I am a high school junior currently taking five high school classes and five PSEO classes, so eight college-level classes total. Because of the demanding workload of the PSEO classes, I’m really struggling to keep up with AP Calc AB, even though pre-calc wasn’t that hard for me. I just barely got a low B first semester, when I was taking fewer classes, but this semester I’ve had so much PSEO homework that I haven’t been able to study as much, and I currently have a D in the class (we’ve only had three tests so far and the teacher never puts anything else in the gradebook) and I feel like I don’t have a solid enough foundation to get my grade back up and keep learning. If the test is mid-May, is there any hope for me to catch up? Should I not take the test? Would it be a really bad move to take BC next year? I’m hoping to go into a math-related field but my abject failure is making me doubt my entire future. Thanks for any help!
Hey there! I’m a high school senior currently taking AP Calc BC after taking AB last year. I’m not sure if I can be of any help here, but I’ll try. First of all: please don’t doubt yourself! I know that’s easier said than done, but just based on what you’ve shared in this post you seem like an incredibly motivated, capable, and intelligent person who definitely has the potential to be successful, particularly in math but I’m sure in other things as well.
Calculus is hard. Anyone who tells you it isn’t is either lying to you, lying to themselves, or both. And taking so many college-level classes all at once can be incredibly overwhelming. I took 5 AP classes both junior and senior year, and it’s tough to manage it all! You may be holding yourself to an impossible standard here by taking on so much. That being said, if calculus is something you really want to learn, I would encourage you not to give up. As stressful as calc can be, I personally always found it really rewarding when I finally understood a difficult topic.
I don’t think it would be a bad idea for you to take BC next year. The first half of it is just relearning AB again, so you’ll already have a pretty solid background in it. Hopefully, you’ll understand it even better the second time around, and some colleges will consider your AB subscore from the BC test even if you don’t score well on or don’t take the AB test this year.
This is getting long so I’m just going to get to the point here: If you want to learn it, and keep trying to catch up, and take the test for your own benefit, then do it. If it means anything to you that a random stranger on the internet believes in you, then I believe in you. But if it’s making you miserable and you’re going to end up feeling worse about yourself if you don’t live up to whatever standard you’ve set, give yourself a break. It’s a weird, stressful year, and you deserve it.
Hopefully that helps a little, and let me know if there’s anything else you need! Good luck with whatever you decide to do. You’ve got this 
Thank you, that means a lot to me! I think I’m going to take the test at the end of the year for sure, and then we’ll see how I feel about taking BC next year 
That’s great, good luck!