Calculus BC Self Study

<p>I got the 2007 Peterson's Master Calculus AB & BC, as well as another text book. Any suggestions on studying, or additional resources?</p>

<p>mit ocw
google it</p>

<p>^ David Jerison’s lectures are horrible. My expectations might’ve been a bit high after watching Walter Lewin, but I really think that you’d be better off studying it on your own from a good book (you can Google around and see what people recommend).</p>

<p>[S.O.S&lt;/a&gt;. Math](<a href=“http://www.sosmath.com/]S.O.S”>http://www.sosmath.com/)</p>

<p>Helpful and free</p>

<p>Is OCW really Calculus BC Material? Although it will be useful in the future, I am also self studying 4 other subjects and writing them this [school] year. I don’t want to extend beyond the curriculum of the AP exams just yet.</p>

<p>By the way, I’m self studying:</p>

<p>Chemistry with The Princeton Review
Statistics
Physics
Computer Science</p>

<p>Is PR a good book for Chemistry? What other books should I get?</p>

<p>BC is a hard subject to self study… though if you know AB really well, and get 95% on everything in AB, you’ll get a 5 on the BC test.</p>

<p>i self studied physics B this year and got a 5, the MIT lectures were so good…
I actually think if you can understand the MIT lectures, you’ll be set for all the APs that they have if you take it seriously.</p>

<p>Ok, I self studied BC last year as a freshman and got a 5 (I’m a rising sophomore now), so I have some credibility.
For learning material: Calculus-Larson, Hostetler, Edwards
Some things like logistic differential equations and whatever topic is covered in problem 3 of this: <a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board, I can’t remember the name of the topic at this time, and like slope fields, I suggest finding a syllabus of BC on the collegeboard website and finding the information that isn’t covered in the textbook and looking that stuff up on the internet.
In the Calculus textbook, do chapters 1-8, and parametrics/polar.
The week before, GO OVER ALL OF THE PAST FRQS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS ON THE CB WEBSITE, I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. BC is an exam where types of problems are repeated frequently, so look up how to do problems on the nets so you’ll be prepared.
On the test, don’t skip more than 3 problems and you can screw up on 2 frqs and still get a 5.
I know my explanation and whatnot is poorly written, PM me if you need more help</p>

<p>I completely agree with Rohitht. Studying the past FRQs is definitely the best thing you can do to prepare for BC. Other than what I did in my class, those were the only extra materials I looked at, and I had no trouble getting a 5.</p>

<p>My son used Apostle to self study for Calc. This worked out well, because he was then able to test out of Freshman Calc at Caltech. </p>

<p>My daughter used Thinkwell Calculus, and had a few hours of tutoring from her brother. They both got 5/5 on Calc BC.</p>

<p>For prep books, they used the one from Skylit Press [Skylight</a> Publishing](<a href=“http://www.skylit.com/]Skylight”>http://www.skylit.com/)
and
[Amazon.com:</a> Solutions A.P. Calculus Problems Part 2 Ab and Bc…](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1882144058/ref=nosim/paperbackswap-20]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1882144058/ref=nosim/paperbackswap-20)</p>

<p>I agree with Rohitht, too! Although I didn’t self study for both AB & BC, my teacher used to give us the old FRQ’s for us to get familiar with the format of the tests. So, Collegeboard is a good website to look at. For old multiple choice questions, I’m sure they have them somewhere on the internet. Doing some of the old exam problems once a week will be good review for you. Good luck on your BC exam next May!</p>

<p>Do the FRQ’s from 1969 to 2010. I have FRQ’s from 1969 to 2005 but partially. Also, Peterson’s is a good study guide; I only used Barron’s though.</p>

<p>@rohitht, is this the textbook? [Calculus</a> of a Single Variable, Larson Calculus Ser., Ron Larson, (9780618606252) Textbooks - Barnes & Noble](<a href=“http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Calculus-of-a-Single-Variable/Ron-Larson/e/9780618606252/?itm=6&USRI=larson+calculus]Calculus”>http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Calculus-of-a-Single-Variable/Ron-Larson/e/9780618606252/?itm=6&USRI=larson+calculus)
Is this book strictly used for self studying BC and AB, or is it for AB?</p>

<p>Yes, any edition works, my school uses the 5th but I think I bought the 6th to keep at home because the book is a pain in the ass hauling around.
Also, does your school have a BC class and you’re taking AB while self studying BC or what?</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies, I’m a freshman too. I plan to finish studying for Calculus BC by next month (in order to finish my other 4 subjects before school starts). </p>

<p>@Rohitht, Do you know where to find the a ton of past exam papers, including the MC portions?</p>

<p>Why self study BC so early? I mean what math are you
going to take for the rest of high school? And what if
you forget calc when you get to college and want to
do a major that has a lot of it?</p>

<p>Apostol’s book, and Khan Academy videos have been helpful.</p>

<p>Sadly, I don’t, but trust me, the multiple choice is easy as hell, I remember though, that the collegeboard releases a sample AP test to each teacher when they start their course or something, and they’re not supposed to post the tests online, but inevitably people sometimes do, I can’t remember where to find them though…sorry</p>

<p>Also, google Paul’s Online Calculus Notes, some college professor wrote a calculus textbook and posted it online, work through the example problems in the book, they’re helpful.</p>

<p>If the teacher in the school that teaches BC has some chapter tests/hand-outs, ask if you can use those to prepare</p>

<p>O.K. Thanks</p>

<p>And another thing, are there derivatives of hyperbolic functions? What is the test mainly made up of? I looked at a few same tests and Integration is a large part in comparison to Differentiation. Do they place more emphasis on that?</p>

<p>I’m a rising sophomore too, Rohitht!! Are you Indian?</p>

<p>No, there aren’t any derivatives of hyperbolic functions on the test. It changes from year to year though; you should check out the ~20 page course description on Calc BC. Because like in 1997 they had Hooke’s Law and a lot more physics than it does in the present…</p>

<p>There’s a lot more conceptual questions on the MC than one would think on the BC exam. Watch out for those by doing past MCs. Online they have the MCs from 1969-2003? and I did most of them the weekend before the test. I doubt it’s legal though. :P</p>

<p>Try not to take the late test. I heard it’s harder than the normal one.
I knew nothing about polar when I took the exam last year as a freshman (even though I took the class; my teacher didn’t cover as much as he should’ve), and I still 5’d it. I guess it was because there was no polar that year…</p>

<p>Know that the exam is fairly straight-forward and that even if you mess up on two-thirds of the free response but ace the multiple choice you may still get a 5. If you didn’t know what Taylor polynomials or polar was LAST YEAR, you would’ve gotten a 5. Also know that you need to get ~60% of the test right to get a 5 and that 43% of seniors get 5s on this test every year.</p>

<p>And yes, integration is stressed out a lot more than differentiation. Especially when you get to infinite series; a lot of integration takes place there.</p>