AP Calc BC

[Have_faith143]

Our school also requires AB before BC. But our BC is BC/Multivariate so def students are not allowed to skip AB.

[1NJParent]

Yes, for mathematically stronger students, I don’t see any reason to take AP Calc AB. AP Calc BC is designed to cover all the materials, including those covered in AB, at a faster pace than AB. A typical AP Calc BC class would certainly go over the material covered in AB, and the only question is the pace at which the material would be covered. For a strong student who felt bored and unchallenged in his honors pre calc class (as OP seems to be), taking Calc BC directly afterwards could provide the challenge that he needs.

[Eeyore123]

Some high schools do not teach AB and BC that way. It appears that the OP’s HS is one of them. That is why AB is a prerequisite for BC at the OP’s school.

[1NJParent]

No, it isn’t necessarily true that a school that has AP Calc AB as a prerequisite for BC wouldn’t cover in its Calc BC class the material in AB. In fact, I know plenty of students who skipped AB to take BC in schools where AB is the prerequisite for BC. At those schools, their BC classes still cover the AB material, albeit at faster pace. Those students whom I know had no issue taking BC directly. Again, OP’s honors pre calc teacher would know best (including how the school’s BC class is taught) whether that’s a possibility for him.

[happy1]

The OP can (and should) speak to math teachers and guidance counselors in the HS to get the definitive answer to this question.

[RSVP24]

I talked my counselor and she said that I would be showing course rigor by AP Calc AB next year. I have also been taking an engineering design class and a computer programming class this year and I am planning on taking APCSA. She said that it isn’t necessary to take AP Calc BC to get into good engineering programs.

[tsbna44]

100%

[ucbalumnus]

@1NJParent

No, it isn’t necessarily true that a school that has AP Calc AB as a prerequisite for BC wouldn’t cover in its Calc BC class the material in AB. In fact, I know plenty of students who skipped AB to take BC in schools where AB is the prerequisite for BC. At those schools, their BC classes still cover the AB material, albeit at faster pace. Those students whom I know had no issue taking BC directly.

If the high school’s BC course includes the AB material (versus starting at the end of AB), then the high school’s listing of AB as a prerequisite to BC does not make any sense. With those courses, students completing precalculus should be told to choose one or the other, not take AB followed by BC. Also, the students who complete precalculus in 10th grade or earlier and therefore have schedule space for AB followed by BC are the ones least likely to need a slow-paced calculus course, since they are good enough in math to be on the +2 or higher math track.

However, we do not know how the OP’s high school’s BC course is structured. If it starts at the end of AB instead of the end of precalculus, it would not be a good idea to go directly from precalculus to it.

[ucbalumnus]

@RSVP24

She said that it isn’t necessary to take AP Calc BC to get into good engineering programs.

That is correct for US universities. Relatively few require calculus at all for frosh admission (generally or for specific majors like engineering majors), and none of those that do so specify BC or the college / IB / etc. equivalent.

Does your high school’s BC course include all of the AB material, or does it start where AB ends?

[1NJParent]

@ucbalumnus

If the high school’s BC course includes the AB material (versus starting at the end of AB), then the high school’s listing of AB as a prerequisite to BC does not make any sense.

What I’ve been told is that these BC courses would cover the preliminary material that may be a significant part of and somewhat exclusive to an AB course very quickly. For students who’ve taken the AB course, it would be a review. For those who haven’t, they’re judged, by their math teachers, to be able to quickly learn the preliminary/prerequisite material.

[Pathnottaken]

I would advise against summer Calc 1 for the first introduction. Many are taking it for the second time in summer.

A placement test for the summer college math class will most likely be required. HS pre-calc many times does not fully prep kids for Calc 1 out of the gate and college require other math labs, classes, or supports.

You could take the placement test and see where you land. Usually on ALEKS.

HS pre-calc classes are all over the place on what they are able to cover and what they need to reteach. Due to Covid gaps, there is a lot of reteaching happening in that level, so pre-calc could have felt easier due to that pacing.

[Sergeac24]

“Very quickly” might mean that the AB material is still being taught into the second semester. More than half the material taught in BC is the same material from AB (hence the AB subscore on the test). At my son’s school, there is one track on which students move from H Precalc to AP BC; another track that moves from “advanced” precalc to AP AB.

[anon87843660]

My DS’s high school used to offer AB as a prerequisite to BC a few years ago. One teacher taught both. As the school’s enrollment grew, they dropped BC because the teacher prefers to teach AB for whatever reason. He’s taking AP Stats next year because that is the last math course at his high school. The same teacher teaches that course.

I have heard that part of the reason that they did away with offering BC is because students were feeling pressured to do as OP is thinking to get around the prerequisite and they found that students who did that were not as well prepared for BC. Summer courses at community colleges typically don’t have the breadth of a high school AP course. The OP would have to get access to the scope and sequence of both classes to see if they are comparable.