<p>I know it's long, but please finish reading it.</p>
<p>I signed up to take AP Calculus BC, Biology, and Computer Science for next year.
However, my counselor just told me that these 3 course are conflicting each others. He told me that there is only one section of AP Computer Science in the morning, one section of AP Calculus BC in the afternoon, and two sections of AP Biology that overlap with both Computer Science and Calculus BC. This basically means that I can only take two classes, but NOT three. So, I have to make a decision.
I'm planning on majoring software engineering, so I have to take Computer Science. I always love biology since I was a kid. In fact, my parents want me to go to a med school after college. So, AP Biology became another class that I want to take. Now, here comes the problem. Math is always my strongest subject and I'm just naturally good at math. I'm NOT necessarily obsessed with math, but it's something that I'm naturally good at. I took pre-calc honor as a junior and I did pretty good on it. We touch some basic limit and derivative in pre-calc. My school is ranked as one of the top 500 high school across the nation. My school has a very strong math, science, social studies, and foreign language (but crappy English) departments. In particular, my school has a 95% passing rate for AP Calculus BC exam with over 50% of the students received a 5. So, I was wondering whether or not I should self-study for the exam and take the AP exam on my own.
I know AP Calc BC is the most advanced high school math class you can ever have. And I understand that it covers college level materials. I know it's gonna be hard, but I'm really willing to take the challenge and work hard. I'll ask the calc teacher in my school for a copy of the textbook. I'll purchase a review book on my own. I'll also pay for the online calc course. I'll do whatever I can to try my best to get a 5.
So, would you guys recommend it if you were me? I'll definitely take the actual class if the schedule fits. I know it sucks to be me, but it's what it is. Also, if you do recommend the self-study, please give me some advises as well!
6 minutes ago - 4 days left to answer.</p>
<p>I know AP Calculus AB is an option in my school, but my schedule is full. I do have other classes that I need to take (such as English, Social Studies, and Gym) for graduation. I either have to give up biology or computer science (which is less likely) OR self-study on my own!</p>
<p>Thank you jibler.
So, would you recommend me to self-study for AB for the first half of the school year, then jump into BC when I have a solid understanding of AB?
I’m really talented and I’m really willing to dedicate myself for this exam!</p>
<p>I guess so. I’m actually somewhat in the same boat. I took AB this past year and decided to self-study for BC. I plan on reviewing and honing my AB skills and learn BC. </p>
<p>Be aware that the Advanced Placement BC exam also includes an AB subscore along with the overall BC score (so you’ll get two scores).</p>
<p>Thank you!
Since BC exam has an AB subscore, does it mean that BC curriculum actually cover ALL the topics of AB with some additional topics? If so, I feel like I’m ready for the BC curriculum. I briefly looked over the AB topics on educator.com and I realized that I had learned a lot of the topics already. In my precalc honor class (the one I took last year), we have learned things like polar/parametric, limit, derivative (by definition, chain rule, product rule, etc), and some non-calculus topics like matrix and vector. While I was looking over the BC topics, I also realized that we had done things like summation and product in both my algebra 2 honor and pre-calc honor class.</p>
<p>As far as I know, BC covers all topics covered in AB. AB is essentially Calculus 1 (a semester of calculus) whereas BC is essentially Calculus 1 and 2 (a year of calculus), although it differs from college to college. Hopefully that’ll give you an idea.</p>
<p>AB is differential and integral calculus, but focuses more on differential calculus (integration techniques is covered in BC, which means less variety on integral problems). BC is differential and integral calculus, focuses more on both, and also includes polars and parametrics, basic vector calculus, and sequences and series.</p>
<p>I understand that BC has more-depth materials based on the AB curriculum with some extra units. However, my question is, what makes BC “harder”? Is it just more materials? If so, I think I’m capable of handling it. If it’s harder because the problems are more tricky and challenging, then can anybody tell me what makes it challenging? As I said, I learned a lot of basic BC stuff from precalc honor already, such as limit, derivative, vector, polar/parametric, and sum and sequences. I don’t necessarily enjoy topics like polar/parametric and sum/sequences, but I feel like I can still handle it. Also, in my school, people can choose to take either AB or BC after taking precalc honor – You don’t need to take AB before taking BC. I also heard that a lot of smart kids are whining about BC last year, yet the average kids who took AB said it’s a joke (AB and BC are both taught by a same teacher). I took AP Chemistry last year and there are people in my chemistry class who were concurrently taking BC. I asked them to compare between AP Chem and AP Calc BC, they all agree that BC is EASIER than AP Chem. For me, I slack off the entire year for AP Chem (I lost my interest halfway through the year), yet I managed to get a 4 without much effort. I paid a little bit of attention to AP Physics B and I got a 5 on the exam. So, this makes me wonder if I’m capable of BC materials without any background knowledge of AB. Also, since my school’s precalc honor is kinda like the mixture of AB and BC curriculum (only without integration), I actually have a lot of calculus background already. So, my ultimate question is, what exactly makes BC so hard?</p>
<p>The only “hard” aspect of BC is that it contains more material, which even then looking back now, BC (and of course AB) is a joke to me (it kept me occupied during the year though, I was keeping myself on top of things). But that’s me, people have different opinions about the class, it’s depends on their work ethic and how well they can learn the material.</p>
<p>Besides, you can skip AB and go to BC because BC covers AB material anyway. So no net loss there. </p>
<p>That’s pretty much it about BC. Another reason people might consider it “hard” is because the material builds upon each other, like with the “complex” integration techniques, or because of all the memorization, like with the series/sequences conversion tests. But a reason most people in any class would find “hard” is the amount of work in it, but this is more of a personal problem with those people, not really involving the class itself.</p>
ap calc bc isnt the most advanced math class you can get in high school
i know schools with multivariable calc and KAM (dont even ask what that is haha)
honors precalc is exactly that PRE-calc. just because you touched on some of the topics doesn’t mean you learned them. Calc takes these areas and applies them (and makes them significantly harder)
if you were to self study i recommend talking to the bc teacher at your school so he can give you materials/notes</p>
<p>overall i dont recommend it, especially if you arent a strong math student.
but its your choice, and no matter what you do, good luck!</p>
<p>If you take or master the AB material, you can blow through the BC material within a couple of weeks. In my school, AB is a requirement for BC and the BC class is just extra topics with a slight reinforcement on AB. You can score an easy 5 if you master AB and self-study BC.</p>
<p>Well, I just decided to take AP Calculus instead of AP Bio now (tough decision)! Now, I’m thinking about self study for AP Bio. Would you guys recommend it? I took both AP Chem and AP Physics B last year as a junior, I aced the AP Physics B with a 5 and AP Chem with a 4. Is AP Bio a lot of memorization or calculation? To me, I prefer class that is either PURELY memorization or PURELY math calculation. I guess this is the reason why I don’t like AP Chem and screwed it up with only a 4. I know that AP Bio has some chi-square test for genetic unit, but is there anything else that requires calculation? I’m okay with simple calculation as long as it doesn’t involve with crazy concepts at the same time (aka AP Chem). Is it very similar to AP Chem? To me, I like chemistry, but I hate the AP exam. And the reason why I hate it is because there is no calculator on the MC portion of the exam and you have to deal with the decimals and chemical concepts at the same time. I also heard that AP Bio has a lot of writing, specifically the free response, is it true? If so, then I think I can handle it.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you right now, the redone AP exam is neither purely computation or memorization (unlike the old exam which is mostly memorization). Like the AP Chemistry exam, it’s meant to have you think more based on concepts you already know and apply them to various situations. Self-studing the exam excludes from the lab experiences, which is also a heavy part of the exam. Yes, the free response involves heavy writing, but how much you write is up to you. You don’t really have to write a lot so long as you get to the point, which is what the graders are looking for. The computation questions are very simple calculations, but you have to think using biology concepts, otherwise you’ll be way off. However, this is not as bad as it seems. You can use a calculator for the entire exam (has to be a four-function calculator with the square-root function), but all of them (except for the chi-square question and maybe 1 or 2 MC questions for time-saving purposes) can be done without it. So in short, the AP Biology exam in my opinion is much easier than the AP Chemistry or Physics exams (although they were all relatively easy as long as you knew your stuff), and is not that bad so long as you learn the material and situations to where the concepts can be applied in.</p>
<p>Just so you know, and I don’t mean this in a bad way or to offend you in any way, but college classes (as far as I know) in the sciences are never straight up memorization or computation, which I like because it means less work, ie using what you know to come up with new possibilties.</p>
<p>Wait, you can use the calculator for throughout the ENTIRE exam? Wow, if that’s the case, I think I will have no problem whatsoever.
I think the reason why I got a 5 on AP Physics B but only a 4 on AP Chem is because of computation. Although it’s true that MC portion of both exams prohibit the use of calculator, but physics is 80% calculation with 20% concept. Also, the physics calculation either deals with straight up whole number or easy formula “substitution” while AP Chem deals with decimal and complicated computation along with bizarre concepts (such as the calculation of molar mass or molarity of an ion on a salt hydrolysis problem where the cation and anion ratio is not even one to one WITHOUT using a calculator). Anyway, would you recommend me to self study for AP Bio. If so, what should I purchase besides a textbook, a review, and some online lecture (educator.com). Also, if you have rank the difficulties of AP Bio, Chem, and Physics EXAMS (not the actual classes) from the easiest to hardest, how would you rank it? For me, physics is a breeze to me and biology memorization should be fairly easy since I’m good at memorizing. However, the combination of calculation, memorization, and bizarre concepts is such a pain (aka chemistry).</p>
<p>The AP Chemistry MC wants you to be skilled in approximations. It’s multiple choice, you can ballpark the answer pretty easily, like you could on the Physics exam, hence why they say “an answer within 5% of the actual answer is considered correct” (either on this exam or some other test I’m thinking of). It takes practice, and it does get annoying sometimes, but it’s a necessary skill to have in the natural sciences in general.</p>
<p>Sure, I think AP Biology is doable self-studing. Obviously, use Campbell’s biology textbok, OR you can use “Campbell Biology : Concepts and Connections” (7th or later edition), which is basically the same as Campbell’s biology textbook, but doesn’t have that much of the extra information that the original has. It’s because of that I think that this book parallels the new AP Bio exam more than the original Campbell’s biology book. As for review books, I’m not the guy to ask. Sorry about that. I just review the information from the “Campbell Biology : Concepts and Connections” textbook, after reading the information from the original Campbell Biology. After you memorize the information, just be able to apply it to various situations and you’ll be fine. Also, make sure you KNOW the formula chart for the AP Biology exam. Like with the Physics exams, you can learn a lot from the formula chart, and it’s a good indicator of what you need to know for the exam, like some basic statistics, chi-square, and so on.</p>
<p>What I think the range of difficulty is for the science tests (from hardest to easiest) are:
AP Physics C: E&M, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Chemistry, AP Physics B, AP Biology</p>
<p>Note this doesn’t mean AP Physics C is hard, it’s just that everyone can agree that it’s harder than AP Physics B, and so on.</p>
<p>If given that I got a 5 on AP Physics B and a 4 on AP Chemistry, do you think I’ll get a 5 on both AP Bio and AP Physics C (both mechanics and EM)? I know there is no definite and solid answer, but what will be my chance in general? I really love science, especially biology, chemistry, and physics (not so much of Earth science, environmental science, astronomy, etc.).
By the way, did you take AP Bio last year? My friends who took it said that collegeboard had changed the format. There are tons of reading on the MC section. And the FRQ are jokes. So, I’m still figuring out a best way to tackle the exam itself. Any suggestion?</p>
<p>It’s a shot, sure, but you’ll still need a lot of work to get there. Not saying you can’t pull it off though.</p>
<p>Yes, I took the AP Biology exam last year and made a 5. Yes, the test was redone (and by redone I mean COMPLETELY redone). Yes there was a lot of reading on the MC, and I guess you can say the FRQ was a joke (just check them out online), but I thought the test really did test how well can you infer information and apply information. Really, as long as you know the material/concepts behind it, and understand why it happens, then you should be set. I think it is pretty easy to make a 3 on the exam, especially if you can get a 25+ on the science ACT, but it takes a bit more work to get a 5.</p>