*** AP Calculus BC Thread 2016-2017 ***

Isn’t 4(B) an overestimate. You stated that your second derivative was negative, but later stated it was greater than 0. This will reverse the answer to an overestimate with similar reasoning.

I was a bit iffy on response for the general term for 6(A) which could also affect my 6©. I’m not to sure if this was allowed but I stated that my n value was not the same n value on the problem. I then did a “regular” definition starting at n=0 to the nth term.

@cavern101
Re: 4B, 2nd derivative is positive; at the end of the line I typed (1/16)(H - 27), which is greater than 0. If H is concave upward, then the tangent line will be below the curve.

@cavern101, I also started at n=0 instead of n=1, but I made a note saying I started at n=0. Hopefully that’s fine.

D18 volunteered the following info last night. Her class went over the Form O test, which was the test released by the CB several days ago. First, let me say, she’s not one for hyperbole and doesn’t have a big ego. Second, her grade in her BC class is 99.2% and she’s one of the best BC students in her class of 30-35 students.

So, FWIW, she claimed Form O was “easy.” And 100% was obtainable for her, if she would have gotten the Form O test. Her teacher said Form E, the test she and couple of other students received for testing, was the “international” BC test and was far more difficult than Form O. She was very disappointed…if she had only been one seat over.

I will NEVER look at a potato in the same way ever again…

Score distributions, according to CB:
5: 42.4%
4: 18.3%
3: 19.9%
2: 14.3%
1: 5.1%

Got a 5 on both BC and AB. Expected.

Got a 4 lol on BC and AB

5 on both. No surprise. Now I can claim my college credit. :ρ

5 on both ezpz

I know this is kinda out of place but I’m planning to take Calculus BC next year. Was wondering for those who got a 4+ (which I’m aiming for), how did you guys prepare for the test (prep books, textbooks, how the class was structured, etc.?). Also, does anyone know where I can find released MC and FRQ grouped in topics (I know Collegeboard has a lot, but they’re not grouped according to topics like Limits, Derivatives, etc.). Help is appreciated. :smiley:

@hwayajjin Hi!, I took Calc BC this past year as a junior and took AB as a sophomore. I got a 5 on AB, and then this year I got a 5 on BC with an AB sub score of…4…yeah weird. But I only studied for BC topics near the end so it kinda makes sense.
Anyway, I started studying for the class around spring break. I printed out all the FRQs from the past 10 years and started working through them. It may seem tedious, but once you know the material the best way to get better at the FRQs is to just keep practicing them. The college board can only ask a question so many ways and if you do enough you’ll be like a machine when the actual test comes. Tbh, my BC teacher did very little to help me prepare for the actual format of the test.
This pdf has some frqs sorted by topic, but theyre only up to 2007…but better than nothing?
http://pwalstoncalculus.■■■■■■■■■■/uploads/3/1/1/8/31180069/ap_free_response_bt_topic.pdf

I also had both the Princeton and the Barrons review books and I did the multiple choice questions out of there. My class has a textbook but we never used it. I actually think I never even opened it. In class we used a lot of Kuta Software worksheets. I highly reccomend them. Theyre are SO many problems you could just keep working on them for hours and hours and hours.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask. I love calculus tbh :slight_smile:

That’s awesome! Thank you so much!! I will definitely use the resources you recommended. (:

@hwayajjin To add on to the sorted FRQs, if you want more recent ones, here are the FRQs up until 2014 with the topics they cover listed next to each one:

Just scroll down to find what you’re looking for. In general, I would just advise taking as many practice FRQs and MC as you can - my teacher gave us so many released FRQs that we were all prepared for almost all of the types of questions you could encounter. It’s all about knowing how to apply calc skills to problems, and the FRQs are usually fairly similar year by year, so you can learn methods to attacking a lot of different types of problems (I actually wasn’t actively “learning”, instead just kinda subconsciously picking everything up).

Oh, almost forgot. I would definitely recommend PatrickJMT videos on Youtube for learning some calc concepts (I think he has video lessons on certain topics, like limits and such).

Another person I recently watched the videos of: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy7wJn7fDadZlYkb5KHXq-Q

@hwayajjin I never struggled with the course simply because I had fun with the course. I wanted to understand concepts that I found a tad bit difficult. I went on Quora and answered simple single-variable Integration problems for fun and practice. I would watch Youtubers like blackpenredpen for interesting problems. Here’s a series I recommend: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDMsr9K-rj53DwVRMYO3t5Yr

If you get into the mindset that Calculus is easy, it will be easy. It will be as easy as you think. Learn from your mistakes. Wonder why your answer is correct. The more you understand, the easier Calculus will be. Understand why Rolle’s theorem works or what exactly Integration is. In AP Physics C, my viewpoint of Calculus was changed when I realized that Integration was not simply “area under the curve,” but rather an infinite sum of differentials. And when I take Real Analysis next year during my freshman year of college, my viewpoint will surely change once again to become more refined.

Near February or March, just spam yourself with practice exams, especially FRQ. I always did at least 10 FRQs a week leading up to the AP exam. It was very good practice and ensured that I would not make a mistake during the exam. I always aimed for perfect scores, but of course, there will always be one FRQ that stumps me (and it’s usually on related rates!). :ρ

@ObitoSigma Any tips for me because im selfstudying BC next year while take AB course. Should I work with KhanAcademy and Barrons for BC or do i need other materials.

@waterbrether725 After receiving a 5 on the BC test and a 5 for the AB subscore I found that doing old practice tests is VERY helpful. My calculus teacher made us do ~20 old practice tests at the end of the year to prepare. Even though I didn’t have time to do all of them, they really prepare you well for the actual test. I think the multiple choice practice (e.g. Chung) are typically bought by your school, but all of the old free response problems are available online for free.

@ObitoSigma Have fun with real analysis lol. I learned the course by studying Maxwell Rosenlicht’s book, and it was a lot of fun for a high school freshman to learn.

@bobert1 Ok i see.So if i use KhanAcademy, Dr.Chung and Barrons, it is possible to get a 5? I’ll probably just get Chungs from the library or use the tools online, like you said. Real Analysis? thats basically the calculus BC material I think. I was researching on it some time ago.

Basically this is my plan, Please tell me if it is effective:(for both AB and BC)
From September ----Februrary
-KhanAcademy
-Dr Chung
-Barrons.

March—AP exam date
-Dr Chungs MC practice
-Barrons practice tests
-Collegeboard frqs(I believe these are on KhanAcademy as well)

I’ll pretty much be doing this for about 15 hours a week(so about 2 hours per day) but during breaks this will increase/become more rigorous.