I’m a junior in a competitive high school, and about 1/10 of my grade does AP Calc AB, which is normally a senior class. It’s realllllly difficult and hard for me to keep up, but I feel like colleges want to see me challenge myself. It’s only been a month into school and I already have an 80! Should I drop down to the accelerated class instead or just keep with it?
I have a C- in Calc bc (also a junior), and I’m determined to keep going. I just always thing there’s more I can do to get that B (which is what I’m aiming for at this point). If you feel that you have done a there is to do, you have it 110%, then yes drop it. I don’t feel like I’ve given it ANGWHERE close to that, and I know that there’s more I can do, so Im not dropping Calc. You just have to ask yourself whether you are giving it your all.
That’s totally true! I’m really trying but I’m obviously struggling. I just feel like it’ll drag my GPA down and it’s really stressing me out. I’ll probably see how I do on the next exam and then see. Thank you though!
No one is impressed with a C in an AP class. A B is okay. However, it’s only going to get harder and if you’re already struggling, it may be best to wait till next year for calculus. (Did you get at least a B+ in Precalc Honors?)
Go talk to your teacher: how much harder is this going to get? Would s/he recommend you take AP Calc next year, once you’ve reviewed some in Calc Honors, or does s/he think you’ll be able to get a B or higher?
If you take Accelerated Calculus, will you be able to take AP Calc senior year? If you take Calc AB this year, does it mean your school also offers Calc BC senior year - if not, what’s your plan?
I actually didn’t even take pre-calc. Went straight from Accelerated Algebra 2 into AP Calc. I just took my quiz, worked really hard to ace it, and have decided to stay in! I’ve realized that as long as I keep up with the work and REALLY study, I’ll do just fine (maybe…) . Thanks so much for the advice though.
If you have a strong algebra/trig/pre-calc background, you should be fine. Otherwise it’ll be quite difficult. I once tutored a calculus student who had a very poor background (e.g. couldn’t easily expand (x+2)^3 or tell me sin(5pi/6)); didn’t work out too well. But I also know bright students who skipped pre-calc and got easy 5’s on AB and BC.
I think that you’ll be fine now that you’ve aced the test. IMO Calc snowballs(I’m in AB now), and if you improve it also means you have a deeper understanding of the previous materials you might not have gotten… Good Luck!