<p>Hello, I am self studying for the Calc AB exam. My acc trig/pre calc teacher wants me to try it since im taking BC next year. He saids it will be good practice and he thinks I will do well. If you guys have any information/handouts/materials/advice, it would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks,
Tyler</p>
<p>I read half of the Calculus Dummies book before switching to a review book. The Dummies book is really quite nice in that it introduces the concepts in a quirky manner. Princeton Review AP Calculus and Peterson's AP Calculus are good review books and I think either one is enough to self-study with, at least I seem to able to understand the books well enough, though I don't remember everything. If you have problems, you can always ask your teacher.</p>
<p>Gah, I'm really disappointed that I started self-studying calculus only to have the math department head refuse to allow me to take the exam, not even a chance.............just a rant.</p>
<p>why don't you go to AP Central and do some of the released free response exam questions. That way you would know what to expect in the free-response section in the exam.</p>
<p>^ thanks i have been doing that and it seems to be helping.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot Immortalix, and that sucks that they wouldnt let u take the test. I mean its ur decision the only person it could hurt is u. Thats really dumb</p>
<p>Anybody can sign up for any test, whether they've taken the class or not. The only reason you should have been denied the opportunity to take the test is missing the deadline for signing up to take it.</p>
<p>bump
thanks</p>
<p>^^ not true, my school prohibits it. You can't even do it if you were in the non-AP class for it.</p>
<p>that's kind of weird that your schools prohibit it. Anybody have an idea as to why they would do such a silly thing?</p>
<p>My math department head told me "no, every teacher is rushing to finish the curriculum and you're trying to learn Calculus BC, which is the harder one, in 2 months. I will not let you take the exam" or something along those lines.</p>
<p>Yea that really sucks, and stupid, and I don't really understand why your school wouldn't let u do it, but do u guys have any information to help me on the exam.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>You know, it is schools like that that really really **** me off. It's like they are trying to prohibit you from trying to stand out. unfortunately, my school is like that too..</p>
<p>ok don't mean to be rude but can we please stay on the topic of the thread. I really need help.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>There isn't much that we can do. We can't teach you Calculus. Get the PR book or the Peterson's book. Read the AB material, pay attention to how the problems are solved, and then go through each review problem at the end of each chapter and read through the answer solutions. That's all there is to it. And if it doesn't work out, then don't take the exam since you're going to take BC next year.</p>
<p>^dont get an attitude with me. I am genuinely asking for help and u guys went off on a tangent and i kindly asked u guys to refer to helpful sites/books/materials. Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>@OP: It's somewhat difficult to know exactly what to suggest, given that we don't know exactly how much your current course is offering. To be frank, I probably wouldn't have suggested taking the AB test if you're taking the BC class next year and not in calculus this year. But if your pre-cal course covers a significant percentage of the topics, it might be fairly workable.</p>
<p>As far as the review books, I frankly have typically advised that you should find one that speaks well to you about the topics. I'd also try to find some high-quality MC questions to work through (the released exams, if you have access; a quality review book, if you don't). There's a stickied thread that talks about the high-quality books, and frankly, I'm not that familiar with them.</p>
<hr>
<p>Regarding the "tangential" topic, Advanced</a> Placement Exams FAQ AP Questions has information in its first FAQ that specifies that any student can take it. Your school may have a policy that doesn't "allow" it, but then you are allowed to take it with a neighboring school.</p>
<p>OP you should be the one losing the attitude. There's nothing to tell you other than take the course yourself because Calculus is far too beautiful and difficult of a subject for you to expect to simply read a prep book and get a 5 on the exam. You've already posted a very similar thread about this about PR and ARCO books and frankly now that there's only about 35 days until the AP exams, there nothing else to do other than to read the ARCO book, which is of such a large volume that I doubt you'd finish in time.</p>
<p>If you want to be prepared for the exam quit wasting your time here and do calculus.</p>
<p>Ok why doesn't everyone find a word other than frankly, and now I know why no else likes to come to CC. You are all snobby, rich kids that don't know anything about the real world or how to help people.
Also, I never said I wanted a 5, I was just looking for some help and thought I might find a decent person to help me. Now I realize that this is to much to ask for on this site.</p>
<p>The real world? You're on your own in the real world. Get your head out of your ass and figure things out for yourself.</p>
<p>PS -- Don't take the test. Taking BC Calc next year completely defeats the purpose. Fail.</p>
<p>calc BC self study is only possible if you've already done calc AB in a regular class. trust me.</p>
<p>Sorry starwarsfan but you really need to read the original post.</p>
<p>stressed!!! (an ironic name for someone who assumes they have the time to self-study an AP exam), we would love to help you out if we could encompass all of calculus into a short forum post or even maybe just a bit of it, but that's what the goddamn book we recommended you to buy is for, and frankly, they will do a much better job than us since they have degrees and we are mainly high school students. So yes, it is too much to ask that we high school students help you for calculus, 'cause we don't really know what else to say other than to read the material. So stop trying to escape the truth and read the material.</p>
<p>And for the record I would like to believe that I am not snobby and I am most certainly not rich. If my school let me take AP exams for free then maybe my financial status would be a little better. I don't even know where you got the assumption that we were rich from.</p>