My daughter was supposed to take AP Calc A/B and also one semester of Dual Enroll STATS for senior year. Our school will be starting online in August and will probably be online for a while as we are in South Florida. She wants to drop AP CALC and just dual enroll Calc first semester and stats second semester. She is only applying to in state schools that will absolutely accept the credits. Is there any down side to doing this? She is an amazing math student so she can absolutely handle the difficulty. She really doesn’t want to have to worry about the AP exam after having to learn it online. Thoughts?
My only concern would be the pace and difficulty of the DE calc class. There is a big difference between a year long class and one that is covering the same material in a semester.
How many other courses is she taking?
Keep in mind that college students typically only take 4-5 courses/semester. If she’s taking a full high school load of 7+ it may be too much.
Is there a guidance counselor or DE advisor familiar with these classes to discuss this with?
Where we are, dual enrollment courses are known for being easier that AP which is why she wants to do it. She will be taking 5 classes plus an easy elective that doesn’t really have tests or homework. She will have 2Ap/ 2AICE and the dual enrollment. The DE Calc is Mac 2233 And if you pass the AP exam you get credit for Mac2311. Seems that the 2233 would be easier?
I would do it. Hopefully the DE class will be better structured then an online class teachers are going to have to put together.
My son had no problems taking both AP courses in HS- except for grading policies (zeros on homework plus 100% on tests yielded a B in AP stats).
Does your D plan on further math courses in college? My son got AP calc credit plus the honors calc sequence in a highly rated math dept. Taking the math through spring may mean less time away from it before college. Another consideration. Would the dual enrollment class count as her college class and mean taking the next one in the series as a college freshman? Not all colleges cover the same material in a semester- AP is only middling as are many colleges’ courses. It might be worthwhile checking on what her most rigorous college thinks about coursework. She would want the best preparation for her future college. The course numbers obviously apply to your instate situation.
I see no problem with HS students taking high loads of AP et al courses if they are capable.
Looks like in Florida, MAC 2233 is calculus for business majors, which generally covers less material at lower difficulty than regular calculus (AP calculus AB emulates regular calculus, though at a slower pace than typical college calculus courses – AB covers in a year what college calculus covers in a semester or a little more).
Does she plan to major in business or some other major that only needs calculus for business majors (as opposed to regular calculus)?
She plans on majoring in interior design or architecture which only require 2233.
She would have to keep in mind that she is taking a College Course…the vacations may be different, you can’t just get a Guidance Counselor to help out if something happens and you are sick, they may not have make up policies, etc.
She needs to know methods of getting help if she isn’t doing well: Tutors, Professor Office hours, Khan Academy, study groups. She has to know the add/drop and withdrawal policies.
But otherwise given her major and college choices, it would be fine.
That’s a much easier/less impressive way to take Calc. But given her major it might work. Also, what is her plan taking Stats first or Calc? Stats is much easier so might not help as much with acceptances since they won’t be able to see her Calc grade.
I guess you have to factor in the acceptance difficulty of the school she wants to attend.
Architecture student here -
I am not sure about the schools your daughter is applying to, but the general consensus for the schools I applied to seems to be: a credit is a credit. Whether you obtain it through AP classes or dual enrollment, as long as you have college credit. However, if she is applying to extremely competitive schools (such as those that require portfolios and waitlist some students) the AP class would look best on the transcript, but that’s not to say AP vs. DE credit would be the deciding factor.
Lastly - will she absolutely need stats for her major? If she doesn’t absolutely need it she may consider securing a DE calc II credit. That would look best on her transcript if at all possible.
Just want to add that the students I know who took AP calculus, and most of them got 5’s, retook calculus in college. This is very common. Each school has its own curriculum and foundational courses.
Not sure if this is true of DE.
Also I know kids who got into Ivy League schools taking stats and no pre-calculus or calculus at all. Is there anything else she would like to take instead of calculus or does she love math?
It sounds like the AP test is a stressor and she wants to do DE to avoid that. Her hoped-for major choices don’t require a harder calculus course. It sounds like DE is the best choice, but our information is limited of course.
@ajneer her goal is UF. Admissions specifically says that they view AP/AICE/DE equally and have no preference between the three. She doesn’t need stats but we think she will absolutely love it. If she ended up changing majors it would probably be something like marketing or business. She actually already made the switch to DE. Meanwhile she killed it on her AP exams and was stressed out for no reason.