<p>I guess I see where you are coming from. I still don’t believe that my school has low expectations for advanced math students. There is a lot of material to cover and the schedule does not allow students more time to learn the subject than those of college students. I mean, the courses in college, or at least at my community college, are 3 to 4 hours long. My math class is only 1 and half hours long. So naturally in a college, they would have time to learn more on the subject, right?</p>
<p>I understand the community college class and taking the AP exam. However, my guidance counselor has advised against this seeing that it would be a waste of time or something like that. Is there any advantage to taking both the cc class and the AP exam other than the concern of cc credit not being more widely accepted by other colleges?</p>
<p>A calculus course in community college or university is typically four to six hours of class time per week. A typical high school course (calculus or otherwise) is four to five hours of class time per week. Of course, your community college and high school can have different scheduling.</p>
<p>The high school that I attended taught AP Calculus BC (then the only calculus course offered) in one school year in slightly more than four hours of class time per week to students who had finished precalculus the year before. Now, they do the same, although they also offer the option of doing AB instead of BC.</p>
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<p>No. You may want to ask universities you are considering whether community college or AP credit is better accepted at each university. If none which you are considering accepts AP but not community college credit, then there is no need to take the AP Calculus test if you do well in community college calculus courses. At least in state universities, community college credit is often better accepted than AP credit, especially in subjects other than math.</p>
<p>If you took the community college calculus course, and are considering some universities that accept AP credit but not the community college course, then you would want to take the AP test.</p>
<p>If none of the universities you are considering accepts AP credit but not the community college course, then there is no need to take the AP test.</p>
<p>I understand the first statement, not so much the first, but I believe I understand what you are saying.</p>
<p>In the curriculum guide at my school, we must take AP Calculus AB before BC. However, I will double check with my guidance counselor to make sure this is correct. Online, Calculus BC only requires Precalculus. Can AP Calculus AB be thought of as the introductory to calculus? If BC is considered AB plus a few more topics, then why is AB even offered? What does the A, B, and C mean in Calculus AB and BC? How do colleges view a student who has taken both AB and BC? What if I took AB and then self-studied BC, how would they view that?</p>
<p>Also, is doubling on math (AP Stats and AP Calc AB) difficult?</p>
<p>Basically, a one year AB course can be thought of as a slower paced calculus course than a one year BC course or one year college / university course, since AB tends to give at most the first semester of calculus credit, while a sufficient score on BC can give up to the first two semesters of calculus credit at many colleges and universities.</p>
<p>I do not know what A, B, and C are supposed to mean by themselves in the context of AP Calculus AB versus BC. You may have to ask the College Board.</p>
<p>The colleges and universities probably know that there are many high schools like yours that decelerate calculus by requiring students to take a one year AB course and then a one year BC course. Though you may want to ask the colleges and universities if you are concerned about it. Nevertheless, if you are two or more grades ahead in math, that should still look plenty good at most colleges and universities.</p>
<p>The AB subscore of the BC test is used by some universities for placement purposes, in that they allow you to use either your BC score or your AB subscore (as if you got that score on the AB test).</p>
<p>For example, suppose you get a 2 on the BC test, but an AB subscore of 5 (not sure if this is possible, but use this as an example). Some universities may allow you to place into math courses as if you scored a 5 on the AB test, even though a 2 on the BC test otherwise gives you no placement into more advanced math courses.</p>
<p>So what if you got a 2 on the AB subscore part but a 5 on the BC part. Do you still get the credit for both semesters since you got a 5 on the BC part?</p>
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<p>I heard that AP Biology requires a lot of memorization. The teacher at my school has a good pass rate, although I heard she spends part of the class talking about politics where it applies. How it applies I have no idea. I love Biology so hopefully this will have either a good affect or no effect on my grade in the class and my potential score on the AP exam.</p>
<p>My schedule does seem tough, so I might either take APES online or as a self-study. I’m leaning towards self-study since it’s an easy and interesting topic and it would complement my AP Biology class since I heard both go hand in hand. It would also cut down on the assignments I would have to complete if I took it online. Plus I could focus on just my AP Calculus AB course online. So APES is not set in stone.</p>
<p>Any suggestions on whether I should self-study APES or take it online at FLVS?</p>
<p>It is rather doubtful that you will get a lower AB subscore than the overall score on the BC test. If you only get a 2 on the AB stuff, it is rather unlikely that you will score better than that on the more advanced BC stuff.</p>
<p>The only issue I see with your schedule is that you want to take AP Calc as a sophomore. I would definitely take AP Stat as a sophomore (as long as the teacher is good) as it will teach you some critical thinking skills before you get into the analysis of calc. Can you just take pre-calc (and stat) sophomore year then go directly to calc BC? That would be the best if you are really good at math and find it simple. If not, you can just take Calc AB and self study for the BC part on your own (it is only a couple of extra chapters).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about the spreading out of AB/BC. I think UCBalum thinks that high school students have the same lives as college students. If you play sports, participate in band, theater, science bowl, etc… you will have no where near as much time to dedicate towards studying as a college student does. Remember they only go to school for a few hours a day, not 8-3 like most of us with 2 more hours of practice after school. Try not to burn yourself out. Also, I learned in my psychology class that teenagers brain’s are still growing (namely the frontal lobe and especially in boys) and that as you get older a lot of logical reasoning becomes much easier. This might be another reason the HS’s spread out the classes. Relax, enjoy HS!</p>