<p>I'm really confused right now, do you take the AP exam after or before the course? and do you have to take an exam to get into a course???</p>
<p>At the end of the school year in May you take the AP test after you have taken the class unless you self-study.</p>
<p>what's the requirement for getting into AP?</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Look in your course handbook.</p>
<p>You take the exam before the course. Then if you get pass you don't have to take the class. And there are no preq's. Anyone can take the class at any time. For example you don't need algebra 2 for AP Calc BC. You can just go from Algebra 1 to AP Calc BC.</p>
<p>Sciencenerd, that's not necessarily true. At my school, I've never heard of anyone taking the AP before the course - they're too expensive to gamble like that, and they don't get you out of the required years of a subject. In general, you take the class for a year, and then take the test in May to see how well you've learned it - if you do well enough, you can get college credit.</p>
<p>At my school, there are also no prerequisites for most AP courses - we're forced to take them - but I know at many other schools you have to do well in prior courses or get teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>(Also, I wouldn't recommend going straight from Algebra I to Calc BC unless you're a math genius. I know Algebra II definitely helped me in Calc AB, as did geometry.)</p>
<p>Jumping from Algebra I to AP Calc BC is a joke. </p>
<p>But, I sense the entire post was satirical. </p>
<p>Try taking AP Physics without the class (or self-study) or basically anythnig for that matter, with the possible exception of English, but even that you need devices, etc.</p>
<p>sciencenerd wasn't serious.</p>
<p>This is kind of off-topic but anywho... If you're going to self-study anything I'd suggest AP Psych since it's mostly just a matter of knowing all the vocabulary... For pretty much any other subject I'd really encourage you to take the course (unless your school doesn't offer it of course).</p>
<p>so then should a soph take ap calculus or pre-calc??? what do you learn in precalc anyway if anybody care to respond???</p>
<p>In precalc, you spend about half the year learning algebra 2 again (but lots of functions, and functions, and functions....oh and functions), and the other half of the year learning about trigonometry and its properties. There is alot of graphing in it.</p>
<p>My book has 12 chapters:</p>
<ol>
<li>Fundamentals</li>
<li>Functions</li>
<li>Polynomial and Rational Functions</li>
<li>Exponential and Logarithmic Functions</li>
<li>Trigonometric Functions of Real Numbers</li>
<li>Trigonometric Functions of Angles (I loved this section)</li>
<li>Analytic Trigonometry</li>
<li>Systems of Equations and Inequalities (ridiculously easy)</li>
<li>Topics in Analytic Geometry </li>
<li>Sequences and Series</li>
<li>Counting and Probability</li>
<li>Limits: A Preview of Calculus (I don't think we'll do this chapter)</li>
</ol>