to sign. Worked like a charm for me at my CC when I needed to take calc-based physics without the pre-req.
posted by Estraven at 7:56 PM on May 22, 2012