***OFFICIAL AP Calculus BC Thread 2013***

<p>If you're reading this, then I assume that, like me, you will be taking and/or self-studying BC Calc next year. I know it's really early to be making an AP thread, but I, a CC addict, was bored, so this is what I decided to go :P </p>

<p>So, just like with other threads like this, post anything related to BC Calc. Anyone who has already taken it is welcome to give advice, feedback, etc. Happy studying :D</p>

<p>I’ll start: I’m self-studying precalc this summer in hope of making it to BC next year, and it’s going really well so far. Even if I don’t get in, I’ll probably self-study for the exam anyway. When the exam gets closer, I’m thinking of getting Barron’s for the extra review, and because Barron’s is known for being overkill, so at least I’ll be overly prepared (a good thing, IMO). Our school uses AMSCO’s, so I’ll also have that. So…yeah. Hope I don’t die next year :P</p>

<p>Plan on self-studying Calc BC during the school year too while I take Calc AB. </p>

<p>This summer I’m self-studying as well - self-studied pretty much all of Algebra 2 (didn’t do conic sections and a couple of other stuff yet, I’m going to do that a bit later because I don’t need them until I take the Math II subject test) and precalculus so far this summer and it actually goes really quick and isn’t bad at all. Finished up everything up to trigonometry which I’m doing now. I pretty much got through all of the unit circle, basic trig identities and inverses, etc. in the past 2 days but today I came across verifying identities which I have to admit are actually the toughest thing I’ve done so far. I can usually knock out a chapter in my textbook in an hour tops, but these are really tough. I have to say they’re kinda fun though. =p</p>

<p>^ They are fun until you get to the harder identities (i.e. half-angle, product to sum, sum to product). </p>

<p>I’m doing vectors right now (my school’s precalc covers it a little toward the end of the year) and I’m dying. My geometry class last year covered it briefly, but I hated them back then too. :(</p>

<p>I forced my teacher to let me into BC and I basically self-studied Precalculus these last two weeks. I’ve gotten through everything: unit circle, inverses, identities, laws of sines and cosines, polar equations, parametric equations, exponential and polar complex numbers. I’m skipping vectors (which I’ll do after school starts) and matrices because they don’t really show up in calculus, as far as I know.</p>

<p>Vectors aren’t really that difficult, they’re basically analogous to complex numbers. True, you have to use dot and cross products, as well as projections.</p>

<p>@Episteme, vectors and matrices DO show up in calculus, but not in AB. BC involved a few vector-valued functions (although they were simple), multi-variable calculus involves derivative matrices, Hessians, more vector-valued functions, and tensors.</p>

<p>Let’s go, another 5 in AP Calc :D! </p>

<p>I’ve started studying BC and I’ve covered a few topics - polar, parametric derivatives; centers of mass; centroids, but the trail goes cold there. Time to start again! But wait, I have Math II to study for as well :(.</p>

<p>Taking AP calc BC this year… the class (if I had to self-study I’d hit myself repeatedly and go insane shortly afterwards).</p>

<p>I’m probably not even going to study for the exam. I’ll just have to pay attention in class so that I can be lazy the night before the exam. I have no clue what vectors and matrices even are, and I have little to no background in algebra or trig or pre-calc. LOL LET’S FAIL DIS. /shot’d</p>

<p>Khanacademy, save me now. :(</p>

<p>^ I love Khan Academy! I used it to get an intuition of pretty much every precalc topic I needed to learn this summer. </p>

<p>I probably will study for the BC exam, as in I’ll buy Barron’s and do the practice tests. I looked at the 2013 AP exam schedule, and Calc is on the first Wednesday. Since I don’t have any exams on Tuesday (Monday I have 2 :(), I’ll probably study (cram) Monday night and all of Tuesday.</p>

<p>I was going to watch khanacademy and patrickJMT videos, but dramas somehow managed to steal all of the time I had set aside for studying… heehee.</p>

<p>Meh, it’s okay though. I’m taking a class so I can probably study nonchalantly and still get a 5 as long as I don’t slack off in class. I’m also studying for Math II (probably during january while I’m at all-state or something) so that will be my pre-calc prep.</p>

<p>I’m hoping that I won’t have to buy any study guides because I already spent tons on buying books for the other 10 AP exams I’m taking lololol… I still have to open those books. u____u</p>

<p>goshdarnitwhyamisolazy.</p>

<p>On the first Wednesday? Yikes. I am not going to study for APES until around the 20th of may because I have to take the retake (also taking ap chem), but for the others I’ll have to start studying soon. I wish macro and micro weren’t on the same day. My brain will be fried after the first set of FRQ. x-o</p>

<p>Haha cramming. I’m like the master at cramming. /gotskillz
I crammed for bio, whap and psych because I didn’t want to study beforehand. I ended up studying whap for two school nights before the exam, and for a weekend for bio and psych. For psych, I got bored of studying at 9 and so I decided to watch 4 hours of dramas after that. FTW.</p>

<p>I’m such a great role model for my little sister. u___u</p>

<p>^ I wish I had your cramming skills, gomdorri. For me, I actually have to start studying early, because it’s impossible for me to pull an all-nighter (believe me, I’ve tried). I’ll probably start studying for the “easier” APs around early April or so (spring break @ our school)</p>

<p>I cram for EVERYTHING. Essay assigned two weeks before? I wait until 9PM the night before and don’t finish until like, 12. Finals? I don’t even open my textbook until the night before, and cram most of the material when I wake up in the morning and while I’m waiting to get my exam LOL.</p>

<p>I should really stop doing that for APs though. It worked last time since I only took 3 (easy) APs, but I doubt I’ll be able to do that again with 11. :x </p>

<p>For some odd reason, I can’t study for hours sitting down in a desk… especially for SATs and school. I can’t study for hours if I try to study months before a test/exam. I’ve tried, but I can’t do it. I get lost after 5 minutes and just go into my own dreamland of frolicking meadows and reindeer.</p>

<p>… But then when it’s one-two days before my exam, I have no problem sitting down for 20 hours straight doing nothing but reading. </p>

<p>IT’S SO WEIRD ASKDADKLA;.
I think I might die in college from my procrastination.</p>

<p>^ I cram BIG time for essays. Assigned the week before? Start it 2am the day it’s due lol. My parents are always concerned b/c I don’t seem to be going to sleep until 12 every day, but that’s mostly a result of my procrastinating. Yeah, I should stop doing this…I’m planning on self-studying a bunch of APs next year (including Euro and World), and I’ve heard those are impossible to cram for…</p>

<p>…but back to Calculus :D…</p>

<p>LOLnice.</p>

<p>last year, that’s sort of what I did for essays. I had English AFTER lunch, and so sometimes I’d only finish half of my essay the night before, sleep early, and then finish the rest of my essay during lunch. Once, I completely spaced out on writing a paper for English (it was like a two page research paper, not very formal but still) and my partner did as well, so we spent the whole lunch period typing it up and basically winging it from all of the information we had remembered from reading LOL. thankgoodnessi’mafasttyper</p>

<p>My parents think I study very hard because they always see me up late at night studying and doing homework, but it’s actually because I slacked off until nighttime to do everything I had to do. /diffusion of responsibility ftw</p>

<p>I think my lack of sleep contributed immensely to the fact that I’m really short. xD</p>

<p>Which are you self-studying? Maybe we can study together. (and btw world is so easy lol)</p>

<p>I’m so dead for the calc exam TRALALALALALALA.
My dad’s not worried though. My mom is good at math and my dad thinks I have her “genes” so I’ll have no problem getting a 5 lol.</p>

<p>@gomdorri I’ll PM you, kay? This is getting really off topic lol</p>

<p>LOL okay, that would probably be a good idea. xD</p>

<p>And btw is anyone else planning on taking the calc exam without buying study guides?</p>

<p>I’m not sure if I should get one or not…</p>

<p>Lol, I’m DEFINITELY getting study guides because I’m self-studying, but if you have a great teacher I don’t really think it would be necessary - maybe just one so you can do a couple practice tests.</p>

<p>I think it depends on how good my teacher will be. If she doesn’t teach anything at all, I’ll probably get Barron’s and work thru the whole thing, as well as do more textbook examples. If she turns out to be good, well, I’ll probably still get Barron’s but not study as much.</p>

<p>Good luck self-studying. Math seems like a tough one to self-study…</p>

<p>But then again I have close to no math background and so I am not really the best person to ask hah.</p>

<p>Okay, I’ll probably just borrow a random study guide from the library then. My teacher is apparently decent (he self-studied calc BC to teach the class and so he does make mistakes here and there) so I dunno.</p>

<p>I’ve got the best math teacher in my school for Calculus BC next year, so I’m not too worried xP</p>