AP Exam Clarification Questions

Test Preparation
1

<p>I've read in the MIT Course Catalogue that there is an AB section on the AP Calculus BC exam. Now, I'm not quite sure how that would work. I think this dual option is critical for my studies; should I fall behind in my Calculus work, I can always take this AB portion on the BC test. However if I study far enough, the BC test would be available as an option for me. Can anyone tell me how this works? Can I take one section or the other or what?</p>

<p>Also, what texts are recommended for Physics C: Mechanics and Calculus BC? I use Fundamentals of Physics by Halladay and Calculus by Swokowski. They both look like solid texts. Can anyone give their thoughts?</p>

2

<p>You can take either AB or BC (but not both) in any given year. The BC exam takes the subset of questions that covers AB topics and also calculates an "AB subscore" for you. Many colleges accept the AB subscore of the BC exam as equivalent to the AB exam score, so there's no penalty for taking BC over AB.</p>

3

<p>Nobody I know knows the answer to this question, but what's the difference between BC and AB?</p>

4

<p>BC covers everything on AB plus some additional topics. Any review book will lay it out for you, or you can get it from the course desciptions on College Board.</p>

5

<p>AP Calculus BC is the equivalent to 1 full year of college calculus in 1 high school year
AP Calculus AB is 1 semester of college calculus in one high school year</p>

<p>hope this helps :)</p>

6

<p>Would it be a good idea to take both the AB and the BC AP tests?</p>

7

<p>it isn't quite as simple as what hannanaq is saying. Different colleges arrange their calculus sequence differently (including all the AB and BC stuff plus multivariable). It can be a 2, 3, or 4 semester series. There can also be different calculus series depending on whether you are a math or engineering or science or pre-med major at a given college. Correspondingly, there are different ways colleges might handle AP credits.</p>

8

<p>im_blue, taking this into consideration, if I were to take the BC exam underprepared, then I would get a bad BC score; but maybe a good AB subscore? It's not like separate tests like Physics C? A whole test fused? Will colleges see BC if I don't show them?</p>

9

<p>When you take the BC test you are taking only one exam, it covers everything that AB covers plus some more. If you're sending AP scores to a college they're going to see both the BC score and the AB subscore, you can't send just one. If you're going to take the BC exam I would try to avoid going into it underprepared. The exam is not a terribly difficult exam and if you wanted to you could cover any material that you miss in class on your own. Good luck with the exam.</p>

10

<p>Well, 3 questions at 15 minutes each; and MC questions. How difficult are they? Do they require high logical problem solving skills; or should thorough knowledge of Calculus functions suffice?</p>

11

<p>Bbumpppppppp</p>

12

<p>you can buy a book of 15 years worth of old calculus free response, plus solutions, at:
<a href="http://www.moems.org/calcSolo.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.moems.org/calcSolo.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

13

<p>texas
is that book really good in preparing for the AP Calc exams
has the eam changed over those years
does it have an accurate format to the test that people will take in may</p>

14

<p>the book is 15 years worth of actual free-response questions. It's the closest you can get to the actual test in May, at least for the free response.</p>