Long story short, I plan on taking the AP Calc BC test. My school runs on a 4x4, so we cram 1 year’s worth of classes into half a year. I’m extremely worried about Calc BC because, frankly, my teacher does not teach at all. He literally has peers and classmates run the class and sometimes I feel like the students are better at math than the teacher is. If no one in our class volunteers to do a homework problem someone else had trouble with, he just skips it altogether and says “Okay we’re moving on”… even if no one volunteered because no one knew how to do it.
Do you have any tips on how to do well on the AP Calc BC test in these circumstances? Maybe good review books? Khan Academy?
AP classes are like college classes, if you honestly think all you’re college professors will be amazing teachers you’re going to be in for a shock when you get to college. If you feel your teacher doesn’t teach that well, then take the initiative to learn the material on your own. No one will be holding your hand and walking you through problems in college. Here’s some review suggestions: khan academy, Patrickjmt videos, princeton ap calculus BC review book, Barron’s ap calculus.
In addition to the above, I’d recommend checking integralCALC Academy. It’s a great YouTube channel, plus it has its own website (accessible for $27 a month) which has a plethora of videos and quizzes, plus an entire course dedicated to Calculus AB, which covers 60% of the Calculus BC exam. The other 40% is in the other courses. I’d also recommend getting a review book (mentioned above) and a good book on Calculus (Thomas’, Stewart’s, Larson’s, etc.)
College professors generally at least know the material. It sounds like that guy doesn’t know calculus well. However, there are plenty who don’t really teach. Some schools have trouble finding someone to teach calculus. It probably is not a wealthy school district.
I had teachers like that in middle school. I am tutoring someone in Alg II who didn’t learn much in Alg I, because it was taught by a PE teacher who apparently didn’t know the math. He just gave assignments and graded them right or wrong. It has taken like 15 hours of tutoring plus extra homework to get her in OK shape with her Alg I background.
As mentioned, there are plenty of review books. You can get older used textbooks on Amazon or elsewhere for $4-10. The ones the previous poster mentioned are all standard and excellent, although Stewart is not the easiest book.
The best Calculus video series is the actual in-class (HD!) recorded lectures by Professor Leonard on Youtube (the channel is ‘Professor Leonard’. The Calculus 2 section corresponds with BC material.
There is also a free prep course on Coursera called “Preparing for the AP Calculus AB (and BC) Exams” by the University of Houston if anyone is interested. The course just started yesterday and will go on for 8 weeks until exam week.
There is a discussion forum w/ other participants in the course as well!
Go to Coursera dot org and type in this extension in the html: /course/apcalc
Asking your teacher questions in not going to accomplish much except embarrassing him.
Stewart is an excellent book, but not an easy book. You can check on Amazon which prep books are rated highest. I would get AP prep books. They are like $20, but you can get older editions for $4 shipping.