<p>DS completed AP Calc (1st year) as 10th grader, got an A, took AP exam and is waiting for results. School doesn't offer B/C class so he can take a 2 semester college class at local campus brand of state university. His high school is offering (for the first time) an AP Stats class in the fall. </p>
<p>Some friends are trying to persuade him to take that instead. Downside university class is that it takes up 2-3 class periods ( with travel, etc). Plus side is that he could continue with the Calc while it is fresh in his mind. Downside to Stats is that it is first time teacher is teaching the class and the plus is it is right at school. If he took Stats, I imagine he would take Calc class at university during his senior year. </p>
<p>Any thoughts on what might be a better choice? Would one way be preferred by colleges over another? He enjoys science but has not decide on a college track or career path yet.Thanks!</p>
<p>So, your question is whether to take Calc II as a junior or a senior?</p>
<p>I’m not sure it matters to colleges. </p>
<p>Statistics is a good course for anyone to take, although AP Stats is not calculus based so it probably won’t keep him from needing statistics in college if he becomes a math, physics or engineering major. </p>
<p>Depending on his major, he might have to take more calc-based math (like differential equations) in college and it might be slightly easier with Calc fresh in his mind. That might be a reason for taking Calc as a senior. He could also say that he maxed out his school’s math offerings.</p>
<p>On the other hand, AP Statistics is a very different class from AP Calculus and the statistics teachers report that different students do best in each. AP Stats requires reading, interpretation, and explanation. That may or may not play to his strengths.</p>
<p>If he were serious about going on in math, I’d say the college class, but as it I’d lean towards the AP. I don’t college admissions will care one way or another. The downside of taking calc later is he may have forgotten a bit, the advantage is that he’ll be fresher for college campus if he were to take AP Stats as a senior. I think there’s a slight advantage to taking the course you’ll do better in as a junior so that it’s on the transcript, but I don’t know how you’d predict college course vs. unknown teacher. One final consideration is that senior year is usually pretty busy and the commute might be even more onerous next year. But if it prevents him from taking a full schedule as a junior I’d lean towards AP Stats.</p>
<p>I think all my plusses and minuses suggest AP Stats, but I wouldn’t swear to it!</p>
<p>I tend to agree with taking AP stats as a junior, then calculus later. When my daughter took AP Statistics in HS, we were worried because not only was it was the first time it was offered, but the teacher who was tapped to do so was not a good one to begin with. But she did her darndest and the class was good; a high percentage of the class got 4 or 5 on the exam.</p>
<p>I’m slightly biased since I’m a statistician (retired); who knows, he may find a new passion!</p>
<p>I took Calc BC in my sophomore year in high school and didn’t continue with multivariable calculus until my 2nd semester in college. The transition was seamless for me. Calculus is very conceptual and has very little information that could be forgotten.</p>
<p>I took AP stats in my junior year, and in my senior year I took linear algebra and elementary number theory at a local university. I wasn’t able to take multivariable calculus in high school because of scheduling conflicts, and I didn’t want to take it in my first semester in college because the instructor was horrible. (I took abstract algebra instead.) </p>
<p>Retrospectively, I am actually glad that I didn’t follow the regular calculus path. The statistics class has served me better than any other math class I have ever taken, linear algebra made my life in multivariable calculus much easier, and the number theory class made math competitions so much more fun! I also got a lot of attention from faculty for being “the freshman in abstract algebra.” :)</p>
<p>Having more algebra early was a blessing for my general mathematical development because algebra proofs are much cleaner than analysis proofs. I could wrap my head around and learn to appreciate mathematical rigor before it came up in the advanced calculus and analysis classes. </p>
<p>I also had a leg up in my computer science major because my combinatorics background from AP Stats allowed me to distinguish efficient from inefficient algorithms, which the other students didn’t learn until much later.</p>
<p>This sounds like my DD except she was placed in calc her freshman year. She took AP Stat her sophomore year and then, in order to have enough math credits to graduate, she took Calc II at local CC. She did not take any math her Sr year. Colleges did not seem to care about the no math Sr year as she got many offers with considerable $$.</p>