<p>I just took Calculus AB over the past year and I ended up managing a 5 on the exam, so I want to know what kind of position that will put me in for BC next year. Does taking AB make Calculus BC much easier, or is it completely different from AB?</p>
<p>A lot, or probably even the majority of the BC test is just AB material. I was really horrible at the BC stuff and took the test anyway, and I still got a 4. BC is basically just the AB test plus a few more concepts thrown in.</p>
<p>Haha yeah that’s what I thought, but I heard the BC test is MUCH harder than the AB test. Perhaps this is because most BC test takers haven’t taken AB?</p>
<p>It’s harder, but if you have your AB material down you’re pretty much guaranteed a 4. The BC material is also harder, but the test doesn’t go very in-depth with it (outside of maybe series).</p>
<p>I’m not sure how it works for most people as to whether they’ve taken AB before. I personally took an AB class, and then in the last couple months before the test my teacher helped a few students learn the BC material separately. My teacher was weird though, we were supposed to have a whole semester to learn the BC material, and he didn’t really do much to teach it to us.</p>
<p>Well I took AB in school, but I self-studied BC material and got a 5
I read somewhere that about 60% of the BC exam is AB material, and the BC material really isn’t that hard once you get used to it - its easier than it first looks</p>
<p>My son took AB last year and BC this past year. He said the first half of the year was a repeat, then he finally started learning new stuff in January. </p>
<p>He got a 5 in both the AB test last year and this year’s BC, so he didn’t think it was hard.</p>
<p>I would think that you would have a huge advantage having taken the AB test. The whole first semester in BC we learned all of the AB material and some BC concepts. I took the class as a juniot righr after pre-calc, so while the material was not too bad the pace was very fast throughout the year. However, I did get a 5 on the entire test as well as the AB subscore. I think the biggest contributing factor to this was that my teacher supplied us with practically every AP exam released for homework, so I got lots of practice. I would suggest doing a series problem every night for the three weeks before the test.</p>
<p>Half the stuff on the Calc BC exam is Calc AB material. Some parts of the BC portions are a bit tricky (I think many on this board can agree, especially those from the 2009 AP Calc BC thread, lol.). However, because the curve is generous, it’s not difficult to get a 5. I got a 5 on BC and AB.</p>