<p>I took Calc AB this year as a junior, but have to take BC online because my school doesn't offer the class. I'm planning to start studying over the summer because the online course isn't very good. I'm using the Larson, Hostetler, Edwards Calc book (blue cover) and was wondering what sections in this book are for BC? I think chapter 7-9 is it, but are there any sections in ch. 5-6 (hyperbolic functions, arc length and surfaces of revolution, work, etc...) that I need to know? </p>
<p>Also, what advice do you have for basically self-studying this course?</p>
<p>I think I used a similar book when I took a BC course…</p>
<p>Basically, anything in AB you’ll have to know. BC-only curriculum includes</p>
<p>*Integration by parts
*Differentiation, integration in parametric, polar coordinates (I don’t think you’ll need spherical coordinates)
*Taylor and Maclaurin series, convergence tests
*Improper integrals
*L’Hopital’s rule
*Using partial fractions to evaluate certain integrals</p>
<p>etc. The AP test occasionally asks questions on hyperbolic trig functions and arc length, but they probably won’t test you on work (that’s more for AP physics). It’s pretty straightforward though, integral of force over distance.</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s that blue book kinda with an arch cover. I see in chapter 7 there’s integration by parts and series in chapter 8. L-H rule in chapter 7 with improper integrals. What I’m worried about is I’ll leave out stuff that’s covered in 1-6. We skipped a few sections in 5 and 6 in calc AB.</p>
<p>Wikipedia has an article on AP Calculus, and it clearly states the topic covered on the AB test. If you’ve learned the (ε,δ)-definition of a limit (some classes teach this), that’s great, but you won’t need that on the AP test.</p>
<p>The Art of Problem Solving publishes its own calculus textbook, which is more rigorous and proof-oriented than most other books (which will definitely help when you get to college). You could perhaps self-study from that…just an option.</p>
<p>I took AP calc BC online through FLVS and it used the same book as the one youre going to use (older edition but I have both new and old and there are no big differences).
You do NOT need to know hyperbolic trig stuff… Whatever that is, I never learned it because it’s not on the exam.
Basically, you should know everything from AB and go over chapters 7-10 (BC topics).
If you would like I can email you the lessons you need to cover in your textbook that will appear on the BC exam. Just message me</p>
<p>10 too? The student edition for class this year only went up to chapter 9, but the book I borrowed has more chapters, though I think it’s for like multi-variable calc and up (ch 10-14).</p>
<p>Once you’re done with AB, BC shouldn’t be too bad to self-study. Khan Academy works well but I don’t think it covers all the topics so then you’re off to reading the lessons in the book. Just look over each example, see what they’re doing, and attempt the practice problems and check the back of the book. If you get it wrong, redo it.–Sometimes the book tends to “skip” steps in their work that’s why you have to go through the practice to see if you can produce the answer yourself. Rinse and repeat and you can actually cram BC over a Spring Break! --Hit the most important topics and you may be able to leave out the rarer ones but still get a 5.</p>
<p>Review books are nice, they get to the point VERY quickly too.</p>
<p>Yeah but like the identities are confusing…cos 2x = cos h^2x + sin h^2x whereas in trig it’s cos^2x - sin^2x. same with pythagorean identities. It’s like the opposite?</p>
<p>I couldn’t find this in the bc outline though. You guys know the book I’m talking about and what sections I need to cover?</p>
<p>@semaphore12, hyperbolic trig is only tested in the context of series. I remember seeing e^x + e^-x / 2 in an exam, which is cosh. But I seriously doubt Collegeboard will test anything like sinh^2 - cosh^2 = 1, unit hyperbola, hyperbolic angle, anything like that. </p>
<p>@apstudent1, I have never seen hyperbolic identities tested in the exam, and besides those identities are similar to trig identities. Of course hyperbolic functions are not periodic. Also area of a surface of revolution, work, probability, are NOT tested.</p>
<p>I’m sure hyperbolic stuff isn’t on the exam. I was a bit skeptical at first since my class skipped it so I checked out the AP course outline and didn’t find it on there either. And yeah chapter 10 is parametric/polar which is occasionally on the FRQ or MC.</p>
Never said anything about it being hard or complicated. I said that hyperbolic trig stuff was rare.</p>
<p>Even if it is on the exam, it would be a very small percentage of the exam such that getting it wrong would be negligible and wouldn’t affect your score much.</p>