<p>Hi everyone,
I am currently a junior taking pre-calculus. I am not an A student in math, and I never have been. However, all my other honors and APs I have A's. Also I am planning on majoring in Engineering. Is taking BC worth the commitment to get a B vs taking AB and getting an easy A? Will this negatively effected my application?</p>
<p>I don’t know whether or not it is “worth it” for colleges but I think if you try you could pull off an A in AB. I’m currently a junior also and I thought AB was such a joke that I regret taking BC. That being said I am more of a math student. If you really don’t think you can pull out an A in BC than take AB, but I think you’d be able to do it. Good Luck :-c </p>
<p>I get concepts and things like that for math, I just neglect to do the HW and studying required to get an A when it comes to tests. I’m also president of math club at my school if that makes a difference</p>
<p>It really depends. Like eharr34 said, if you can get A in Calc AB but only B in Calc BC, then take AB. You don’t want anything lower your GPA. Nevertheless, if you are doing well in Math (i.e. around top 25% in class), you may try Calc BC. Almost half of the students got 5 in AP Calc BC.</p>
<p>MY TAKE: If you’re planning on majoring in Engineering, it might look weird if you don’t take BC and your school offers it. I mean, I took BC and I’m planning on majoring something in the humanities – and I didn’t do horribly, so if you can’t get an A… it won’t look great. </p>
<p>Also: " I just neglect to do the HW and studying required to get an A when it comes to tests" – take BC, study, get an A. Easy. Don’t be lazy; you won’t be successful. </p>
<p>We also don’t know what schools you’re looking at. That would be helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>@Tanboyrunfast . If my schedule is rigorous enough next year (AP Econ, AP Physics C, AP Lit, AP World, and Computer Programming) would that factor in as well?</p>
<p>I mean, it’s within the context of your school – you really should be asking your counselor about it. What schools o you want to apply to?</p>
<p>I’m currently taking: AP BC, AP Euro, AP Lit, AP Econ, AP Gov, Honors Diff EQ, Honors Advanced Biotech, AP French, and Honors Orchestra – and I’m doing fine (as a senior). But obviously AP C can be a pretty intense class – and at my school, you aren’t even allowed to take it if you haven’t already taken AP BC. I honestly just think that BC will set you up better for college.</p>
<p>You also stated the problem: you don’t study. You’re lucky! I’m actually not that great at math, but if you study, you should be able to improve. </p>
<p>BC is built completely off of AB. AB.</p>
<p>@Tanboyrunfast Wow sounds like your school has a lot more options for classes than mine. I go to a small-ish public school. Your right about the studying thing, although I do get a little better with it year after year.
I have only been on a few college visits, but so far I’m interested in UMD, John Hopkins, Duke (reach), and Syracuse.</p>
<p>For virtually all schools, it’ll make no difference whether you take AB or BC. In fact, you’re not even expected to have calculus before you start college, although it’s certainly better since you’re a future engineering major.
It’ll make ZERO difference for UMD and Syracuse, and if you’re competitive for JHU and Duke that class isn’t likely to make or break your case. It’s much more important you get an A in Calc AB.
are you instate for UMD?
Have you run the net price calculators?</p>
<p>I am OOS for UMD unfortunately, I’m in NJ</p>
<p>I assume you’ll be applying to Rowan then.
Run the Net Price Calculators. UMD is quite expensive OOS.</p>
<p>My advice, take AB. I as in a precalc that got to half of AB but still elected to take AB because I am in a math heavy field (CS). I love calculus and find it fun and easy, but I wanted to be sure that I had a good base to work off of. While I could have tried to take BC, I have gotten straight A+'s in AB and should have a 5 on the AP exam. It won’t look bad to colleges you took AB.</p>
<p>However, BC will give a better taste of how quickly college math courses will cover material. AB will cover less material at a slower pace.</p>
<p>I agree 
Bc is college paced so if you want to see if you can make it in engineering it would be the test. But don’t takkke it if you’re not ready or if you risk getting less than a B</p>
<p>BC is notoriously tough at my school, but I would get a B at the lowest. Also, AB and BC always run the same period because of the number of students that drop, so that is always an option</p>
<p>If you’re not an A student in math AND BC is notoriously tough at your school, then don’t make your own life hell (senior year is already tough enough - preparing those applications is like having an extra class) and take AB. You have 4 other APs + computer programming: don’t overload, crash, and burn. 5 AP’s, including Calc AB, will look fine even at top colleges provided you get an A. So you won’t be able to just coast and not do the homework. A B/C in Calc AB would seriouly impact you, just like a B- to C in Calc BC.</p>
<p>Few colleges will differentiate between AB and BC, since so few students take calculus in HS anyway. (MIT or Caltech might, but even they probably don’t.) Both AB and BC will be seen as a plus, BC is a bigger plus, but a low grade would not be a positive.</p>
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<p>Apparently, the numbers have been rising over the years, but the percentage of students taking calculus in high school is still in the minority.</p>
<p>About 3 million high school students graduate each year; if we assume that a third are headed for 4-year colleges, that makes 1 million of them. Based on numbers taking the AP tests, about 27% take the AB test and 9% take the BC test every year. However, the number of students taking calculus in high school but not taking an AP test (e.g. non-AP (e.g. IB) calculus course, AP course but choose not to take the AP test) adds a few more.</p>