Hello everyone,
I have visited this website on several occasions before when I have had questions, so I have decided to make an account to address any questions I have.
I will start this by saying I am a very advanced student. I am currently a freshman taking Algebra 2 (which I took as a summer course in 2015) and College Trig. Math has been my favorite subject for a long time. I am currently applying to a new high school, as I am very bored with my current one. I want to take the AP Calc exam because I think I can skip calculus at my new high school. I have done all the calculus activities on Khan Academy (which I find a very useful website) but today I found myself destroyed by an actual Calc AB practice exam…
I don’t know if I am rushing myself too fast or if I should just take the calculus courses in a real class. I still have the entire semester to prepare for the exam in May (about 2 hours a day). Next Saturday (1/14) I will be competing in a Mu Alpha Theta competition for Calc AB to see how I do. I used to think calculus was pretty easy but some of the questions on the practice test I took were very difficult. The school I want to go to has many classes beyond calculus, which I want to take, so I want to knock out calculus ASAP. I also want to be at or above the level of my friend, as he is taking Calc AB in his freshman year currently.
If anyone has advice, it would be appreciated.
Thanks,
AB. (my initials)
Our backgrounds are very similar. I took Algebra 2 and Trigonometry as a freshman as well and often found myself bored in class. I am wondering what you schools highest math is. I am in AP Calc AB right now because my school only goes up to BC, and I can tell you from experience that the exam requires very precise language and work shown, and there are a very specific set of problems on it. There is a huge advantage to having an actual instructor, so if you could get a tutor who is a Calc teacher then you will do a lot better.
My current school only goes up to AB but I am transferring. If I get in (which I most likely will), the new school goes up to Diff Eq. The classes there are all college level and I could even possibly do D.E. with the on-campus college.
AP tests are hard. For Calc BC what my teacher had us do was go through every released FRQ (in like 9 minutes or whatever amount of time you have per FRQ), grade it according to the specific AP guidelines, and write about what we got wrong and why. It really helped: over the course of a month, doing 2 a day I improved from like 2-4s to 8-9s (and I’m a “good math student” according to your criteria, took precalc 9th and Calc BC 10th). I don’t think students have access to all the FRQs that teachers do though, so you’ll miss out on some practice. Practice really does make perfect.
For the MCs, we also went through all the released ones, but more informally.
However, there’s no reason to do Calc AB this year without a teacher.
Your math sequence could be:
Algebra II/Trig
Pre-Calc or Calc AB
Calc BC
Multivariable Calc/Diff Eq (if they’re semester classes like they are in college).
Good luck!
A few things to note:
- The school I am applying to is college schedule, so I will have, at the least, two math classes a year.
- The college trig class is counting as my pre-Calc class, so I will be taking calculus in my fall semester regardless.
Also, it may be possible for me to take a test which the school uses for the non-AP calculus class. They teach it as Calc 1,2,3 and I would be content with skipping the first two because I understand the content which their website says they teach. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to skip Calc 3. But skipping 1 and 2 would loosen up my schedule later on if I don’t feel as enthusiastic about some of the classes I used to like