<p>I'm choosing classes to take in senior year, and so far I have:</p>
<p>AP Literature
AP European History
AP Calculus __
AP Physics
AP French
AP Chinese
gym</p>
<p>AP Lit and Euro are some of the toughest classes at our high school, which is quite difficult and competitive. I can probably handle physics, french, and chinese, and I'm trying to decide right now whether to take AP Calc AB or BC. I'm not great at math- I've been following the honors track, but I've never been the best in my class in high school (I'm more a humanities person). In precalculus this year, I can usually get the concepts by the time of the test, but the harder topics don't click instantly. Here are my current thoughts:</p>
<p>Pros of taking AB:
-easier time in senior year- will probably be crying over lit and euro
-I'm just average at math (within the honors track) so I'll be able to delve deeper into the topics</p>
<p>Pros of taking BC:
-it covers more and I'll be more prepared for college
-it only does a few chapters more than AB (?)
-I don't know how much harder it will be than AB- I don't want to be bored in AB</p>
<p>If anyone had any input or advice that'd be great! Thanks :]</p>
<p>“IMO, take BC, the topics added are quite easy. (Though I’m strong in math so >_>)”</p>
<p>The big difference between the difficulty of AB and BC is the difficulty of the problems, not the fact that there are some extra topics. Atleast at my school. The problems in AB were all just mechanics, and a lot of the BC questions were a lot more conceptual.</p>
<p>I would definitely consider your workload in full, as well as the amount of time you want to devote to math, before you make a decision. At my school, AP Calculus is a huge step up from precalculus, regardless of which you go into. BC is a good deal harder then AB, as only 4 of 18 decided to take it. We have a lot more homework then the AB class and about 4 more chapters. I am also good at math, but it was a bit of a shock at the beginning of the year when you began learning all new topics for the first time since basically Algebra 1 (excluding geometry). I think it is definitely important to see what the difference is between the courses IN YOUR SCHOOL. As much as we can make suggestions, we don’t have a full understanding of your course load or what a difference this class will make as it specifically applies to your life. As a current BC student, I’d be happy to answer any other questions you may have!</p>
<p>“Shouldn’t be o_O The AB exam is the same as the BC exam, just without the BC topics so all the AB material should be the same.”</p>
<p>Perhaps, but notice the huge difference in the pass rate between the AB and BC exams. BC is more like preparation for people going to Ivy+ schools, or into other highly ranked schools in Engineering or Math/Hard Science programs. AB just means you’re want to go to some college and do something.</p>
<p>From what I know about AP calculus, which isn’t too much, I’d say BC. I know people who have taken both, and they say that BC goes more in-depth and is overall more worth the time.</p>
<p>“Are you taking AP Physics B or C? If the former, take AB. If the latter, take BC.” </p>
<p>Really? At my school the only AP Physics they offer is C and the only AP Calc offered is AB. Oh, dear…</p>
<p>BC. AB and BC are taught in the same class at my school, and BC, for all intensive purposes, only covers one more broad subject: sequences/series/sums. If you can deal with slightly more difficult problems on topics that span both AB and BC (like, take BC class, but before signing up, test yourself and then take either AB or BC), then BC all the way. You can get basically all of the series questions wrong and still have a 4 or 5, if you do very well on everything else.</p>
<p>Oh. And LaGrange error bound. Which no one ever remembers.</p>
<p>Calc is easy. Just don’t think of calc as math and algebra, think of it as ‘fake’, in that it’s all pretty abstract and just rules (‘tricks’) coupled with intuition.</p>
<p>I think it depends on whether you are a math person. The math geniuses do exist, and if you are one of them either calculus would be a breeze. But if math is not your strongest subject, maybe take AB instead. I am taking BC this year and it is definitely hard; I am good at math but not completely wired the way some people are that they just get it.</p>
<p>Usually your gut is right on these sorts of things too. If it says “too much work” then probably listen to it. But if it says you can handle it, you probably can. :-)</p>