<p>I'm in Calc AB right now and I'm slowly dieing. I just don't seem to understand the material and I have worked hours, (literally) hours on understanding just a topic. I'm a junior right now and am "highly recommended" to take BC next year. What resources/sites would you all recommend to help me get this and not die even more next year! Right now my grade is a C and thats only due to major cramming and good multiple choice test taking skills.</p>
<p>Bump. Grade’s up to a b now at least…</p>
<p>As a current BC (and former AB student), here’s my words of advice:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Half of Calculus is learning the basics of Calculus. You learn the new concepts/equations and materialize it in the brain. However, most people have trouble with their algebra. This is the other half that bites most people’s rear end. Do you have trouble with your algebra? If you have weak algebra skills, this could impend your progress. Maybe look into this and see if this is the case</p></li>
<li><p>Understand the concepts/equations. Don’t merely memorize it, think outside the box a bit. Think what its really asking you. On the AP test, the test writers will do whatever they can to twist questions that could still mean the same thing. Things you have learned before. Think synonyms. </p></li>
<li><p>If possible, you might want to pick up a prep book. I highly recommend Princeton Review’s AP Calculus AB/BC book. Go through those problems and see where your weak spots are. If you don’t understand the concepts that’s being covered, you can read PR and see if it makes you understand the concepts better. However, one downside to their book is that their FRQ they provide are just weaksauce. Compare to the real FRQs that CB releases every year, the level of difficulty is much higher.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I agree with a lot of WillDaSnail’s commentary here. As a current BC instructor, a few modifications or additional comments:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I’d argue that even more than half of calculus has to do with the algebra. More of my students struggle in AP Calculus BC because they think that they’re good at algebra, but struggle with more sophisticated computations when faced with them.</p></li>
<li><p>In addition, many students simply do not put in the time to memorize the necessary formulas. You’re going to need to memorize your derivative rules. All of them. There’s very little way around it, and it will be nearly impossible to handle the exercises on both the exam and in your class if you don’t. Think of it like having to memorize your multiplication tables. Factoring would have been brutal if you couldn’t quickly derive a list of numbers that multiply to the constant in a quadratic function.</p></li>
<li><p>WillDaSnail’s “Understand the concepts/equations” is huge. There are some topics, many of which you haven’t reached yet, where there are no “do it always this one way” kind of rules. We as instructors can give you a broad picture of the general procedures, but understanding how to do the problems takes more than that broad picture, and may take some genuine thought on your part.</p></li>
<li><p>I’d also agree with the prep book comment. Since you’re struggling with concepts in the class at the moment, I wouldn’t blindly pick up any book that’s recommended, but spend about a half hour or so at the bookstore, picking up all the AP Calc prep books that you can find. Pick a topic that you’re struggling with, and read through the descriptions provided in each book. Work through a few of the sample problems. See what book seems to describe the calculus you need to do in the clearest way that you can. Buy that book. It may not turn out to be the best book in terms of review problems for the AP Exam later, but if it can help you to understand calculus now, that’s really what you need.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback!</p>
<p>Funny. I know my algebra skills are a little below where they should be. I asked around and got and algebra I textbook to relearn and review the material. </p>
<p>Also, when I panic and don’t understand math concepts I resort to simply “pluging and chugging” I will defiantly start trying to actually understand the broad concepts. </p>
<p>Spending sometime over the weekend looking at books!</p>
<p>Thanks for the help!</p>