<p>Hello!</p>
<p>I'm going to be a sophomore next year and I was wondering whether it is advisable to just take the BC Calculus course but take both the AB and BC exams. </p>
<p>Has anyone here done it? </p>
<p>If so, could you please tell me about your experience?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I think when you take BC test you are basically taking AB plus BC since there is an AB subscore on the BC test that can help determine how much credit college gives you. For instance one school I looked at would give credit for Calc 1 and 2 for a BC score of 3, but would give credit for Calc 1 if AB subscore was 4 or 5.</p>
<p>SCmom is correct, you only take BC test, and it includes an AB subscore. So there is only one test.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, CollegeBoard does not even allow you take both the Calculus AB and Calculus BC exams. Instead, like the above posters said, you would have to go for either just the AB exam, or the BC exam, which includes an AB subscore.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>So if I get a 5 on the BC test, then I pretty much have a 5 on the AB test?</p>
<p>^ If you get a 5 for the AB subscore, then yes.</p>
<p>I think if you get a 5 on the BC, you generally get credit for both Calc 1 and Calc 2 (if the school gives credit for the AP test. )</p>
<p>The only reson you would need the AB subscore is if you received a 2 on the BC, but a 4 on the AB subscore. Then often a college will still give you credit for Calc 1, but not Calc 2. </p>
<p>I have only heard of one person that received a lower score on the AB subscore than on the BC part of the test.</p>
<p>Rob1995 wrote “If I remember correctly, CollegeBoard does not even allow you take both the Calculus AB and Calculus BC exams.” - This is true only if you attempt to take both AB and BC exams in the same year. That means, you need two years to take both exams.</p>
<p>But if I take the BC exam and score a 5, will it even be necessary to take the AB?</p>
<p>^^ No.</p>
<p>Tenchar</p>
<p>@moose97, if you take BC exam, you will get a AB subscore as well, you do not need to take AB exam as a result. But if you take AB exam first, you should take BC exam another year.</p>
<p>Rusty84 wrote “When you take the BC, you’re taking AB at the same time.” - not exactly. BC exam does include AB part so you get AB subscore as well, but it’s just one exam not two.</p>
<p>moose-
<p>Think of the AB class as Calc 1, and the BC class as Calc 1 and 2 together. Some schools only allow students to take a year of calc 1 (AB) then a second year of Calc 2 (BC). Some schools have AB as calc 1 for a year course, or you could choose BC which is both for a year. It is confusing, and much depends on how your school will schedule the classes. </p>
<p>But for what you need to know for testing is that you ONLY take AB test if you take the calc 1 class only. You take BC if you take the Calc 1 and 2 class. </p>
<p>Hope that helps, and does not confuse you more.</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone!</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore and I took AB this year. It was by no means easy, but ridiculously slow. I felt like i wasted a lot of time and should have taken BC. The BC test has a ridiculously curve. Last year our BC teacher said that everyone got 5s except 2 people who didn’t take the exam. if you look at the statistics 50% of BC students who took the exam got a 5. You have take the BC test.</p>
<p>^ Yes, BC curve is very nice.</p>