AP Calculus AB or AP Statistics

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi, I am a current junior selecting courses for next year. I have never posted on college confidential before so sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I need help deciding between AP calc and AP stat. It is not possible to take both at my school. The calculus teacher is one of my least favorite people in the world (but an ok teacher) and it’s much harder class than it should be, but the stat teacher is actually a really bad teacher. I have always gotten straight A+'s in math except for in honors precalculus this year (I got a B+) which is taught by the calculus teacher, and I’m not naturally very good at math I just work hard, so I’m not sure that calculus is going to be a good idea. I am interested in biology/premed in college, so I know that calculus would be better for that, but would a B in calc be better than an A is statistics? Would taking AP stat put me at a big disadvantage when applying to selective colleges?

Other than either of those math classes I’ll be taking AP lit, AP Spanish, AP biology, AP economics, and AP studio art if that makes a difference.

Thanks so much!

2

Take calc.

3

Yeah, for most competitive schools pretty much all applicants have taken calc at some point in high school. Not taking it does put you at a disadvantage. I was thinking of doing AP Stat instead also but my counselor advised me against it for that reason.

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AP Calc AB for competitive schools. It really isn’t that bad. Most competitive applicants to top schools have taken a calculus class. Plus most schools require Calc II for a biology degree, so you’ll take the second half of it anyways.