I received a B+(92%) as my final grade for Honors PreCalc.
I’m not really sure if I’m “good enough” to take AP Calc and not to mention, math isn’t one of my strongest subjects either. I plan on majoring in biology/pre-med track when I go to college. Should I really take AP Calc? Is it really hard? Next year, I would be a senior and my other AP courses that I’ll be taking include:
AP Bio, AP Chem and AP Lit.
Any suggestions or insights would be really helpful.
Well, my first thoughts are that you should definitely take AP Calc AB if there’s no “Honors Calculus 1” at your school. This is because calculus is a very useful subject, and using the rigor of AB to your advantage will definitely benefit you.
But, then I see that you’re taking 3 other APs, two of which are particularly difficult (Biology and Chemistry). While calculus would benefit you, statistics would benefit you even more. Statistics is renowned for being the “math for non-math people,” and I believe if you use AP Statistics to your advantage, you will definitely succeed where you need mathematics in the future. Plus, I’ve heard you should take statistics in college no matter what “track” or “major” you are on/in. This is because statistics is applicable everywhere, even where calculus is not.
So you should probably do yourself a favor, since you say you’re not that “great” at it (I detest you saying this because you got a 92% in Precalc) do AP Statistics. It will (probably) be easier than Calc AB, and you will thank yourself that you did this in the future.
But, of course, do what YOU want to do. I’m not a guidance counselor, merely a Junior who knows a bit about classes, difficulty, and scheduling. If YOU want to take AB, then take it! There’s no harm, and plus, you’ve taken Precalc, it might be a shame to waste all the effort you put into preparing for calculus to not do calculus.
My opinions are my own, and do not represent anyone else.
Ask your guidance counselor: if you find that you’re in over your head in Calc AB, can you drop down to “just” Honors calculus? If not, would you be able to switch to AP Stats and how long after the start of the year would that option be available (1 week?)
I would choose AP Calc AB indeed, but I would choose between AP Bio and AP Chem, not take both, unless you’re certain you can get As in both (and definitely nothing below a B).