I labeled this as urgent since I have to make a decision by tmrw afternoon.
I’m a high school senior who’s been given the opportunity to replace AP Calc AB with Multivariable Calc. I really want to take Multi, but I just want to make sure that this won’t backfire due to any technicalities. For example, if a college requires incoming freshmen to have taken an AP Calc course in HS to skip its college calculus courses, would not taking AB mean I would have to retake regular calc in college, despite having taken multi? Or, are there colleges that automatically penalize you during the admissions process if you haven’t taken a certain number of APs? (Since multi isn’t an AP even though it’s harder, eliminating AB would drop me to 2 APs.)
@evergreen5 Yes, but I was able to talk to the teacher and told him that I already knew all of the regular calc material. He agreed to give me a seat in his class.
Have you already learned all of the material from Calc 1 and 2? If so, then you could go ahead and take the multi class.
But, if you have yet to take calculus, then you should take the AP Calc AB class.
You will probably have to retake calculus in college if you need it as a prerequisite for your major if you have not completed AB or BC, even if you take multi.
Have you taken calc 1+2?
What is your goal?
There’s no benefit to taking MVC if you don’t have the first elements in the math sequence.
What has your math sequence been so far?
Depends upon the college. Some colleges have their own internal exams for placing out of math courses.
And he just took your word for it? I would have at least given you a challenge exam. Unless you have truly mastered the prerequisite material (the equivalent of AP Calc BC not AB), all your questions are academic, since you would most likely find yourself struggling in MVC. If you have in fact mastered the AP Calc material, then take the AP test so the question of academic credit/placement becomes moot.
Additionally, for most colleges, you will get credit and/or placement for Calc 1 and 2 with an appropriate score on the AP exam, but far fewer will do so for MVC. So I’m not really seeing the need to rush through the curriculum, unless you truly are well-prepared for MVC. Good luck.
^the teacher could have had an interior chuckle “kid thinks s/he’s covered all of AB/BC on his/her own, let that class be his/her comeuppance”, or the OP could have brought several previous Calc BC exams, perfectly completed.
Multivariable calculus is one of those classes that weeds people out…I would not take it without taking Calc AB/BC…if you do not do well your grade will follow you. Usually this is when people get in trouble with grades…they are taking classes they are not really prepared for.