A senior suggested me to do AP Calc AB from local community colleges during summer so that I will be able to start AP Calc BC in my Junior year. Is it possible not to report the grade of AP Calc AB in the transcript if for some reason I don’t do well at the community college? Or, will it be reflected on my high school transcript no matter how I do it (good or bad)? Thanks!
How / if it appears on your HS transcript depends upon the policies of the HS. Regardless, there is no hiding from the grade. College classes have to be reported on your college application and, depending on the college, transcripts sent. Additionally, if you are thinking of med/law school, and community college grade is factored into your undergraduate GPA.
The visibility of your grade will depend on your high school (or how honest you want to be when it comes to applying for college) but generally if you want them to take the credits you’re going to need to talk to them before enrolling.
And if you’re a good enough student to think BC is a good option then you will probably do OK in the class. The trade-off you make by taking summer classes is being allowed to focus on a single class vs working alone without the support or aid of your usual HS cohort. The other trade-off is that there are a lot of other distractions during the summer and you can still get together with your new classmates to study after class or via chat. So know yourself and how effective you’ll be in that environment, and then take your lumps. Worst case is you get slaughtered in July and take AB over again with one pass at the material already under your belt so you can replace the grade immediately.
Again, to be clear, there is no hiding. One can choose not to show it on an application, but ita record will exist in the National Student Clearinghouse.
Yeah I’d talk to the high school guidance counselor about this. No student should be penalized from trying to take a high level class in the summer. I don’t think not including such a grade is “hiding” anything. But I’m not current on the rules governing that. I think many students attend expensive summer programs and don’t declare the grades obtained-as many of the courses are not aligned with the high school curriculum. I think we should be encouraging students to take academic risks and they should not be punished if it turns out not to work for them. Clearly you appear to want to take it so you can be ready to take a more rigorous course in the fall. If all courses must be declared, and I’m not sure if that is true or not, perhaps your school (or the cc) has a lenient late P/F option. I’d talk with the GC.
@skieurope If you sign up as Bill instead of William and skip the SSN and go to a large public high school with a lax or over-worked GC there’s an easy way to see this not get reported to a college. That’s goes double for less elite schools who would be happy to take someone with AP Calc BC and a good high school record without a lot of looking for applicant duplicity.
Now if your name is Rumplestiltskin and you’re trying to get into Georgia Tech with a mixed record of math achievement you’re clearly going to be in a world of hurt. The best answer for OP is doing it right and getting decent grades.
IMO, the “best answer,” based on OP’s history, is to take the class during the academic year. I see no validity in trying to take a 36 week HS class / 15 week college class and compress it into an 8 week summer session without strong math skills. Taking Calc AB as a junir is still advanced compared to peers.
“Worst case is you get slaughtered in July and take AB over again with one pass at the material already under your belt so you can replace the grade immediately.”
If you take it at a college, the worst case scenario could be that the poor grade becomes part of your 4-year college GPA. It is the double edged sword of dual enrollment.