Hi, I am a sophomore currently in my high school, and I am not doing well in my AP Calc BC class. Semester exams just concluded, and I ended up with a “C,” a grade I see as very poor. I have never done this bad in my previous classes, and something about calculus just isn’t clicking. Should I be worried/stressed? Math has always been my best subject, and now it is the class I’m struggling the most in. I believe I can do significantly better, and I CAN commit myself to spending more time, however I am really stressed about how colleges will see it. University of Michigan is the dream for me.
I’m a junior currently in AP Calc AB which is challenging, and I know people in BC so I can definitely say that I know it’s a really hard class. I am also interested in UMich so I know it is very selective, but if all your other grades are good and you can do better next semester, I wouldn’t worry too much. I don’t think it will be a huge issue for Michigan because 1. AP Calc BC is one of the hardest classes you can take in HS and 2. You’re a sophomore, a lot of high school students don’t even take Calc before college. At least at my school, the normal path for a non-advanced student is Algebra-Geo-Algebra 2-PreCalc. Also study a lot for the AP Exam because if you can get a 5 then it will show the colleges that the class may have been harder because of the teacher or just the way your school teaches it but you mastered the concepts overall very well.