<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>Don’t know how this relates to Penn exactly, but I took both.</p>
<p>AB was a moderate challenge as a freshman, the first semester of BC was a breeze (AB review)…But second semester of BC (junior year), I really suffered from Taylor Series and 3d-Volume. </p>
<p>I consider myself decent at math - BC is a tough course. I’d say better to get an A in AB and a B in BC.</p>
<p>edit: was it really necessary to post the same thread in like 20 different forums ><</p>
<p>you’ll need the bc credit (for a 5) in order to place out of calculus 1 at penn; the ab credit doesn’t get you anything</p>
<p>If math is a very weak area for you, then take AB. </p>
<p>I took AB and BC in two separate years, but I also have a lot of close friends who took AB+BC in one year at my school.</p>
<p>Taking AB and BC in two separate years allows more time for you to learn, comprehend and absorb the new topics you learn. Taking AB+BC in one year means you have to learn more information at a faster pace since you have a lot more ground to cover. (Calculus AB is about 6-7 chapters of the textbook while BC consists of 3-4 chapters. Despite BC being less chapters, some topics in BC are a little trickier than AB to grasp.) </p>
<p>So if you don’t think you’re good at math, I recommend you don’t jump to BC first. I took AB in junior year, and got into Penn still. I know several classmates who were in AB or a lower level math class junior year who got accepted into Penn as well. Penn won’t really care that you didn’t take BC junior year as long as you get good grades. Most average schools don’t offer Calc BC before senior year or they don’t even have Calc BC at all.</p>