Hello. I’m new to College Confidential but I’ve always been wondering about the classes I will take in high school. Currently, I’m a Freshman and I’m currently in Algebra II/Trig. From what I know, there’s 3 AP math classes offered at my school:
AP Calc AB
AP Calc BC
AP Statistics
Under my current pathway, I’m on a pathway to take Pre-calc next year, Calc (AB or BC), and AP Stats senior year.
I would really only be able to take 2 AP math classes but I’ve heard a lot of things about the Calc section. AP Calc AB goes at a slower rate than AP Calc BC. But what I’ve also heard is having a very strong foundation in AP Calc AB will be very good going into AP Calc BC. I don’t know whether or not to just skip to BC in junior year. Also, is there a point to taking both AP Calc AB and AP Calc BC. Will you get more credit for college by taking both tests? (I know you can’t take them in the same year but I was thinking I could do dual math in senior year (stats and calc BC)). Thank you!
Most colleges will not give credit for AB and BC. You take the level you need. If you are not ready for BC, take AB when you are a senior. If you then need to take calc in college, you might need to start in Calc I.
My daughter didn’t take any calc in high school. She started in Calc I in college, and most of the class had had AB or BC in high school. They weren’t ready for Calc 2 so didn’t get the college credit from the AP test either.
Some schools structure the AB and BC courses so that AB is a prerequisite to BC (a required course before BC). Some schools teach BC so that precalc (or perhaps honors precalc) is a sufficient prerequisite. Look at your school’s course catalog, which is probably on the school website. The course description in the catalog should list prerequisites for AP calc BC In addition, next year before you sign up for junior year classes, you may want to ask your precalc teacher or the calculus teacher(s) what they think is best for you. There is no need to decide just yet.
While you have the course catalog open, look for a course called Calculus 3 or Multivariable Calculus, something that would come the year after AP calc BC, if you should end up taking the BC course during your junior year.
In my kids’ HS, you could only take one or the other. The kids who were in honors math from grade 7 on took BC and the kids who either dropped down a level or got in late, took AB.
also: think about what direction you lean towards for a career.
Interested in anything mathy? if so, it might not be a bad idea to take both AB & BC just to get a solid foundation. Think about this: if you take BC your jr. year - then take a year off calc to do stats – then go to college, starting in Calc 2 or 3 class might be hard. I’m not sure i see the point in rushing math if that’s important to your major.
On the other hand, if you’re not interested in anything math related – AB or BC calc jr. year might be all you need for college, providing you pass the AP test.
we’ve been through all of these questions with our own kids, and are trying to figure it out too for our sophomore son. No easy or particular answer for it.
colleges - and some high schools dont necessarily give credit for taking both AP AB & BC. You’ll need to check with your HS on that.
At my school AB=Calc 1 and BC =Calc 1 and 2 so It’s kind of pointless to take both because the first semester of BC is basically AP Calc AB
At my kids’ school, many kids take Calc AB junior year along with AP Stats, then Calc BC as seniors. I believe AB is considered a prerequisite to BC at their HS, but I could be mistaken.
BC Calc covers Calc 1 and 2 and includes all AB (which is Calc 1 only) material so I don’t see why some schools make them sequential. Strongest math students should take BC. The rest should take AB.
At some schools AB is calculus 1 and BC is calculus 2 so you can’t simply take BC before taking AB.
Because some schools only cover the BC topics in BC, so you need to take AB first. It all depends upon how each school structures the math classes. The College Boards sets the curriculum (although really, there’s not much interpretation involved in teaching intro calc), they do not tell schools how they need to structure the classes.
If, in the case of the OP, the BC course covers both AB and BC, then s/he should choose one or the other.
No. Any credit received for BC will supercede credit for AB.
A BC course covering only BC topics isn’t following the AP curriculum. I’d bet those school are very few in number. And you can’t separate the exams to fit properly this deviation, so a student would take the AB exam and still need to take the full BC exam that covers the AB topics again. It’s silly.
It is if AB is a prereq.
I don’t know that there are statistics on it, but it is far from rare.
Sure you can. Year 1, follow the AB curriculum. Year 2, cover the BC topics not covered by the AB class. . One still needs to know the AB topics for the BC exam, anyway, which is partly why the CB prohibits taking both exams in the same year.
Not disagreeing, particularly if a high performing math student is forced to spend 2 years to get through Calc 2. But that’s a discussion that one needs to have with the school, if that’s an issue that affects you.
In a similar vein, there is no reason why any school cannot cover both micro/macro econ in a year, or AP Physics 1/2 for that matter, but there are plenty of schools that just offer one or both only as year-long classes.
I’m surprised to hear that the curriculum for AP Calc AB/BC varies by school. Isn’t this tightly specified by the College Board?
My D is a Senior taking Calc AB. The first trimester has been largely a review of what she learned in Calc AB, and Calc AB is a pre-requisite for Calc BC.
Covered in my earlier post:
So they tell the school what topics must be covered. They do not tell the schools that it needs to all be covered in one year or one semester.
For HS’s operating on the traditional 36-week 2-semester model, I have also seen these variations of classes offered as either one-semester or as year-long (though not in the same HS.): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, US Gov, Physics C: Mech, Physics C: E&M.
^ I can’t imagine any of those classes as anything but 1 semester each. CB needs to regulate it tighter. This is contributing to disparity in preparation even among kids who took the same AP course.
^A disparity may seem unfair, and may be too slow for some students, but in the big picture, it’s hard to argue that more preparation is a bad thing.
At my kids’ school, for years AB was a prereq to BC, and unofficially some of the top students would skip AB and prepare over the summer for BC. Now enrollment directly in BC from precalc is allowed but openly discouraged by the math teachers and word from my kid’s friends is that starting BC this year was tougher than they expected (very bright kids struggling to get Bs) so I suspect there hasn’t been much change in course structure. I’m planning to meet with my kid’s honors precalc teacher, who also happens to be the math dept chair, prior to course selection to discuss. I’m also trying to find some sort of brief, calc 1 intro that won’t interfere with the summer schedule, to perhaps lessen the apparent hump for BC unless I find out that the structure has changed.
The disparity is that those who take the courses at the pace they were intended and still excel in the course and AP exam are generally better prepared for the next level in college while those who took it at the much slower pace are at a disadvantage since the college course will be one semester only.
Math teachers shouldn’t be discouraging BC after pre-calc except for those who are weaker at math. It was intended to be taken after pre-Calc without summer preparation.
My son’s school is in the process of switching from sequential AB-BC to an either/or choice. Up until this year AB taught the full AB curriculum plus a little preview of BC. Then BC did a very quick review of AB topics to clear out the summer cobwebs, followed by the full BC curriculum and then beyond to multivariable. The students weren’t bored because in their two years they were not just getting to the end of the BC curriculum but moving well past it. So for those scoffing at the AB to BC progression model please understand that there are legitimate ways to do it and it isn’t some kind of AP credit grab or anything like that.
With the recent addition of a separate Calc 3 course, now the school is shifting to different tracks. The BC course will now spend a lot more time on AB concepts and very little time on anything past BC (or maybe no time, hard to say since this is the first year of the new model). Thus it will be appropriate for students to go from precalc to BC, and then on to Calc 3 if they take BC junior year. Students who don’t want to take BC or end with Calc 3 can take AB after precalc, and if they need another math they can take stats. I can see how this will be fine in a year or two but my son’s class is unfortunately caught up in the transition. His BC class is about a 50/50 mix of kids who took AB and kids who came straight from precalc, and right now the AB kids are bored because the class is currently geared to bringing the precalc kids up to speed. For the first six weeks of school the teacher basically gave the AB kids free periods and just taught the precalc kids; sometimes she even released the AB students and made them leave the classroom. It’s slightly better now but still not very challenging for the AB students. Obviously in this new teaching model it wouldn’t be advisable to take AB and then BC, but my son had no choice. I believe the teachers thought they could make it work with a mixed class, but really they should have kept the AB students together this year and have one last year of “BC plus” instead of a full-scale switch to “regular” BC (ie a class that just gets to the end of the BC curriculum).
@itsgettingreal17 I don’t get too hung up on differences in pace between high school and college classes. These high school kids are taking 7 classes at a time vs maybe 4 for a college student. Apples/oranges. Not to mention, any math teacher is likely to argue that a longer intro to calc can be more thorough and accordingly lead to better preparation. (And I’m quite certain that’s what these teachers say. Not that I necessarily agree entirely, but they do have a point.) This is a rigorous school and I’m not under the impression that there’s any fluff in the structure, even though I am annoyed with it insofar as college app competition may point to BC for my kid’s case.