You may or may not have seen my rant, but to put it simply, I need to boost my weighted GPA. I can take AP Calculus BC junior year through the school, but I am planning on taking 3 (technically 4 if you REALLY want to count APES) other APs that year. I do have the option of taking precalculus during the summer so I can take Calculus as a sophomore. Then, I would be taking AP Stat, AP Bio, and AP Calc during sophomore and APES, AP Chemistry, AP English Lang and APUSH junior year.
For all of you who’ve taken Calculus (or who have insight)
is this a smart move, or is in-school precalc more thorough?
should I even think about taking BC if I do take precalc in the summer?
Personally, learning math fast over the summer was not my thing. It depends on how fast you grasp concepts. I know many students who did the same thing you did and struggled in AP Calc AB simply because they didn’t have enough time to absorb precalc concepts, but I also know others that excelled. It’s doable. You just need to know where your strengths lie. I would not jump from precalc to BC calc unless you find yourself doing extremely well.
@anxiousenior1 I am good at math… with a ton of repetition. I will probably spend 4-5 hours on it just drilling in concepts. I will still have to take the in-school precalc final though, so it’s kinda just like normal studying haha. After thinking it through, I won’t take BC. I know I am taking a high level course as is, but I don’t think I could handle the speed of information in BC. Like you said, I wouldn’t be proficient enough to work that fast.