<p>I am a sophomore at my high school and am currently enrolled in an AB calc course after the principal kicked me out of the BC class since I did not have a AB calc credit. I taught myself AB calc over the summer after talking to the math teachers and guidance counselors at the end of last year, who said it would be fine. Needless to say, the principal did not think so at the beginning of this year. </p>
<p>Since I already know the ab calc material, I have been teaching myself BC calc during AB calc class (which I have already completed most of). Unfortunately, my teacher is a bit picky about what steps are shown and notations, so even thought 99% of my answers were correct, I ended up with a 75% for the 1st quarter. I know that I understand the material, since i tutor other students in my class and they then get better scores then me. I have since discussed the problem with the teacher and hope that the 60% test scores are a thing of the past, but for the year, I figured it would be difficult to pull a respectable grade (95+). Otherwise, I have above a 97 in every class.</p>
<p>I plan to take the AP BC test at the end of the year, which, after talking to the BC calc teacher, I should be able to get a 4 or 5 on. </p>
<p>Will the low AB calc grade hurt my chances at MIT or will I be okay?
Thanks</p>
<p>im not sure how to help you but in relation to what your teacher is doing: My teacher told us that on the AP Cal exam each problem is worth like 9 points and having a correct answer is only 1 point of the nine so teh process is where you get most of your points. Thus I think thats why she is nit picky over the how you do the problems. I think this is wut our AP Cal teacher said.</p>
<p>Im a senior now. I took BC Calc as a sophmore and got a B+ on my transcript (my only one in High School). I explained that I took BC Calc as a sophmore on my MIT app... and that I got a 5 on the AP test and asked them to take this into consideration. ::shrug:: One girl who was in my class as a junior got a B average... she got into MIT early last year (although she was an All-Easter Celloist). Another kid with a C in BC calc got into Princeton Early (though he was legacy and had nice research...) BUt my point is, don't stress over it. Try as hard as you can, and hey if you don't do well in the end. Just suck it up. Chances are you won't get rejected solely because of one B even if it is Calc and MIT. Do well on the AP test.</p>
<p>I have heard the whole 9pt scale, but why would someone take class for an entire year just to take an exam? That does not make sense to me, I take classes because I want to learn something.</p>
<p>I am mainly concerned because it was in calc, which seemed important as MIT is a math/science school.</p>
<p>I think you should be okay... maybe have your college counselor explain it in your rec, or write about it in the "additional info" section. Plus, if you do really well next semester, it'll be super-okay, since then you'll have the whole-upward trend thing going on. I would worry about it too much - what's past is past.</p>
<p>You have 3 quarters to bring it up, assuming you're going to play along with what the teacher wants from now on. It's one grade in sophomore year, and I assume they're going to see some community college courses or something for your junior year/beginning of senior year before they ever see your application?</p>
<p>I say you're good. If you were a senior and the 75 had gone out on your transcript for EA or something, that might be a concern. I bet you'll forget all about this 75 by the time you apply.</p>