AP Calc AB/Calculus

<p>Does anyone happen to have experience with AB? I'm planning on skipping the pre-calc class at my school and jumping into AB as a junior. Will 1-2 months be enough time to teach myself pre-calc?</p>

<p>According to the course description, these are the concepts that'll be covered:
factoring, rational expressions, functions (polynomial, rational, exponential, and logarithmic), polynomial equations, linear programming, sequences, series, polar coordinate formats, the concept of limit, proofs of the continuity of functions, applying the definition of derivatives, differentiation, related rates, polynomial/rational curve sketching, and optimization problems (applied min/max).</p>

<p>It sounds like a lot...but I'm not sure how difficult those are. I'm pretty good at math relative to the rest of my school and I'm kind of sick of being in the same class with people in the same grade as me, because I feel like I'm not progressing at all. I've also done better in classes with older peers.</p>

<p>Take precalc next year and jump to bc as a senior.</p>

<p>I skipped precalc in the summer and am in AB now as a senior (school doesn’t over BC, and my old school didn’t offer calc, so thats why I was a year behind). Difficulty wise, the material was fairly simple; I went through the entire book in 5-6 weeks, and then I went back over some of the harder sections before I took the test to get credit for the class. I used a Larsons precal book in addition to Patrickjmt on youtube, which made it easy. Its doable, and it was worth it for me. </p>

<p>If I were you I’d go ahead and skip it (although make sure you understand trigonometry and logs/exponential functions very well), but why not take BC instead of AB and then multi variable calc at a college as a senior?</p>

<p>I skipped pre-calc at my school and took AP Calc last year as a junior. I didn’t learn any pre-calc and was totally fine (got a 5). As long as you’re a good math student, there’s nothing to worry about. Most pre-calc students at my high school think the class is a waste of time. </p>

<p>@Fitzmagic - Was pre-calc a prereq for AB or is it normal for students at your school to skip? Did you self-study some pre-calc or did you just go into the class cold?</p>

<p>@Classof2015HS - That’s the normal track at my school; I’m still considering it, but math class has always been extremely easy (have never had under a hundred average) and math is my favorite subject, so I kind of just want a challenge. That being said, I still want to be able to maintain a 95+ in AP Calc…</p>

<p>@Patton370 - My school doesn’t offer multi-var, and I don’t think I’d be able to handle skipping directly to BC. D: 2 of my friends are considering skipping to AB, but they’re both taking summer classes at a local university; I’m applying for summer camps, so I’m just going to try to self-study.</p>

<p>BC isn’t that bad. My teacher’s hard. Students that get Ds in the class get a 5 on the exam. The problem for me is that I lose 5% on each test due to careless mistakes. </p>

<p>Take Calc BC, as it is basically AB + a few more chapters. The students are generally academically better to those in AB, thus causing the discrepancy in the % of 5s.</p>

<p>Everyone who got a B or better in H Precalculus went to BC. </p>

<p>@cathinginfinity the multi variable (calc 3) would be dual enrollment</p>