<p>My school requires that you take AB first, but I wouldn’t say that it’s necessary. BC covers all of the AB material. If you’re as good a math student as you say, you shouldn’t have too many problems studying the necessary precalc yourself.</p>
<p>If your are aiming for top schools, you for sure need to be taking Calc BC. However, you will be missing several important concepts and topics covered in Precalc. If you dedicate your time to learning these concepts over the summer, you should have no problem. I would definitely recommend this.</p>
<p>Hey I’m in the same boat as you except I’m a sophomore taking Algebra 2. I want to take Precalculus over the summer and take Calculus junior year. I don’t know if I want to do AP though, it sounds sort of scary. If anything, I would do AP Calculus AB because BC seems a little too hard for someone who took Precalculus over the summer (for me personally). You sound like you could do well in AP Calculus BC, though.</p>
<p>curious123, how much of a difference does it make to top colleges whether you take AP Calc AB or AP Calc BC?</p>
<p>To the above:</p>
<p>Most schools say that it matters insofar as how you take advantage of the opportunities given to you. Obviously if your school doesn’t offer Calc BC, colleges won’t get angry with you for not taking it. But top schools will expect that you are taking the most rigorous schedule possible (short of insanity), and if that means Calc BC, by all means take Calc BC.</p>
<p>Ok thanks.</p>
<p>Oh god, I feel like I’m going to die next year. Going from a sophomore with 1 AP class to a junior with … 5 AP classes. I don’t think this is healthy, but I don’t know which one course I should downgrade from AP to Honors.</p>
<p>If Calc BC is offered to you, then you definitely need to take it. It is a lot harder and faster than Calc AB because it covers Calc AB as well. However, if you really want to get into top schools, this needs to be on your transcript. Yeah five AP classes is a lot, but you sound like a solid, dedicated student. I have no doubt that you will succeed.</p>
<p>Since AP Calc BC has AP Calc AB in it, do yoiu think if someone takes AB then BC, that would make BC easier?</p>
<p>Just wondering because I am not the best math student (pretty good but not amazing) and I want to do well in the class.</p>
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<p>Yeah, I did the same thing, 1 to 5. It is definitely a time commitment, but it is very possible if you are motivated. I still managed to participate in my ECs and have a girlfriend.</p>