<p>Just take BC. I went from Algebra II to AB but I really wish I would have just went into BC. Now this year I’m taking the second semester of BC, as well as stats and linear algebra. Calculus really isn’t that hard though and there are plenty of resources online to help you learn the material. If you’re going to take pre-Calc this year, I strongly recommend taking BC senior year.</p>
<p>@astults: Great, thanks! Do you think my school will let me take it online through NCVPS? They only allow us to take 6 of the 19 AP classes NCVPS offers, and I am trying to take 3 that my school will not offer to us (Physics B, Calc BC and Latin). I think if they have the capability to let me take it then they should.</p>
<p>You might have to ask for special permission. Would you be taking these classes on top of a full schedule at your school, or would they replace other classes you are taking?</p>
<p>They would replace other classes. My school already offers 6 online AP classes that we attend in the library everyday just like a normal class. I will be taking two of those classes next year, Psychology and European History. They don’t offer AP Calc BC because we have AB. But no one has ever asked to take it. Also, I would like to take AP Physics B through our online provider but it has a lab aspect ( their reason for not offering it). Which can easily be done at home with household materials. </p>
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<p>I took Calc BC right after pre-calc, and i did fine. It got tough at times, at least for me, but if you’re willing to work hard, you’ll have no problem. But, if you do take BC, then there is no point in taking AB afterward. You can’t take the two at the same time either, as College Board won’t let you take both exams in the same year.</p>
<p>Awesome! Yeah I didn’t plan on taking both, I will do one or the other senior year. Thanks!</p>
<p>Any tips on convincing my guidance counselor into letting me take this class?</p>
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<p>I’d say if you’re doing advanced pre-cal, you should be totally fine going into BC.</p>
<p>I did Civics & Econ and Health on NCVPS over the summer after my sophomore year. I didn’t learn anything, but those classes are jokes when taught in school too. Most of my problems were with AP Psych my junior year:</p>
<p>-If I had a question about a confusing concept, it could be difficult to get a thorough explanation from the teacher.
-My school issued some of us the wrong edition of the book, so half of us were studying the correct info, while the other half were only getting ~85% of it.
-The midterm and the final were CLEARLY not based on the info in the books. The experiments and terms they tested on were things that most of us had never seen before.
-Our school computers are old and quit out of explorer in the middle of our exams, which meant we had to start over with a more difficult paper version.
-The answer key they used was incorrect, so they marked about half of my incorrect answers as correct, and many of my correct answers as incorrect.</p>
<p>On the other hand, most people just look answers up online when they test. I never did that and actually studied really hard, and got a 5 on the AP test. So the info was there. It was just frustrating dealing with the NCVPS people. Sometimes tests would close out early or grades would get messed up, and you couldn’t directly talk to your teacher, you had to explain everything via email. But this was also two years ago, so they may have worked it out. It may also have been mostly a Psych issue, as I didn’t hear about the same issues in other classes.</p>
<p>If you’ve used NCVPS and haven’t had problems, I wouldn’t worry about it. I know people who had taken math classes online and did fine, and it sounds like your school teacher isn’t going to prepare you particularly well anyway. I would say go for it, and if you get confused, ask a math teacher in your school to explain it to you rather than trying to learn it via online communication. And don’t wait to get help if you’re not understanding— because many online classes have less rigid time frames for learning the info, it’s a lot easier to fall behind without realizing. But if you do well in pre-cal, I really think you should do it.</p>
<p>And as alwaysleah pointed out, Khan Academy is a great resource. Saved my butt on numerous occasions…</p>
<p>You have to convince your guidance counselors to let you take BC after precalc? That sucks.</p>
<p>If your course load is light, you could try convincing them that you could handle it. If that doesn’t work, you could always drag a parent into it, and let them argue. For me, having my mom yell at the administrators at my school made getting the classes I wanted a lot easier XD</p>
<p>One thing I would point out about Physics is that the labs aren’t required. College Board just recommends labs that should be done in class, but only the theories or ideas tested in the labs are tested over on the AP exam.</p>
<p>^Yeah, the labs you do in a “physical” classroom suck anyway. At least ours did. We timed how long it took a ball to drop from different heights.</p>
<p>@emily: Oh wow, that’s a considerable amount of problems you had! I have not yet dealt with NCVPS, but I will next year (taking AP Psychology and AP European History). </p>
<p>Thank you for the encouragement and the tips! You have been very helpful! I will try and convince my guidance counselors into letting me take BC. 
</p>
<p>@yoyo: Haha, yepp I do. Because no one has ever taken it online or wanted to take the class for the matter.</p>
<p>Yeah, my course load won’t be too bad. AP Calc, AP Physics B, AP Latin, Honors English, Honors Anatomy and some other classes that are easy. HAHA, I thought I was crazy for making my mom do that for me last year… guess not! :D</p>
<p>@astults: Great! I did not know that. I also contacted the online provider and they said the AP Physics B course only requires labs that can be done at home. So there is really no excuse for my school not allowing me to take these two classes. </p>
<p>I will go to the school board if I have to.</p>
<p>Honors Anatomy? At my school, that class is awful. I’ve heard that there’s so much memorization involved, and the smells from the dissecting cat lab make our bathrooms smell like rose gardens. People have complained that it should be made into an AP course.</p>
<p>@yoyo: Dang, I might reconsider that class for CP (college preparatory) Chemistry then.</p>
<p>wow, i just read my post and realized that how bad it made the class seem. If you’re interested in anatomy or biology, don’t let my post deter you. On the other hand, if you’re on the fence about the subject, then yeah, i recommend that you take something else.</p>
<p>@yoyo: I love Biology but I really can’t see myself sitting there memorizing body parts. I think Chemistry is the way to go.</p>
<p>^Someone’s excited about joining CC</p>
<p>Nice, find another thread k?</p>
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<p>Haha well I guess that person deleted his trolling posts.</p>
<p>Does anyone have experience taking Calculus online?</p>
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<p>You can’t judge a class at your school based on how it is at other schools. Since anatomy isn’t a standardized curriculum across the country, it could be significantly easier at your school. Ask people at your school, not randos on the internet.</p>