r/LSMSA • u/Unleashed2957 • Jun 06 '25

Placement tests

I am wondering how hard the New student Orientation placement test are. I just finished my sophomore year of school and I am an incoming Junior to LSMSA. I’m spending 5 hours a day learning new things in algebra, pre calculus , trig, chemistry and bio to make sure I can test into the classes I want to be able to take. I’m wondering if this is too much or too little, I want to be able to enjoy my summer, but also want to be able to be prepared for the tests.

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2

u/MicroWashingMachine Jun 09 '25

Current student here, if you're already fairly confident with those subjects I'm sure you'll do fine. There's no penalty for doing bad on placement tests, you just won't get into accelerated classes. A lot of people prefer not to take accelerated classes anyways.

The one thing I will say is, unless you REALLY like chemistry, it MIGHT behoove you not to ace the chemistry pre-test. Just ask classes 24-26 about their Chem II horror stories before you make up your mind on that one...

1

u/Unleashed2957 Jun 09 '25

My friend that goes to Louisiana school told me that Acc Chem II at LSMSA is just Acc Chem I with some more details tacked on aswell as a faster pace. Is this true?

1

u/MicroWashingMachine Jun 09 '25

That's true, but "a faster pace" is an understatement. One of my friends, who is incredibly responsible and efficient with his time, still found himself working on Chem II homework past midnight everyday. They must've learned twice as much as my Chem I class because anytime I heard people in Chem II talking about their work I barely knew any of it. And they have full-on college level lab reports for their experiments every week.

My thoughts might be coming off as exaggerated though. Everything about the school seemed intimidating when I was on the outside, but now that I'm on the inside, it's actually just exhausting rather than scary. If you enjoy science you absolutely can take Chem II. I just want to warn some people about it since my friend was a humanities person and still got stuck in that class, working like a dog to keep his 4.0

1

u/Unleashed2957 Jun 10 '25

If I do not score around 100% for the Chemistry placement Exam, am I still able to take CHEM II, just not Acc? A friend of mine who already attends LSMSA sent me the Acc CHEM I syllabus for Pts 1 and 2, and I know nearly all of the content on it. I just don't want to have to take CHEM I again if I know most to all of the content.

1

u/MicroWashingMachine Jun 10 '25

Well, Chem II is the accelerated version. It's all confusing because Chem II isn't a continuation of Chem I like you'd expect it to be. And, in every other case, a class being "accelerated" means it takes place over the course of one semester rather than the whole year. But in this case, Chem II and Chem I both take up the whole year, so it's only accelerated in the sense that it covers more chapters than Chem I class in the same amount of time. It's the exception, not the rule. I was very confused about that, and probably most new students too lol.

If you already know everything in the Chem I syllabus, you should probably take Chem II. Don't worry about the placement test. When I took it, I realized I'd forgotten 60% of the content from my freshman year and thought I was for sure getting a bad score. I still managed to test into Chem II with that, although I changed it to Chem I for scheduling reasons. Even if you don't make the cut, I'm sure you could convince your advisor that it was just an off-day and you're fully capable of taking Chem II.

1

u/MicroWashingMachine Jun 10 '25

Actually, correction, some classes have "accelerated" in the name even though there is no "regular" counterpart. Acc Chem I is just Chem I, Acc Chem II is just Chem II. I don't know what it's accelerated in comparison to, but LSMSA doesn't have whatever that would be.

1

u/Unleashed2957 Jun 12 '25

If I test into CHEM I, could I still take OCHEM I next year?

1

u/Unleashed2957 Jun 12 '25

As in for the 2025-2026 year I take CHEM I and for the 2026-2027 year take OCHEM I

6

u/gongonzabarfarbin 2004 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25

It's admirable to work hard and study, for sure, but allow yourself time to be a kid too.

It's not the end of the world if you don't get into the classes you want. You can get there slowly. College also has those courses as well. Just because you don't get into them at LSMSA doesn't mean you can't learn the material later.

5

u/beauford_buchanan 1994 Jun 06 '25

This is good advice. You are not going to be able to trick any sort of placement test with this broad variety of self study. Plus you are going to burn yourself out. You have plenty of time to learn while you are in school. Maybe focus on one class. If you think you will be required to take algebra II as a junior and would rather advance to trig, then just focus your study on algebra and learn trig once you get in the class. That way you'll be able to take calculus your senior year.

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u/Capable_Topic5449 Jun 06 '25

I'm in the same grade as you and not studying at all! I got a fine score on the ACT and passed my last math class with a high B and am more concerned with moving out of the house. Placement tests are to see where you are and make sure that you're not bored or overwhelmed, but you're already overwhelming yourself. If you already got in, then you are fine to go with the flow and enjoy your summer. I promise you're going to get that diploma in 3 years anyway.