<p>Sure, no problem. If it doesn’t work out, it’s totally fine (this is definitely not an easy process). It’s already pretty darn good that you’re taking Calculus in high school.</p>
<p>In case anyone hasn’t seen this…</p>
<p><em>bump?</em></p>
<p>Hello, I’m thinking about doing this too because I couldn’t get into Calculus BC because it was already really full since there is only one class of it and there are already 2 AB kids sitting the class meaning the classroom is really at max capacity. I’ve seen this thread before a couple of times already but this is the first time I am posting.</p>
<p>I learned how to differentiate parametric equations and I learned how to use L’Hopital’s Rule (although my AB teacher mentioned in October or so that we would learn an easy method to find limits of indeterminate form in January so I suppose she’s going to teach it later anyway).</p>
<p>I am going to start learning polar derivatives soon (they seem hard), but what exactly am I supposed to know about vectors? I can’t seem to find anything about differentiation of vectors. I can’t even find any actual questions or any lessons on it on google (googled vectors ap calculus), and the Princeton Review book mentions that they’ll be tested in BC Calculus but I don’t see any lessons or questions about them. I’m confused about this.</p>
<p>I assume that all of infinite series can be learned without needing to know integration, besides the integral test, right? (I only know how to do easy integrals though because I got bored and I couldn’t resist the temptation of knowing how to take an integral and what the meaning behind the integral is. xD) I should just wait until I learn integration in AB, right? (My teacher made a brief mention of integrals (she cuts out the parts of AP FRQ questions that require integrals so we don’t see any ∫ or anything weird), saying they are for next term, so that’s starting in February).</p>
<p>I’m really worried if I can pull this off. >.< I have a 96 in Calculus AB and everyone thinks I’m really good at it, including my teacher, but I dunno. x-x What I’m really scared of are series. They look like something I could never learn (which I have already tried to teach myself casually) without seeing it done by a teacher.</p>
<p>Sorry for the late response. </p>
<p>Polar Derivatives - Yes, they are kinda tough. By Polar Derivatives, you do know all they want you to do is find tangent lines to polar graphs, right? </p>
<p>Vectors - No, you absolutely don’t need to know how to differentiate vectors (that’s calc III). You just need to understand acceleration and velocity vectors. You usually do vectors with parametric equations. You’d get dx/dt and dy/dt of the parametric eqns, and those would be the components of the velocity vector. The acceleration vector is just the derivatives of dx/dt and dy/dt. Basically, just understand the definitions of speed, velocity, acceleration, and displacement, and then apply them to parametric equations. There are no velocity vectors involved in non-parametric eqns. </p>
<p>You definitely don’t need any knowledge of integrals for infinite series, besides the integral test. So you really should begin ASAP, if you’re not too busy. They’re definitely tough. I struggled with them too the first time, but what made me understand them was by watching these youtube videos by patrickjmt (link is below). </p>
<p>I definitely know what you mean by not having a teacher - Calc BC is definitely tough. However, you still have four months, and Calc BC requires probably 30-50 hours total. Still, if you don’t think you can do it, it’s totally fine. Doing Calc AB is already pretty darn good. Anyways, these videos are lectures done by teachers, and hopefully can substitute not having a teacher:
[YouTube</a> - Lec 38 | MIT 18.01 Single Variable Calculus, Fall 2007](<a href=“Lec 38 | MIT 18.01 Single Variable Calculus, Fall 2007 - YouTube”>Lec 38 | MIT 18.01 Single Variable Calculus, Fall 2007 - YouTube)
[PatrickJMT[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://www.khanacademy.org/]Khan”>http://www.khanacademy.org/]Khan</a> Academy](<a href=“http://patrickjmt.com/]PatrickJMT[/url”>http://patrickjmt.com/)</p>
<p>Best of luck :)</p>
<p>Great post, lots of useful resources here. </p>
<p>I was wondering though if just a prep book like PR would be enough to bridge the gap between AB and BC, or if you’d need a textbook. And if you do, do you have any recommendations (I’m more of a book-learner, so I’d primarily be using this rather than lectures or online material)?
Also, which course in MIT’s Open course ware corresponds to Calc AB/BC? I’ve seen single variable calculus, but is that just a full year crammed into one course? If you could provide the specific course number, that would be great too.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>If you want to ace the AP exam just use PR, and do old practice problems, and you’ll be fine. If you want to truly learn the material, then use a textbook. I’d recommend just using your Calc AB textbook or asking if your school has any textbooks for this. I think all the books are around the same in quality, to be honest - I really haven’t seen a calculus textbook that is absolutely horrendous. </p>
<p>Yes, it’s Single Variable, where it’s crammed into one semester (18.01)… Personally I prefer this site, however: [Just</a> Math Tutoring](<a href=“http://www.justmathtutoring.com/]Just”>http://www.justmathtutoring.com/)</p>
<p>Yeah, the thing is, I’m taking an online AB so as soon as I finish the textbook won’t be available anymore. Would [Calculus</a> of a Single Variable: Early Transcendental Functions, 4/e by Larson](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Single-Variable-Transcendental-Functions/dp/0618606254/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t"]Calculus”>http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Single-Variable-Transcendental-Functions/dp/0618606254/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t) be good? I would feel a lot more comfortable if I had a textbook to study, but there are soooooo many different versions. Would early transcendental functions cover the material in Calc BC?</p>
<p>:) I’ll keep up to date with this thread too!</p>