Should I take AP Statistics or AP Calc AB as a senior?

Hi, so I plan to study accounting in college at the moment and I’ve been thinking whether or not to choose AP stats or AP Calculus AB for next year. I am currently enrolled in Honors Pre-calc and got an 80 for the first quarter since I didn’t try to understand the material. I was also struggling to get adjusted to online school. I did well in both Honors Algebra 2(91)and Honors Geometry(86)so it wasn’t normal for me to have such a low grade in math. Now I have a 98 i think and am understanding the material better. I want to take AP calc instead but my counselor said I should do statistics. But that was before I got the higher grades in precalc. I don’t know which one would be better for someone who wants to do accounting or some other business major. And i feel like AP Calc AB would look better and I want to do well in the class. Also, it will better prepare me for college than statistics will. I feel like AP stats will be seen as too easy. Even if I have to take calculus 1 again, I want to do the best I can to prepare myself for colleges. I’ve been taking advantage of online resources to help me with precalc and am planning to do the same if i take Calculus. My school doesn’t offer honors calculus, but if they did I’d take it. I just want to prepare myself for the challenge of AP calculus and feel that it would be rewarding for me.

You will generally need both Calc and a stats class for business and accounting majors. I would suggest looking at the required pre-req and courses lists for some of the schools that you are interested in to help you decide. Many will have business specific Calc and stats classes that apply the concepts to business applications.

Have you had a follow up conversation with your GC along the lines of now that your grade is higher would they make the same recommendation they made when your grade was lower?

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A business or accounting major will likely need both calculus and statistics. Some colleges require calculus-based statistics for business majors.

Calculus AB or statistics in high school will cover material at a slower pace than the college courses in these subjects. So it may make sense to take whichever one is harder for you in high school at the slower pace and in the high school format that you are used to, rather than having to take it in college at a faster pace while also having to adjust to how college courses are run differently from high school.

However, colleges may also offer easier versions of calculus for business majors.

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Currently taking both BC I am crazy…after all, math is sooooo much fun that I decided to double up and not take Spanish.

Aaaaargh​:joy::joy:

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The others are right that you will need both courses IN college. You don’t need Calc AB to get into a business program at a college, however, from a college perspective and if you’re applying to a school with a highly regarded business school, they want to see AP Calc AB over AP Stats as it shows more rigor. But, if you are really having trouble in Math then hurting your GPA will not help you in that regard and the AP Stats may be the better course. Just note that AP Stats is not a cake walk either. It’s also one of the harder AP exams to get a 5 on.

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BTW I am a CPA, BA Econ/Bus LAC + T20 MAC. Feel free to ask me any questions about the profession. It’s not always what many assume it to be.

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If you are referring to the AP score distributions at 2023 AP Score Distributions – AP Students | College Board that show only 16.2% of AP statistics test takers scoring 5, the low percentage of 5 scores is probably due to self-selection of students – often, weaker-at-math students take AP statistics instead of calculus or precalculus. The opposite is true for AP calculus BC with 44.6% of test takers scoring 5, due to stronger-at-math students self-selecting into that course.

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Do I have to be good at advanced math to be an accountant? Like I’m good at the basics, but I’m not good at everything in math.

I’m not having as much trouble in math anymore, but I feel as if I don’t take calculus I will be looked down upon as a business major. I feel like taking statistics instead of calc in high school will make me feel insecure about not being smart.

AP statistics is algebra based. More selective colleges do not accept it so you may be better off with Calculus.

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Okay, good tip. I will let my counselor know that I want to take calculus when we do course selection.

No, you don’t need to be good at advanced math unless you want to specialize in a quant niche like valuation. That is one of the misconceptions. That it’s all about math. For most CPA careers you will generally need basic math, algebra, understanding of financial math concepts like amortization, some stats and of course understanding accounting concepts. You likely will be required to take Calc as part of business major, but for most accounting won’t really use it.

At some point you may be required to decide between going tax route or audit/general accounting route. Beyond the entry level, it becomes about applying the rules be they tax or general accounting to the specific situations of your employer or client. Reading comprehension, interpretation, communication, logic, judgment and ethics + being detail-oriented are generally more important skills than advanced math.

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I am very detail orientated and am fairly good at logical thinking. I’m a black and white type of person who thinks literally. I also like that accounting doesn’t require much creative thinking, which I absolutely suck at. It’s a structured job and I like the routine feeling it has. I don’t struggle with basic math and algebra and am not looking to specialize in anything. I might do community college for 2 years to save money, and I saw that they emphasized statistics more than calculus in their accounting program. I’m pretty sure they may require both with an emphasis on statistics. I’m still considering calculus though, since it’d be cool to try.

What everyone else has said is true. My daughter is a business major and her school required Calculus through a minimum of Calculus BC (Calculus 1 & 2), so at a school like that, even if you took AP Cal AB, you would still need one more semester, but I still think you are better off taking Calc AP. Also, at her program as far as AP Stats, while they take it, they strongly recommend if you don’t get a 5 on the AP Stats test, that you retake it. As I said previously, many do not get a 5 on the AP Stats, even business majors. When she had her freshman advisor meeting she was told this specifically. Again in her program all Business majors need to take 2 Statistics courses. That may not be at all business schools but hers did accept AP Stats. Engineering programs usually don’t and some other programs. My other daughter is in Engineering and she couldn’t use her AP Stats at that school unless she was in Liberal Arts or a different college there. It ultimately depends where you go.

If your high school offers an Accounting elective and you have room in your schedule to take it, you might want to take that. Mine took it and said it really helped her this past semester. You definitely do not need Calculus for Accounting. But you will need to take Finance and Marketing and other Business core classes for any Business major. There are so many paths for business majors these days unless it’s a school that only offers a Bus Administration degree. Another reason I wish I could be back in college again!!

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I think you are correct that there may be an expectation that you completed calculus, assuming you are applying to more competitive undergraduate business programs. On the other hand, taking AP Calculus would be beyond most schools expectations besides maybe the very top - Penn, UCLA, NYU, Michigan-types.

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