<p>I have the choice to take calculus AB or BC next year. Would it hurt me to take AB instead of BC or would they be weighed equally by college admissions officers?</p>
<p>Also, I'm trying to decide between Honors Forensics, Honors Statistics, and Honors Psychology. Any opinions?</p>
<p>Are you good in math? How did you do in the previous math class? If you are strong in Math and plan to major in science/engineering, take AP BC, otherwise I would suggest AP AB.</p>
<p>It won’t hurt.
But if I were you I would take BC.
Just because AB and BC aren’t so much different.
And if you scored 5 on BC you automatically subscored 5 on AB which makes it even juicier.</p>
<p>I am good in math and I plan on going into science. The only thing is, though, that the BC class is the same as AB except I would have to do 3 chapters on my own, and I’m worried that I won’t have time for it.</p>
<p>3 chapters are no big deal but if you are really dumb enuff,
Can’t you take the BC class and later decide that you want to take AB exam or something?</p>
<p>If you don’t have time to study 3 chapters of elementary calculus, what makes you think you’re cut out to do science at all?</p>
<p>You realize that science is one of the things that takes a HUGE investment of time, right? Good luck trying to get out of all those college lab courses because you “won’t have enough time.”</p>
<p>Besides, Taylor Series are the most useful things in the world. Learn them early and you will succeed. Learn them late and you will wish you had learned them early.</p>
<p>I would take Calc BC. I’m a junior who decided to take BC, and I’m happy with my choice. I want to major in English, and didn’t like math much before calculus. However, calculus has been fun. I do study for tests, but the material is interesting. If you like math and science, I would definitely take it. You should be able to self-study three chapters pretty easily.</p>
<p>On honors statistics: I personally wouldn’t double up on math. A few of the seniors in my BC class are also taking stats, and they don’t enjoy it very much. Spending that much time on math every day can get boring easily…go for some variety :)</p>
<p>Are your a junior or a senior? Go for AB if you’re a junior and save BC for senior year. Otherwise, I’d ask kids in the BC class how difficult it is–at some schools, BC can be a significant jump from AB, whereas at others, the difference seems minimal. (And yes, I know the AP curricula are standardized, but I’ve found the teaching standards are hugely different between my school and my local friends/friends from camp.)</p>
<p>If Forensics is also offered as a afterschool club, do that and take Stats or Psych…depends on 1) what interests you most and 2) what you hope to pursue in college). As for AB and BC, I took BC right after PreCalc and had no problem since I enjoy math and I took it as a sophomore before I had a lot of other hard classes. However, for me at least, it was very difficult with a lot of homework. If you are a mathy type person, take BC. If not, take AB. But be sure to talk to kids at your school who have taken those classes to ask how the material was, how much homework there was, etc.</p>
<p>If you haven’t taken AB, you shouldn’t take BC. There are three parts to Calculus. In high school, you learn A and B one year. Then when you take BC, you review B and learn C. If you’re taking BC and you haven’t learned part A, you’re going to have lots of trouble.</p>
<p>I took BC without AB and perhaps it was because I had a fantastic teacher, but I had no problems. And no, I’m not one of those crazy people who studies math all day. We started BC learning simple derivatives and limits and it progressed from there. I know a ton of ppl who take BC without AB; you’ll be fine as long as you understand the pre-calc concepts well.</p>
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<p>That is absolutely ridiculous. Many high schools don’t even offer AB as a stand-alone course. (Many colleges don’t either.)</p>
<p>Calc AB is the first ~70% of BC. Thus, AB taught over a full year goes slower. If you are strong in math, take BC. If you are not strong, take AB.</p>
<p>btw: many kids at our HS double pre-calc/trig & AP Stats.</p>
<p>Students at our HS have to choose AB or BC, can’t do AB followed by BC. My son took BC and Stats at the same time (senior year) and had no trouble. He’s a math/sci kid. My DD, a current junior, is taking Stats this year along with Pre-Calc/trig and she’s doing well. She’s inclined to take BC next year. I recommended AB since she doesn’t plan to major in math or sci, but my son encouraged her to go for BC since she’s a strong math student and really hasn’t decided on a college major yet. He stated the same reasons as those above (BC doesn’t cover much more material than AB, just moves along faster, but it counts as 2 college semesters of calc). I think most of his class got 5s.</p>
<p>I despise math, I’m in BC and have a B+. its not too bad.</p>
<p>My D has always done well in math, but doesn’t LIKE it, and doesn’t plan to major in it. Due to a last minute scheduling fiasco she ended up having to decide between AB and BC in about a day. Because she doesn’t LIKE math, she went with AB. Most of her friends are taking BC. AB has been a “gimme” A for her. So, she could have challenged herself more, but she’s doing so with classes for the “other side” of her brain instead. For HER, I think it was the right choice. I think you have to look at what you like now, how you do in math, what you want to do in college. Even AB usually gets you out of a semester of calc in college with a good AP score. Then you just take the other semester. Right? Might depend on your course load too. My D, like most seniors has many APs and some honors. So…will you overload yourself with BC? Your first semester senior grades are awfully important to most colleges. You want a GOOD GRADE, regardless of the choice. Top colleges ALSO want the “most rigor” possible. But…not if it means you’re going to get a bad grade. Luck.</p>
<p>Woo! Finished the semester with a B. I got a D on my last test, which sucks but I really didn’t get using calculus for statistics. I’ve never studied the entire semester, so I think the 86 I got was pretty good.</p>
<p>good at math = BC
takes you a little longer to understand stuff =AB</p>
<p>Ask your pre-calc teacher for their opinion. He should know if you are ready or good enough for BC</p>
<p>Just to be clear, this is not at all directed at the OP or anyone else on this thread:</p>
<p>All due respect to the kids struggling with BC Calc, but how come there seem to be a lot of kids here who claim they are strong at math but just have a hard BC class (to justify why they are getting a subpar grade such as a C)? I mean, I’m good at math myself but I’m not USAMO level or anything and I find it hard to get below a 95 on a BC Calc test (and I don’t have a formal pre-calc background). And yeah, the teacher’s pretty straightforward but it’s not as if he’s inflating our grades either; last year in his BC class like 20 out of 22 kids got a 5 on the AP test. This is my first year really being exposed to AP classes and frankly they have been underwhelming if anything. I have to wonder how much inflation is really going on at other schools.</p>
<p>When the average CCer, like the average high schooler, says that a class is hard, they don’t mean that the material is super challenging. They mean that the assignments require you to do things other than simply memorize and regurgitate facts.</p>
<p>AP classes are easy. Its the best kept secret in school.</p>