<p>Hi, I have never posted on here until today but I felt the need to share an experience that I think many of you taking AP Calculus AB in the future can benefit from (especially if youre a senior taking that course going to a state school, as was I.) I went to a trade school in West Virginia where AP Calculus AB was the highest math class offered. I took it as a senior, as did most advanced math students at my school. Next year, I plan to attend the Southern Virginia University on a pretty generous academic scholarship.
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I was always decent at math, but definitely not one of the best. I got solid As (around 93 or 94 out of 100) on most of the exams after the curve, but almost never was the highest grade. I kept this trend up through AP Calc AB, and after March came (when I knew I would be attending SVU). I began to panic for my first AP test. I needed a 3 to earn Advanced Placement credit, and with the exam only two months away, I was afraid I couldnt pass. If I didnt pass, I would have to take two semesters of math next year, not just one. I wanted that 3.
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Then, my teacher gave us a practice AP Calc exam. It met my expectations it was difficult. The funny thing was, the questions seemed to be very disparate. They were either extremely easy no-brainers, or I had never seen a similar problem ever assigned in a problem set for the class. Certain terminology just completely blew my mind. We graded it in class and I got just over half of them correct. This shot my confidence. I just about gave up hope.
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About two days later, our teacher was checking over the questions she gave us and realized there was material we had not covered before. Why? Because she gave us the AP Calculus BC multiple choice exam. After apologizing, she gave us all the AB form, which seemed much more devoid of the weird, quirky problems we all were complaining about. After grading this, I scored 36 out of 45, only missing 9 questions total. I thought this should put me close to on par for a 3, until my teacher showed us the AP curve for calculus. I was on track for a 5! Oh how in three days I went from terribly depressed to overjoyed with happiness.
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Then, I looked back at my score on the BC multiple choice she had given us at the beginning of the week. I had answered correctly 25 out of the total 45, only 11 questions worse than the other exam. Looking back over it, I was surprised by how much AB material there actually was, stuff I KNEW well and confidently. Some of the other questions I had never seen before (vector functions), but I applied what I did know from physics and Calc AB and was able to guess the correct answer. Of course others might as well have been in Chinese, but those were the minority.
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Reading over the curve for the AP Calculus BC exam, I saw that my multiple choice score put me on par for a 3. That day, I told my teacher to register for the BC exam, rather than the AB for the following reasons:
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1. If I had gotten a 3 on BC, I would have never had to take math AT ALL ever again.
2. The BC exam provides me with an AB subscore, so even if I tanked the BC material I could still use my AB subscore to get me out of one semester.
3. Since the AB and BC exams are the same length, and AB material comprised maybe 2/3 of the BC exam, I could spend nearly the full time on 2/3 of the questions to make sure I got those right to guarantee at least a semester of credit.
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Long story short (although I think that ship has sailed) I took the test and was pretty sure I failed. I spent my time on all the AB material, and with the extra time, was almost confident I would get that 3 on the AB subscore I needed. But with the BC stuff (especially the FRQs) I couldnt have been more wrong. I started blanking on everything, couldnt apply any of my AB knowledge, and ended up leaving a significant portion of the test blank and guesses on the multiple choice. But I thought, hey, I gave myself extra time on AB since I only had to answer 60% of the test, and therefore gave myself a better fighting chance than having to answer an entire exam on just AB questions in the same time limit.
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I just came back two days ago from a summer exchange program in Puerto Rico . I had totally forgotten about my AP scores, mainly to just repress how badly I knew I did on the exam. I was almost positive I got a 1, at most a 2, on the overall BC test, and just prayed I got at least a 3 on the AB subscore. I opened my envelope and there it was:
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CALCULUS BC * 3
CALCAB SUBSCORE#5
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Moral of the story: Take the BC exam even if you have only had AB. I didnt study anything outside of the AB material and still got credit for the BC portion of the test!!! Now, I never have to take math ever again. You can only gain from taking the BC test. At worst you get the AB subscore you deserve, but who knows? You may do well enough on AB to even earn yourself a little BC credit.</p>
<p>Thank you ! … im a rising junior taking Calc AB and i was going to take Calc BC senior year but not this story has me wondering if i should just take the BC exam junior and (finally!) be free of math … :D</p>
<p>You see, after Calculus BC, … differential equations, multi-variable calculus, linear algebra, group theory, probability theory, real/complex analysis, Lie algebra, topology, algebraic geometry, the list goes on and on. :)</p>
<p>You need to look at the requirements at particular schools, and at some schools it even varies by major. </p>
<p>UMich Engineering, for example, gives no credit for a 3 on the BC, and no credit for the AB subscore on the BC exam. However, they do give credit for a 4 or 5 on the AB exam.</p>
<p>^I agree. MIT gives credit only for 4’s and 5’s on the BC test. No AB credit is given.</p>
<p>I disagree with this idea. If you have the option of taking BC or self-studying, do it and get a 5. If not, you’re kind of wasting your money because the top notch schools do not accept 3’s.</p>
<p>Did you self study any BC material? Or did you just go in with AB knowledge?</p>
<p>In case you didn’t read my whole story, I did not post this for kids looking at attending HYPS or other top notch universities. This is aimed at students who, like myself, were not planning to go to a state school and never take math again. And yes, I didn’t self study BC, I simply took the BC exam with only AB knowledge. I think the vast majority of schools accept the AB subscore as a substitute for the AB exam.</p>
<p>That’s meant to read “planning to go to a state school and never take math again.” Please excuse the typo.</p>
<p>The above posters are right. Keep in mind that the Calc AB score and AB subscore are not really the same thing. Not all schools that accept AB scores will accept AB subscores from the BC exam.</p>
<p>A very inspiring story. :)</p>