AP Stats vs AP Calc BC (11th grade)

Test Preparation AP Mathematics & Computer Science
1

<p>Hey so I'm currently a sophomore taking Precal (had a high A for my sem avg) and I'm in the process of choosing my classes for next year.....So anyways I'm either planning to take AP Stats or BC next year (I'll be taking the other 12th grade) and I'm not sure when to take the courses. Should I do BC first then Stats or Stats then BC?</p>

<p>I was originally planning to take BC first but then was suggested to take Stats first. So CCers, what do you guys think??</p>

2

<p>I took Calculus BC in 11th and Stats in 12th…honestly, I found calculus more interesting than AP Stats. </p>

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<p>@MITer94, would you recommend taking one before the other? I wanted to take BC first, but then someone said it was better to take calculus 12th so its directly before college calc </p>

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<p>Not sure. I took Calculus BC in 11th and then multi-variable during freshman fall in college, as well as a bunch of other calculus-based courses (physics, diff-eq, abstract algebra - some homework problems required calculus, and others). I don’t think taking Calculus BC in 12th would have affected my later classes.</p>

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<p>Uh… what about Calc AB?</p>

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<p>@BassGuitar, I don’t have room in schedule (its pretty packed). I want to finish both BC and Stats before i graduate but i dont have room to double in math (I technically could I guess but I would have replace Study Hall I’m going to need it)</p>

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<p>No! Take AP Calc AB instead. I’ve never heard of anyone skipping it. And looking at the syllabus for Calc BC, it’s all cumulative. It’s a really silly idea. </p>

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<p>I’ve heard of people skipping Calculus AB. Most Calculus BC classes will go over AB material, but you may want to check. I’m not sure if skipping AB and taking BC is the <em>best</em> idea for you, but it’s definitely an option if you want to take BC and Stats.</p>

<p>My Calculus AB class was really slow since it spent an entire school year going over one semester’s worth of work (MIT’s 18.01 covers Calculus AB in ~1/2 semester). So keep in mind if you take a year-round AB course it will probably be fairly slow.</p>

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<p>@BassGuitar It depends on the school. Some possible options:

  1. PreCalc is a prereq for Calc AB, which is a prereq for Calc BC.
  2. PreCalc is a prereq for Calc BC (and there is no Calc AB at all)
  3. From PreCalc, if you get a certain grade or higher, you move on to Calc BC; otherwise, you move onto Calc AB.
    3a. Related to option #3 is that there is a honors and a non-honors version of PreCalc. Students in non-honors PreCalc go to Calc AB, and students in honors PreCalc go to Calc BC
  4. Accelerate Algebra 2 and PreCalc into 3 semesters instead of 2 years. Then “Calc A” would be another semester, and Calc BC would take place afterwards for a full year.</p>

<p>There are other options that are similar to the above, or something different. </p>

10

<p>Thanks guys for the info, but I think I’ll stick to doing BC though. My friend who has taken BC after precal says the teacher is decent and its def manageable for me, so I’ll take that instead.</p>

<p>Anyways, do you other guys think for the order? What order should I take Stats and BC??
Thanks</p>

11

<p>I mean, there are only two possible orders you can take them in (unless you decide to take them both in one year), and I doubt taking one before the other will make a huge difference. I took Calculus BC before Stats which I guess wasn’t a bad idea.</p>