Hello, I am a rising senior looking to spruce up my courseload for the coming year. So far, this is what is registered on the school’s registar:
AP Calc AB
AP Bio (switching to AP Physics 1 asap)
AP Lit
AP Macro(semester)
AP Econ (semester)
Lab Aide (I would take another science here, but my school prohibits double enrollment of subjects due to budget problems)
As you can probably tell by the title of my thread, I am considering a switch to Calc BC. Calc BC at my school has an infamous reputation for being extremely hard (people have legit gotten raw 0/100s on tests), but also rewarding (because of grade inflation) and people usually do well on the AP test because of our teachers (>90% pass rate, one class got all 5s). I don’t hear much about AB because not that many people take it, but I hear that people who do take it usually regret it because they realize they had the time to take BC. Regarding my previous experience in math: I got 2 As in Geometry, 2Bs in Alg 2/Trig (it’s not like I didn’t understand the material, I was depressed during this time), and a B and then an A in Pre-Calc H. I want to major in Chem in college. Should I switch to BC?
If you’re looking for a challenge. BC kind of works the same way in my school, only we have the same teacher for both. It’s a much faster pace because you cover all of AB + an additional few chapters. Your taking Physics will help ALOT because the algebra in there will be paralleled to that in BC (if I’m not mistaken).
I cannot speak to your Calc question, but strongly suggest you read the active thread about AP Physics 1 being an epic fail on the part of the college board. You may want to stick with AP Bio.
@codemachine I’m more of a STEM kid @goldensrock I need to take Physics for HMC admission… Also, the class has existed at my school since forever. It was called Physics Honors. Since the Physics 1 test was introduced, we just renamed the course.
I took AB this year and it seemed like a much more laidback class than BC. The thing about BC is that time is always a factor – they were always rushing to do more lessons. Personally, I would take AB because you still get the AP credit on your GPA and it’s the easier class that has more depth (we take more time to learn the concepts, so I think this class challenges you more conceptually rather than how many more lessons you can memorize). But BC does look more rigorous and if you do well on the AP exam, you can probably pass out on Calc in college. If you want a slightly harder senior year, go for BC, but if you want a class with more breathing room, take AB.
This shows that Calc BC people are well-taught and get 5s, even though the workload is tough and their grades may suffer.
That depends on the individual’s schedule most of the time. If he/she had easy classes or weren’t challenged by their AP classes (see: AP Lite), they might feel they could have taken more on. This also depends on how far he/she has gotten with college applications during 1st semester.
Do you feel you’ve learnt all you need to know for Calculus? If not, there is still around a month (I start school after Labor Day) to practice and review what you don’t feel comfortable with.
If the class teaches basic physics (algebra based) then I would recommend switching to AP Physics C.
Whether you choose AB or BC Calc Physics C should be fine, through you might have some lag where you’ll get to a physics topic before learning the Calculus needed for it if you take AB.
Overall you can take AP Bio and Calc AB for a relatively difficult but manageable schedule good for a potential bio major (who wants to get 1st semester Calc out of the way), Calc AB and Physics 1 for a decent schedule, Calc AB and AP Physics C for someone looking into the STEM field and wants to test it out, or AP Physics C and Calc BC if you are really interested in STEM and looking for a challenge. Calc BC and Bio is also an option, but it’s pretty uncommon at my school.
