<p>Hello everyone,
I am currently a junior and am taking AP Calc BC. I am having a lot of difficulty in that class right now and have a C+ as my grade for the first marking period. I still have 2 more marking periods left to try to make up for the C+ but I'm not sure if I will be able to. Today, I had my first quiz of the second marking period and I received a D+, so as of now, my average for the 2nd marking for AP Calc BC is a D+. Although it has been quite a while since school started, my guidance counselor said that I can still drop the course and go into AB instead. I have a 3.9 GPA (out of 4.0) and I have recieved all A's and A-'s since freshman year. I am interested in majoring in science and Columbia is basically the only college I want to go to. I'm not sure if it would be wise to drop down to AB Calc in order to save my GPA. Do colleges (specifically more selective ones like Columbia) care whether or not I take BC Calc, especially if I want to major in science? Would it be better to remain in BC and show that I'm taking a more rigorous course? Thank you so much in advance!!</p>
<p>if you are doing that poorly, drop down to AB calc. AB calc is still extremely prestigious, considering that just taking regular calculus in 11th grade is TWO whole years ahead of the rest of the country!</p>
<p>If you can still drop the course, change to AB and save your GPA.</p>
<p>Dropping a class to save your GPA should only be a last resort. Given, a C in a class is really going to hurt you, but the fact that you’re in BC as a junior means you must have some talent in math. Try talking to the teacher; is it his/her teaching style or is the material difficult for you. To be honest, the two exams are very similar, so you’ll be learning the same stuff in AB (just at a slower pace). The BC course is basically 2 more chapters than the AB course.</p>
<p>Drop the class and take BC next year.</p>
<p>They’re not THAT much similar. BC is pretty much more extensive in most of the topics you learn in AB, then adds some new concepts such as Taylor/Maclaurin Series, Parametrics, polar coordinates, etc.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone for your advice!
I do feel like I would do better in AB Calc but based on some people I have talked to and some of the forums on this topic that I have visited, it would be better for me to take BC in order to get into a a more selective school, especially if I were to major in science. In addition, my BC teacher is rumored to be the best math teacher in my school and people who have already taken her class said that they learned the most while in her class. If I were to drop down to AB, I might end up getting a better grade and maintaining my GPA but I feel like I should stay in BC just for the sake of learning and improving my mind.
I have talked to my teacher and she said that I should come in regularly for extra help. However, I’m not sure if that would help anything because when we learn new topics, I understand them and I am able to complete the homework problems, but I always end up doing poorly on exams. When I talked with my guidance counselor, he told me that my teacher usually calls him or send him an email when she feels that a student cannot keep up with the material, and she has not contacted him yet. I think that she thinks that I am capable of remaining in BC Calc but I’m scared of what will happen to my GPA. Thanks again to everyone who responded and I’m sorry if my insecurity about this is a bother to anyone.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I cannot take BC next year. If I take the course this year, next year I take multivariable calculus and if I take AB Calc, I think I will take Linear Algebra (I’m not sure about this actually).</p>