I’m graduating high school this year and am currently taking Calc BC. Over the summer I signed up for a Calc III class at a local university because I really have nothing better to do, so if I get an A I’ll be geared up to start in Diff Equations (the college I’m going to accepts this specific class for placement - I’ve checked).
Is this a good idea?
I don’t think I’ll be getting credit for calc I or II, potentially I’d get credit for calc III but most likely I’d just get placement into Diff Equations.
if you don’t take calculus because you’re going to place out of calculus and instead take the class that is beyond calculus then no, it will certainly not be looked down upon.
Why do you think that you won’t get credit for BC calc. if you get a 4 on AP test you’ll get a credit for calc 1 and for 5 you’ll get a credit for both 1 and 2. If you don’t get credit then how can you take higher level math? I don’t think you can place out of both calculus courses without AP. credit.
How much credit (if any) you get for AP classes is totally dependent on the policy of each university. Some will give you credit for everything (even 3s on the exam) others set arbitrary limits on how much total credit you can receive. There is no standard policy. Credit and placement are two different things. Almost all universities will offer advanced placement for AP classes with a 5 on the exam. You don’t need credit to be allowed to take higher level classes. For AP Calc BC, you will receive a subscore, so it’s possible to pass one part but not the other.
Be careful, if you don’t get a 5 on the BC exam, I would not recommend taking Calc III. Because of the way the exams are scored, you can do very poorly on the exam and still get a 4.
What is your proposed major? Does this major require DE?
As a potential pre-med, if you can’t think of anything to do over the summer other than take a calculus class, you are doing it wrong.