I’m a sophomore and I have to decide right now whether I want to take AP Calc AB or BC this year. I’ve always gotten high A’s on all my previous math courses (Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Precalc). I even attended a selective summer math program at the University of Washington where they taught a whole course on limits and was accepted for Stanford OHS to take BC Calc, but I declined at the last minute because I thought it be better for me to take it at school. I’ve also been studying intro calc (mostly derivatives) by myself. A lot of my friends from other schools have taken BC Calc and skipped AB altogether, but now I’m starting to reconsider whether I should take BC. No one from my school has apparently ever done it before so I’m kind of nervous. I just wanted to know the perspective of some of you- is it hard to take BC without AB, and do you need a very strong background in calculus to do well in BC? What is covered in BC that isn’t covered in AB? I urgently need some opinions!
There are almost as many ways to offer AP Calculus classes as there are high schools in the US. While some may offer Calculus BC as a year-long course which covers both the AB and BC topics, many many others offer BC as a year-long (or semester-long) course covering only the BC topics (after a rapid review of AB), for which Calculus AB is a prerequisite. You need to check with your math department to see how they teach it.
If your school teaches BC as a standalone course without covering AB, it is suicide to skip AB IMO. See [url=<a href=“https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-calculus-bc/course-details%5Dhere%5B/url”>https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-calculus-bc/course-details]here[/url] for the list of AB and BC topics.
Is AB considered a prerequisite to BC at your school?
Some schools structure the curriculum where it is assumed that students take AP Calc AB before taking AP Calc BC, and therefore, skip information when teaching BC. See if you can ask the BC teacher at your school what they would recommend. Do they assume you have previous calculus experience in the BC class? Or do they cover all of the material needed, just at a faster pace than AB (since BC covers more material than AB in the same amount of time)?
Where I went to high school, the AP Calc BC class taught the entire BC curriculum (which includes the material covered in AB). It would be redundant to take both AB and BC, and no one did that. The stronger math students in pre-calculus went directly into AP Calc BC, while the weaker students went into AP Calc AB. No one (or I suppose nearly no one) did AB and then BC. But that was because of how it was structured at my school. If your school structures it so that they assume you have already taken AB, then going directly into BC might be difficult.
If you can, talk to your AP Calculus BC instructor, explain your background and concerns, and ask if they think you should take AB first or if you should go directly into BC. It depends on how the curriculum is structured at YOUR school, not what students at other schools are doing. If you went to my high school, I would say absolutely go directly into AP Calc BC because no calculus knowledge was needed (all you need was precalculus). But that might not be true at your school.
Actually that’s what I’ve done, is talk to the teacher who teaches AB Calc, and he seemed hesitant about it, but he’s leaving the choice to me. Apparently, they’ve structured it so that they expect BC students to come in knowing everything about AB (it is a prereq), but they still review it, which is why I’m rethinking. Would it be better to just take the AB class and study the extra topics on my own to learn the BC curriculum since there is so much overlap?
Would you be allowed to “drop down” if the BC class proved to be impossible for you?
It sounds like you “get” math and catch up quickly. If I were you, I’d take BC, but make sure that if the AB part they review goes too fast for you you can drop down, and plan on working extra hard with the BC teacher to make up any “AB” deficiency.
If your school constructs the curriculum so that AB is a prerequisite to BC, then why don’t you just take AB and then take BC? You’re only a sophomore. You can take AB this year and then take BC next year as a junior. That’s still ahead of most high school students in math. What’s the rush to finish BC by your sophomore year?
Unfortunately, I don’t think I would have the option of dropping down. The main reason I wanted to take BC is because I want to able to take a university level course (like multivariable calc, or linear algebra) during my senior year, but I also have to still take AP Stats. I’m going to stay in AB and talk regularly with the BC teacher as well to learn the extra curriculum. This way I won’t be risking my grade (I’m also taking 4 other AP classes). Thanks for your advice though!
FWIW, no one has to take AP Stats. If you took AB as a soph, BC as a junior, and MVC as a senior, you would still be much further ahead than most students. But, if your schedule works out for you, more power to you. Good luck.
My understanding is that for most schools, BC only adds a few units over AB. But some schools start teaching AB in the final months of the previous semester-in other words cutting precalc short by a few weeks or a month to begin Calc. then the combined Calc AB plus BC runs that final month or so plus the next year. For a strong student, it seems like devoting 2 entire years to Calc AB and BC would be a waste. AP stats is probably a waste for you. If your school compresses Calc AB plus BC into one year, I’d do that. If everyone in the class took Calculus AB last year, I’d avoid jumping into that but boy that would really be a slow drag if an entire year was devoted to the few units that constitute the difference between Calc AB and BC! If that is the case, I’d take Calc 1 and 2 at a local college or something.
Not quite sure how that changes anything. You would still be in shape to take multivariable your senior year, even if you take AB your sophomore year and then BC your junior year. Why do you have to take AP Statistics?
As skieurope has said, NO ONE “has to” take stats in high school. In fact, it’s a class that’s better taken in college, because then it’ll matter to employers, and college stats aren’t like HS stats. Ap stats is only a good class for gifted kids who aren’t gifted at math 
I also agree that if Stanford OHS selected you for Calc BC, you should be doing calc BC. The pace in Calc AB is likely to drag on and on for a kid who “gets math” like you do. Why can’t you take Calc BC via Stanford OHS though, instead of through your HS? Or would you be able to skip AB/BC entirely, take calc1 this Fall at a local community college, and calc2 in the Spring, then multivariable next year?