<p>My school no longer offers calc bc as a regular class. Calc bc is only offered online and can not be self studied. I am worried that if i take calc bc online, I won't be ready for the ap exam. Should i stick with calc ab or should i try and take calc bc online? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>“Cannot be self studied”? </p>
<p>In any case, BC is great, but if you don’t think the online course will adequately prepare you, feel free to take AB, which is also good.</p>
<p>Thanks, btw i meant to say that calc bc can only be self studied through the online course.</p>
<p>^ According to…?</p>
<p>@MitDuke, what PiperXP is trying to say is that if you’re self-studying, you don’t need “approval” from anyone. Just go find lectures online (OCW is a great place), perhaps buy a cheap textbook, and study from it!
I self-studied AP CompSci and Bio, and still got 5’s on them. No one actually “allowed” me to do it. I just did. And you can too!</p>
<p>^ Actually, I was more wondering if you were required to take the class in order to take the test at that particular school, which I’ve heard of some schools (though I’m not sure that’s CollegeBoard-approved). </p>
<p>I certainly didn’t interpret “calc bc can only be self studied through the online course” to mean “it is physically impossible to learn this material through self-studying”. But, resilient193 is right - there are books out there you can use if the actual material-learning part is your barrier.</p>
<p>My school technically doesn’t “let” you sign up for APs unless you take it, but that’s actually not allowed by the CollegeBoard. So I just sent my school a check and they didn’t say anything about it and just put me down. Honestly… the school’s horrible at the logistics. They probably don’t even know that I didn’t take a course</p>
<p>My school requires that we take an ap class before we take the exam. We are not allowed to individually self-study an ap course.</p>
<p>@MitDuke: Same with my school. We can’t take an exam w/o taking a course. But that’s just a bunch of b.s. A school is not allowed to forbid students from taking APs. If you can’t persuade them to let you take it without a course, do the following:
Just contact the AP service ([Contact</a> AP - Advanced Placement Contact](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Get the Most Out of AP – AP Students | College Board)), tell them you’d like to register for an AP and say you’re school cannot offer you AP exams this year (technically this is true, because they won’t offer it to you). They’ll give you a list of AP coordinators in the area to call. Pick a coordinator that’s not in your school. Call them up and setup to take an exam.</p>
<p>Schools say you can’t take an AP exam without a course because they think self-studiers will “lower” their AP grade average, giving them a lower ranking. That is, I believe, very far from the truth! Self-studiers tend to be more motivated and driven, hence learn more.
This advice applies generally to many other areas: never take a no from your school! Go out of your way and make it happen, don’t let silly stuff like this stop you! Believe me, it definitely can happen and it’ll feels like a huge accomplishment!</p>
<p>Sorry about the exclamations. I just feel really strong about this issue.</p>
<p>^ Thanks (10 char)</p>
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<p>VERY GOOD ADVICE. Please heed this! This has been the point I’m trying to make over and over again in the AP Self-Study thread in the AP forum.</p>
<p>If there’s one thing I learned in high school that I must share, and if there’s one thing that netted me 12/15 college acceptances and my place at MIT right now, it’s that never let your high school limit how far you go academically. It might require more effort on your part, but it’ll be worth the effort in the end.</p>
<p>^^you should check out oasis’s AP self study thread in the AP forum as well as the consolidated review book suggestion thread. They’re both stickied at the top.</p>
<p>(*hint: they’re really helpful :)!)</p>
<p>I self-studied for the Calculus BC and got a 5. I used the Apostol’s book and some online random Googling and Wikipedia-ing I did. Went well. If you have a real interest in this kind of stuff you’ll actually find preparing for the AP quite fun.</p>
<p>Oh and - the Khan academy videos are great.</p>
<p>Another option is to take Calc AB in school and self study the ~2 chapters of extra material the BC exam will have on it.</p>
<p>^ I am probably going to do that</p>