I will be a junior next year. I qualified for BC calc. I got about an 87 in Pre-Calc honors. My SATII math IIC will be between 750 and 800. My advisor thinks
I should take AB calc because I need to pull some A’s and it is still considered a legitimate course by colleges. What do you all think?
<p>You'll probably want to go AB, but not for the grade reason. Calculus can be bewildering and you need to be in a class that moves at the right pace for you to understand the underlying concepts (then it's really cool).</p>
<p>A second option is to start in BC. You probably have the option to move to AB if the material starts becoming overwhelming.</p>
<p>If you're going to major in anything related to math, science, or engineering, or applying to top colleges, it would look bad that your high school offered BC but you took AB instead. AB is considered a legitimate course because a lot of high schools don't offer BC, but it looks bad not to take BC.</p>
<p>I disagree with im_blue. AB Calc is perfectly legitimate, especially for a junior. You can take BC as a senior if you want to pursue caluculus. At my kids' well-regarded high school, calc is a senior year course except for the top 8 percent or so of math students, who take math a year ahead of grade level--even for the kids in the advanced track of grade-level math calc is a senior year course. We have three calc levels: non-AP, AB, and BC. My D, who got 800 on the SAT I math, 740 on the SAT II 2c, and got an A+ in junior year accelerated-track math, opted to take AB calc--got an A in the course but would have struggled to get even a B+ if that in BC she feels. So I would say don't put this additional prssure on yourself junior year--you do need the highest possible grades, you are already taking a demanding math course a year ahead of when most students will be taking it, and colleges don't distinguish as much between AB and BC as they do between non-AP and AP (or taking calc at all).</p>
<p>I hate it when guidance counselors euphimistically say, "Kid, you're too dumb to do this so do this instead."</p>
<p>Do you want to take BC?</p>
<p>If you do, then do it.</p>
<p>Don't take AB and then BC. AB is a subset of BC.</p>
<p>I would only take BC senior year for one, or one half of a semester. At the same time throughout senior year I would take special topics.</p>
<p>As a current graduate of my AP calc AB class and as a student that took the test (with a most-likely-5 on the test, I advice you to jump right to BC. My senior friends that are in the class would agree with me, as their BC class has gone over Ab topics at relative fast speed. I did not feel challenged enough in AB, as many not-so-calculus- inclined students were falling behind. Depending on the teacher and toughness of the class, TAKE BC!</p>