<p>how much more difficult and time consuming is AP Calc BC over AP Calc AB?</p>
<p>and if i dnt want to stress so much over solving math problems, but want to major in civil engineering, hopefully in a prestigious civ engineering school, how much would it hurt to do AP Calc AB instead of BC?</p>
<p>To my understanding, Calculus AB is Calculus I and Calculus BC is Calculus II. I know one guy who was in my calc III class who had just graduated from H.S. and only had taken Calculus BC, it wasn't a pretty site..
just my 0.2 cents</p>
<p>I haven't taken AB or BC but to my knowledge, AB covers Calc I and II materials (derivatives and integrals) and BC covers Calc II and III stuff (integrals and series and stuff).</p>
<p>Slorg - AB is I (differential and integral calculus). BC is I and II (more I and series). Neither touch on III (applying I and II to multiple variables, and vector calculus).</p>
<p>bound4rejection - depends on the person, or more specifically whether they learned the necessary things or not. I know plent y of people with good grades in Multivar after BC.</p>
<p>My daughter took Calc AB. It was all our h.s. offered. I don't think it hurt her in college admissions, she was accepted in engineering at RPI, CMU, OSU, and Olin College.</p>
<p>
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how much more difficult and time consuming is AP Calc BC over AP Calc AB?
[/quote]
It isn't harder, it just covers more topics.</p>
<p>
[quote]
and if i dnt want to stress so much over solving math problems, but want to major in civil engineering, hopefully in a prestigious civ engineering school, how much would it hurt to do AP Calc AB instead of BC?
[/quote]
If you want to get into a prestigious engineering school, and your high school offers both AB and BC, wouldn't you think they expect the serious applicants to take BC? After all, calculus should be easy for engineering majors, since the later classes are much more difficult.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think it's important to distinguish between 'I took AB, it was all they offered' and 'I took AB, BC looked like too much work.'</p>
<p>Also I know U of I doesn't accept AB for credit (maybe Calc 1 but still that's a maybe) you can only test out of the Calcs using BC where a 4 is Calc 1 and a 5 is Calc 1 & 2. So you also might want to think about that if you have a choice between AB and BC. Plus don't just do it to get out of classes. Wrong mindset. Do it to learn and if you feel prepared get out of the classes. If you do it and feel a little shaky (even with the 5 or 4 skills aren't perfect and college courses are much harder) you might as well use the knowledge you already have when you take it over.</p>
<p>If you go to a university that is semester based instead of quarters then it's very likely you won't get credit for the AB because a typical calculus course in a semester covers more than the AB.</p>
<p>Sorry I made a mistake. I was thinking physics. A 4/5 allows for testing out of Calc 1 and a 4/5 in BC allows for testing out of Calc 2. It is physics that denies engineers credit if they take Physics B AP because it isn't Calculus-based.</p>
<p>I take BC and according to a friend my teacher thinks the following about me "Were they that desperate to get kids into BC calc this year? " haha!</p>
<p>
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i dnt want to stress so much over solving math problems, but want to major in civil engineering
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Engineering has tons of math. More practice early on can never hurt. The last thing you want is to have trouble in an engineering class not because you don't understand the concept but rather because you can't do the math fast enough.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I took AP Calculus BC last year. There were two AP Calculus AB classes and when I volunteered by being a t.a. and graded their tests and quizzes, I barely found any difference between the AB and BC. The BC had a few more advanced concepts but not much difference othervise. I would recommend taking BC if the university you plan going to offers to give you credit for Calc I and II. There is not much difference in terms of difficulty.</p>
<p>I took Calculus AB class but took AP calculus BC exam, and it wasn't bad.</p>
<p>capedcrusader...</p>
<p>not true. I took AB in high school, and it covered MORE topics than just calc I, but not enough to get out of calc II...
Harvard apparently agreed, as I was allowed to skip calc I with a 5 on the AB exam.</p>
<p>Calc AB covers MORE material than would be found in a typical Calc I course, but not nearly enough to cover all of Calc II... Calc BC goes at a faster pace to cover all the material in Calc I and II.</p>
<p>Does that include Taylor series and "magic" substitution?</p>
<p>I never heard of "magic" substitution, can someone explain what it is?</p>
<p>likely u substitution</p>
<p>Yea I think so too.</p>
<p>U substitution, integration by parts, integration by partial fractions, and trig substitutions (may not be covered)</p>