How much harder is BC than AB and what is the difference between the two? Also, do you think colleges will look down upon taking AB if I ended up wanting to major in something math related? Annnnd, how much harder is the BC AP test?
BC is Calc I and Calc II.
AB is Calc I, but spread over both semesters.
It’s just a lot more material in BC. AB is taken more slowly, ideal if you need more time to grasp math concepts.
From what I’ve heard Calc BC only covers a few more chapters than AB.
Calc BC also has a higher pass rate compared to AB (81.5% to 58.7%), but this could be because some people took Calc BC after Calc AB, or it could be that better math students took BC over weaker, but decent math students who took AB.
If you’re trying to decide which course to take I would go with whatever class has the better teacher, but then again I’m in 8th grade so you should take my advice with a grain of salt.
BC test isn’t really harder in terms of difficulty of the problems, but it covers AB and several other topics (Taylor series, converge/divergence tests, polar coordinates and differentiating/integrating in them, some more integration techniques). Additionally, the BC score includes an AB subscore.
Some schools require that you have taken AB (or know AB material) before taking BC, check with your school if this is true.
@samsunguser Since people have eloquently answered your questions about the differences, I will talk about your other question. No, schools will not look down on you if you take AB instead of BC and go into a major that is math related. I know this from reading lots of posts/blogs over the years and from firsthand experience with my kid. She is in AB this year and has been accepted into every school that she applied to as an Engineering Major.
Colleges want to see that you have taken the hardest courses available to you. If your school offer AB and BC, they would prefer BC, because they then see you challenged yourself. As told to us from every admissions officer we talked with this year.
That said, only take BC if you can handle it and you have a good teacher. An A in AB is going to look better than a C in BC, I would think.
Yes, that is totally right!!!
I’ve always been good at math, and I plan on doing something related to math in college, however after going through my 1st semester of Calc BC, it ended up being much tougher than I expected. Not having any friends in the class to explain things and the very different form of math probably caused this.
Even then, If you want to major in a math related field, then you probably should take BC. Colleges prefer the more rigorus class and it will probably be something that you actually need to know and use in college and your career. BC is similar to AB, but covers much more in the same time. This does make AB easier though, because you get to have more time to understand and learn the material thoroughly.
You may not know if you’ll need the extra time learning the concepts as Calculus is very different than any math class below it and for some people its the first hard math class they take (which is the case for me), but since you have an interest in math, I’d say try for Calc BC.
My school required AB before BC, due to AB being only Calc I and BC being only Calc II, at my school, anyways. It may be different for you. Some schools treat BC at Calc I and II, and others may treat it as only Calc II.