The primary purpose and value of advanced placement credit is to exempt students from (usually large) introductory courses and allow them – nay, encourage and urge them – to proceed as fast as possible to advanced work, to the fun stuff (usually small classes). In some cases this means placing out of introductory courses altogether. In others, particularly in the sciences, it means taking a more sophisticated (and often theoretical) version of an introductory course.
The college awards advanced placement credit for scores on the AP tests or college work completed during high school if the relevant department judges the tests and coursework adequate preparation for advanced work in its subject at Cornell. A chart near the beginning of Courses of Study (or at http://admissions.cornell.edu/resources/) shows what scores earn how many credits for which courses. Students can believe this chart and can count on the credit. They should tell their advisors what credit they have in which subjects when they plan their schedules.
Advanced placement credit counts towards the 120 credits and 34 courses required for the B. A. degree, but the credit does not count towards the 100 credits required in the liberal arts and sciences at Cornell. Further, it may not count toward particular college requirements, for example, distribution and breadth requirements. The limitations are described in Courses of Study.
If your daughter or son – lucky person – has AP credit, encourage her or him to use it. It is a waste of precious course slots to repeat material, just because one is a bit scared about how prepared one really is or, even worse, because one wants an "easy A." Students with questions about the quality of their preparation, particularly if the field in question is biology, should consult the director of undergraduate studies in the relevant department. They are available at the college’s Open House during Orientation. And any student who finds her/himself in too advanced a class has several weeks to drop back a level or drop the course.
Students who choose to forfeit credit and repeat courses for which they have AP credit should not underestimate the difficulty of introductory courses here. Students who do not study for “repeated” courses under the misapprehension that they can wait until just before exams more often than not do worse than they expect or desire.