<p>Hey guys, I've got my college schedule done and I was wondering whether I should take a Calculus class that combines I and II or Calculus III. I got a 5 on the AP Calculus BC test, but I honestly do not feel confident in my mathematical abilities to go to the next level, especially in College. I got C's and B's on the tests during my Calculus BC class, but ended up with an A overall due to a lot of curving. </p>
<p>Should I just take Calc I and II for an easy A and get that credit (I'm not in a Major having to do anything with Math at all), or go for the challenge and go into Calc III?</p>
<p>Take them over again. Unless you actually need Calc III for your major. Calc III doesn’t exist around here…it’s called vector calculus and it is HARD (and I’m an engr. major who aced Calc I + II).</p>
<p>Lots of people do well in multivariable calculus after a 5 on the BC test.</p>
<p>However, you may want to see if there is any specific advice from the math department of your school. Also, see if old final exam problems from your school are available, such as those found here:</p>
<p>What major? If your major does not specify calculus or multivariable calculus, there may be some other course that is more useful to take, especially since you have already taken calculus. For example, a (calculus-based) statistics course is worthwhile for a lot of majors.</p>
<p>^^ You’re sorta missing the point by taking something “random” like calculus based statistics. Always go for the low hanging fruit and take classes in subjects you already know, whenever possible. Your GPA will thank you. I’ve basically taken statistics from various departments around campus 3 times already…and they keep giving me credit for it.</p>
<p>When I went to university, I actually thought it would be more interesting to learn stuff that I did not already know (am I being old fashioned?). Why waste time and tuition money repeating stuff you already know? And sandbagging for GPA might not work because you’ll find yourself in classes full of cutthroat pre-meds who are also sandbagging for GPA.</p>
<p>In any case, statistics knowledge is useful for a lot of areas that do not require multivariable calculus (e.g. many social studies majors, biology / medicine, etc., due to use of statistical analysis in research papers and the like), so it is not just a “random” course. And if the student already has calculus, taking the calculus-based statistics course will likely be more understandable (if you have the tool (calculus), use it).</p>
<p>Another vote for statistics if that’s an option instead of calculus. Statistics is useful in everyday life even if you don’t need it academically or professionally, whereas calculus… it’s good to have it seen once, but no one is ever going to ask you to find the antiderivative of a trig function unless you work in a mathy field.</p>
<p>Calculus is helpful to understand probability and statistics.</p>
<p>Calculus concepts are also helpful in understanding things in everyday life. People confuse things like job growth and job availability, deficit and debt, fairly frequently.</p>
<p>That said, the OP’s high school calculus culminating with a score of 5 on the AP BC test is sufficient for these purposes.</p>
<p>Talk to the Calc III professor. At my school, Calc I and II were generally considered harder than Calc III (unless you opted for the advanced multivariable).</p>