<p>Hey Guys,</p>
<p>I'm trying to decide whether to take AB or BC Calc. I'm currently taking Precalc w/ Trig HN. In my school, Precalc covers the A part of Calculus. So, if I was to take AB, half the year would be review. But, If I were to take BC, would that look any better? The other classes I'd be taking would be:</p>
<p>AP Calc AB/BC
AP Lang
AP US History
AP Chem
AP Physics B
Spanish 4
Advanced Comp. and Writing Center</p>
<p>I don't want to bite more than I can chew with my course load. Also, I'm going to be a junior so if I do AB this year, I would do BC senior year. Finally, I don't want to go into anything math related in college; I want to major in something along the lines of International Relations/ Poli Sci.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Calc BC is considered more rigorous than AB.</p>
<p>The reason I’m asking is because I’m taking 4 other APs with Calc. If I take AB, I would lighten the load and be able to do other things. I’m just asking would it reflect badly by taking AB then BC rather than BC and Multivar calc/ Matrix Algebra</p>
<p>BC is just AB with extra material. It’s worth more college credit and more highly regarded by admissions. If you’ll already know some calc going into next year, you should be more than prepared to take BC. Workload is totally dependent on the teacher.</p>
<p>BC is the tougher course, but (especially if you’re considering a non-math liberal arts) AB is probably ok, if the rest of your schedule is challenging.</p>
<p>BC is seen as more rigorous, and may be given greater amounts of subject credit against college math courses.</p>
<p>What Zephhyr said.</p>
<p>As far as the other part of the question:
The question is will the GC say you took the most rigorous courseload? If not then BC could make a difference. But since those courses are really college courses it will probably only make a difference at the most competitive schools.</p>
<p>The schools I want to go to are pretty high up. My list kinda looks like:</p>
<p>Harvard
Brown
Wash U St. Louis
UPenn
JHU
Dartmouth
Gtown
UVA (in-state)</p>
<p>So would it affect me for these schools?</p>
<p>You are taking 2 AP sciences with AP Calculus. How are your grades so far? If you have been maintaining straight As then I would say go for it otherwise scale down, especially you plan to major in International Relations.
Edit to add that you should take AP Calculus AB if you want to keep 2 AP sciences. But I think it’s ambitious to go from 2 APs to 5 APs(mostly hardcore subject).</p>
<p>This year (sophomore) I’m taking 2 APs. I’m taking AP World History and AP Stats. I have gotten straight As all through high school and the courses I took in middle school for credit.</p>
<p>For those schools take BC. Their average (serious) applicant has taken the hardest classes in all core subjects.</p>
<p>You are two years ahead of the normal sequence in math, so you are good at math. Do you like math enough that you will take more math courses for fun in college, or take more in-depth statistics and quantitative analysis of social studies courses than most social studies majors take? If so, then you will probably like BC and more advanced math.</p>
<p>Otherwise, a social studies (other than economics) major probably needs for major purposes at most freshman calculus (AB ~= semester, BC ~= year) and introductory statistics. If you take an interest in economics (particularly microeconomics or finance), you may want to take more math.</p>
<p>In terms of admissions to highly selective colleges, AB vs. BC could make a difference in how rigorous your schedule looks.</p>
<p>At my school, Calculus AB is practically an on-level class…
Do BC</p>