Hi everyone,
The time has come for students at my school to pick next year’s courses. I’m a rising senior (class of 2020!) who will major in humanities, most likely poli sci/ international relations. I’ve taken the honors math track at my school for the past three years and have gotten mostly low As in those classes. Math definitely doesn’t come easy to me (nor does it interest me). Now I have to decide between AP Statistics and AP Calc AB. I’m more interested in stats and it pertains more closely to my career path but I also know it’s perceived as less rigorous and may count against me in the eyes of more selective schools. The calc teacher at my school is known to be good, if that helps. Does anyone have any advice as to which class I should take?? Thank you! :))
Calculus AB in high school will be a gentler introduction to calculus than faster paced calculus 1 in college.
However, it is not a given that you will need calculus in college for your major or general education. But if you want to go heavy into quantitative analysis (e.g. of polls and elections in political science), then you may want to take calculus so that you can take calculus based statistics. Calculus is often used for economics beyond the introductory level courses, if you want to supplement your study in that direction.
Unless you plan on focusing on data analysis for political science, you won’t use calculus for poli-sci so it depends on what you’re interested in. So it’s entirely up to you. More important: what other classes are you taking?
I second post #1. If you think you might take Statistics in college, it might make more sense to take Calculus in high school. But if you will likely not take any college math, then taking AP Statistics should be fine.
If you have an idea of which colleges you want to attend, look at the required curriculum for your major at each school. If you won’t be taking calculus classes in college, than don’t take it in high school. Neither of my college sons are required to take calculus. One is taking Stats, the other is taking College Algebra. That’s all they need for their majors. My high school son will likely need calculus and stats in college, so when the time comes, he will take both AP Stats and AP Calc.
Depends on what career you want.