<p>I'm really not sure. I've gotten an A+ for the first two marking periods and the midterm in Acc. Pre-Calc. My Pre-Calc teacher thinks I should take BC, but I'm afraid it will be more difficult than AB and too much to handle. I'll be taking 3 other APs next year (Euro History, English, and Bio), so I wouldn't want to kill myself by taking the most difficult math. If anyone could shed light on the differences between AB and BC, it would be greatly appreciated. If anyone could lend insight into how top universities, such as Penn, Duke, and Columbia, view AB vs. BC in the admissions process, that would be great as well. Thanks alot.</p>
<p>Be a slacker/grade inflator. Take AB. :D</p>
<p>BC is a lot harder. generally, you have to be highly motivated and/or very good at math. but it carries weight on college application.</p>
<p>and previous math grades do not indicate success in BC. a lot of A students in precalc go to BC and get pummeled. but it also depends on your teacher.</p>
<p>BC is incredibly difficult, even for students who have historically done well in Math. Also, it's difficult to find a good BC teacher.</p>
<p>Calc XY :P</p>
<p>take BC...its pretty easy...</p>
<p>I'd recommend BC if you've been doing well in Trig/Pre-Calc.</p>
<p>It is quite fast, and it does have a fairly large learning curve. However, if you put your work into it, you should be able to get through.</p>
<p>After all, most schools allow you to drop down if a course gets too hard, right?</p>
<p>excel: Nope, once I pick a course, I'm stuck with it for the year.</p>
<p>If you're going to be a senior next year, then you might as well take BC. But if this is for your junior year, then I'd suggest you take AB junior year and BC senior year.</p>
<p>ok people who think BC is hard are for people who BELIEVE they've done well in math. If you got A+s in precalc then you will be fine even with AP English, Euro History, and Bio. and colleges will see that you took a very difficult course load (this looks like your junior year right?) which is your most important year for colleges to see your grades. Also, if you do well on the exam you could take off some classes (more/equel to you getting a 5 on the AP Calc AB test).</p>
<p>I'm going to be a senior next year.</p>
<p>I know some calc AB students who have gotten into some pretty competitive schools </p>
<p>i'm in BC, and i really like it. i'm not necessarily a natural at math, i do have to work pretty hard, but it's definitely worth it. besides, you can start off college in Calc III if you do well in BC, which is a great incentive!</p>
<p>PS-I think a lot of the above comments are vast exaggerations about BC. I probably spend >45 mins. every other night on calc HW and when I have a test, ~2.5 hrs. So far, I've done pretty well (B+). It's not "incredibly" difficult, and I'm really not talented at math. Furthermore, if you have a bad teacher there is an infinite amount of information out there pertaining to calc, online alone there are at least 10 sites I know of that offer gazillions of practice problems.</p>
<p>You can take the AB class, but then you can always take the BC test instead if you do really well in the AB class and will put a bit more effort into studying for the test. I'd agree that for senior year you don't want to fully kill yourself.</p>
<p>Our Calculus BC class is spread over three semesters (6,7,8), and it is incredibly easy; yet the rate of obtaining scores of 5 was ~93% last year.</p>
<p>I'm in BC...and am not a natural math person at all. I barely scraped an A in one semester of honors pre-cal, and last semester I got an 89.4 in BC (gah!). </p>
<p>First semester BC is very easy. This quarter is killing me though. Once you get past the AB material, the math becomes very integrated and a requires a higher thinking outside of the realm of usual finite math. I'm still holding a steady 88%, but that may get lower. I love my teacher though, besides the fact that she really doesn't help out a lot, but when it comes to initial teaching, she is very good. </p>
<p>Although the BC material specifically is somewhat difficult, the class throughout is rather easy. I would go for BC. When you take the BC exam, you get an AB subscore anyways, that you can use for credit if you don't do so well on the BC part.</p>
<p>My school only offers AB, and I'm really bored with it because I feel like I'm not learning anything difficult or challenging (math is my favorite subject btw). I like the teacher, and materials are somewhat challenging, but I'd rather have taken BC if my school offered it.</p>
<p>If you like math, or you're sure you have to study BC materials in college, I'd say go for it. If not, you might want to think about taking AB.</p>
<p>Many top-tier colleges don't accept the AB exam.</p>
<p>Anymore thoughts?</p>
<p>Go ahead and take BC.</p>
<p>many "top-tiered" colleges don't accept the BC exam either. basically, most colleges offer a placement test for incoming freshmen and this is really the only way to place out of freshmen college calculus.</p>