<p>I am a sophomore at a boarding school and I have to decide the courses to take next year.
For math, I can take Ap calculus Ab or AP Calculus BC. But I am not very good at math even though I have taken honor Algebra II and Honor Precalculus. And I am thinking about taking AP calculus AB instead of BC. But I am afraid that my admission will get hurt if I do not take the most rigorous math class. So my qustion is "</p>
<p>Taking just AB should be fine as long as you balance out your other courses (seems as if you have).</p>
<p>Math isn’t my strongest subject either and I took Calculus AB AP as a senior this year. I got C’s the first two quarters and still got accepted to BC (without any hooks in my application). I would definitely recommend taking the class you feel most comfortable with, since you don’t want to struggle and have it impact your other grades (especially since your junior year will be very important). Calc AB is still a very rigorous course, so as long as you have some more honors/AP classes in your schedule, you should be fine!</p>
<p>Dea erkybk : Differing from the previous posts, I would strongly urge you to take the Calculus BC curriculum for the following reasons. </p>
<p>First, if your goal is to retake the calculus sequence in college, you will be well positioned with the deeper course exposure as a High School student. Calculus AB will largely prepare you only for a first semester college course while the Calculus BC curriculum will have you better prepared for two semesters.</p>
<p>Second, Boston College uses AP exams for placement rather than acceptance decisions. If your grades would be comparable, taking the denser curriculum is always the best choice when applying to Top 40 schools.</p>
<p>Third, if you take the Calculus BC exam at the end of the term, you will still receive an AB subscore. Many people do not realize that the Part I overlap on the AP exam is about 55% and about half of the Part II questions overlap. Therefore, you will still receive and AB indicative score which is also used for placement purposes at Boston College. </p>
<p>These points aside, you should take the course that you can handle based on your previous mathematics training. The AB and BC curriculums are not that far apart from one another early on in the coursework - are you able to attend the BC course and “drop down” to the AB sequence if needed?</p>
<p>Although I almost always agree with scottj (who is the most thoughtful and knowledgable poster I have ever read on CC’s BC forum), this is one time that I have to disagree with him. </p>
<p>You have stated that math is not your strongest area, which implies to me that you are not confident that you can actually do well (achieving at least a B) in AP Calc BC. However, you want to be a bio/chem major on a pre-med track, so clearly you will need calculus for that. I think you would be far better served taking AP Calc AB and doing extremely well in it next year than taking AP Calc BC and risking a lower grade and a more stressful experience. It is important that you thoroughly understand the fundamentals of calculus and that will be easier with the slower pace in Calc AB.</p>
<p>AP Calc AB is still considered a “rigorous” college-level course, so it will not put you at a competitive disadvantage. And scoring at least a 4 on the AP exam will allow you to skip MT102 (the first of 3 required math classes for chem majors) and will satisfy the entire math requirement for bio majors.</p>
<p>Also, you will be taking AP Calc AB as a junior, whereas most high school students would take it as a senior. What higher level math class will you take senior year?</p>
<p>Sorry, I’m going to have to retract my statement, I would advise taking calc BC. The premed track at BC requires students to take a full years worth of calculus (essentially AB first semester and BC second semester). It would be beneficial to you if you decide to take BC, that way you can opt out of taking calculus altogether (if you get higher than a 3). Even if you can not opt out, you’ll have an advantage over the majority of your classmates when taking the class.</p>
<p>One other consideration is the rest of your Jr schedule. You might consider taking AP Stats Junior year – and ace it with a 5, and Calc BC senior year.</p>
<p>And, btw, most med schools will not accept AP credit, so you’ll need to repeat Calc in college if a med school requires it – not all do.</p>
<p>The advice to take AP Calc BC is certainly sound – IF the OP feels he/she can indeed perform well in that class. But since the OP raised the question, clearly he/she has some concern about that. </p>
<p>If the outcome of taking AP Calc BC is likely to be a grade of B- or less, or will require excessive hours, tutoring, etc. to maintain a high grade, I still believe it would be better to take AP Calc AB where the slower pace will give the OP a better chance to thoroughly understand the material and do well in both the class and on the AP exam.</p>
<p>^I concur mom, but the OP has expressed interest in premed. It doesn’t matter how s/he “feels” about the subject. It’s an almost must-be-taken course, whether in HS or college. And, according to a few math Profs on cc, it’s better to take in HS where the classes are smaller. And, quite frankly, a B- or less in a HS class does not bode well for the rigors of college premed. The AP exam is essentially worthless for premed – A’s at the college level are required.</p>
<p>Note, on other threads, the OP said that taking AB Jr year and BC senior year is not an option at his/her HS.</p>
<p>I recommend AB, in terms of concerns for getting into college. I am not really a math person myself, although I do alright through effort. I took AB and I know that I have had to put a lot of energy into my work to maintain a grade that I’m happy with. I have friends in BC, the typical math-minded kids, and even some of them struggle. I know that the AB/BC label makes little difference in the face of obviously struggling grades. </p>
<p>Depending on what schools you’re looking at you’re most likely going to have to take calculus again anyway and although you might be at an advantage in that respect by taking BC, I still recommend the AB.</p>
<p>Good luck whatever you choose :)</p>