Hello!
I’m currently a high scool freshman in Algebra 2/Trig H. I didn’t do so well last semester, so I didn’t get recommended for PreCalc H as a sophmore. I have the option of challenging, but I’m not sure if I should because Precalc H is notoriously hard at my school (I’ve heard many seniors/juniors say it was harder for them than BC or AB). I’m hoping to get into UCLA as a biology/some kind of STEM major (I’ve already taken AP bio this year, and I’m planning to take Chem AP as a junior and physics AP as a senior). At my school, in order to go directly to BC, you must take Precalc H, and if you didn’t, you can only go to AB. Will taking AB instead of BC hurt my chances of getting in as a stem major? If it does, is it worth challenging into precalc h and getting a B or B-?
Thank you!
rather than trying to game admissions 3+ years down the road at a school you might not have as a top choice by then, it’s better to focus on the elephant in the room. Your grade in your current math class is telling you something.
As a kid finishing 9th grade most of your classes are not heavily skill based. Rereading the chapters the night before a test is enough to put the general idea and enough specific facts back into memory. Couple that with good verbal skills and you can spin out essays. Math is different. You can’t learn it the night before. It takes practice, frustrating practice, until the concepts sink in.
The trouble is that as you go up in grades more and more is going to be based on applying what you’ve been learning rather than just remembering the right answer (or enough to guess at the right answer). This is true in HS in science classes, and true in college in a whole lot more than that.
My bet is your math grade comes from insufficent practice and/or not studying effectively. Along that last line of thought I suggest you get the book “Make it Stick” this summer; it covers what is known about learning effectively with tips for HS and college students on how to apply it. If you’ve been re-reading the chapters and your notes before tests then you haven’t been using the best techniques and this book will explain why.
Major doesn’t matter for L&S admissions which has all majors except for engineering, the arts, and nursing.
Your personal issues and concerns aside, you have some other options if you really want to take AP Calculus BC.
- take AP Calc AB but still sign up for the BC AP test. The test is scored with a separate score for AB and BC. Prepare BC on your own. A lot of kids at my kid’s HS did that this year because the boneheaded school district decided not to offer the BC class even though 18 people signed up for it.
- don’t take Calculus in HS and take it in CC as a junior or senior. You’ll need to take a placement test to make sure you qualify. In some respects this is a better option since you know for sure you will get credit for it in college, plus it potentially frees up time to take other classes. This is a good option especially if you know you’re going to a UC or CSU.
- take the AP BC class online. Many of them give you a-g credit. Art of Problem Solving for example has an excellent class that qualifies. The class meets once a week for 2-3 hours.