<p>Will the summer AB Calc be on his transcript or available via college transcript? If not, it might be better to repeat AB Calc.</p>
<p>Bromfield my son took geometry trig and algebra 2 at the high school and this summer took first year calc at City College. He doesn’t get college credit for it since it was a free program. He took it to prepare for BC. He did get grades and a certificate. </p>
<p>If it were me, I’d repeat ap calc AB and take the ap calc ab test and consider concurrently self studying for the AP calc BC test but without taking the ap calc BC class.</p>
<p>If calc AB shows up as a summer cc class with ap stats as the school year class, the colleges might think that he took ab to get it out of the way but took the stats for gpa padding. (Ap stats is pretty easy)</p>
<p>I like the idea of taking AB calc but preparing for the BC exam and taking the BC exam in May.</p>
<p>Never repeat a course! Take the AP Stats course for some useful knowledge. Better than a study hall. IF he eventually chooses a college statistics course later it won’t hurt. If he never takes another he will have the rudiments of analyzing data. Son did an Honors math major at a major U and added comp sci. His only statistics course was AP- I don’t believe he even took any math courses that were cross listed with the Statistics dept. He also took AP calc as a senior. College Honors calc very different (theory based, not problem based).</p>
<p>AP courses are like average college intro courses, they typically are much watered down compared to many U’s versions. But, they are a good alternative to average ability courses in HS.</p>
<p>Did he take Calc AB such that it would show up on his transcript?</p>
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<p>@bopper it seems not, though there is a certificate. Maybe he can self-study and take the AP Calc AB exam at the end of the year, while staying in AP Stats?</p>
<p>What a bummer that he took the summer course to get into BC then was shut out. Our HS suggests the same for kids who want to get BC Calc as a senior but didn’t accelerate enough to get there normally (our HS requires a year of AB before BC).</p>
<p>The Guidance Counselor is professionally required to indicate that your son took the most demanding schedule available (if true) and was shut out of Calc BC although he wanted to attend. The GC can’t write about an audit but writing “shut out of AP Calc BC by lottery, due to enrollment numbers” (or whatever is customary at your HS to indicate the shut out was due to numbers, not to an academic selection process your son didn’t pass) should be in his recommendation; if your son plans on taking the BC exam in May, that too should be on the recommandation and would not violate union rules.</p>
<p>Calc BC is half Calc AB and half new material, covered in a year. The Calc BC exam is half AB, roughly, and half BC, with an AB subgrade. Therefore, your son could take Calc AB at his high school, should do very well due to the summer class, and prepare the BC exam, perhaps with help from the BC teacher at times.</p>
<p>Considering your son wants to go into Physics and his Calc AB type class won’t show up on any transcripts- I’d have him repeat the Calc class rather then take the AP Stats class. My daughter is a physics major in college and her degree doesn’t require any Stats but she does have to have Calc 1-3 and Linear Algebra completed to declare her physics major. </p>
<p>It looks like the school will allow him to sit in on the BC class, but won’t create an official “audit” class. However, the GC will put into the letter that he was shut out, took the class and is preparing for the BC exam, and the math teacher is writing his recommendation and will also include this information. I understand that there is a space on the common ap for other information. We should also put that in there? Should this be sufficient to overcome the fact that math will not appear on his transcript senior year? Thank you!</p>
<p>I think that would be fine - at least at any school that reads the application reasonably carefully!</p>
<p>Yes, that should go in “additional information”.
He will not be penalized from that course of action - it sounds like a great plan. Congratulations to you, your son, the Math teacher, and the Guidance Counselor for figuring something out that works for all involved - not an easy thing to do :)</p>