I will be a junior in the 2018-19 year and was wondering if it is worth it to skip calc ab, take bc junior year, and finish high school with multivariable calc. I know some of the content taught in ab like derivatives and I have a wide variety of resources to help me learn the rest by the end of the summer. I’m also going to be doubling up on math, taking both calc ab (or calc bc) and ap statistics junior year. Is it worth it to skip calc ab? What are some other major topics taught in ab?
In your high school, is BC a course suitable for those who have just completed precalculus, or does it start where AB ends?
Is there a reason why you want to take BC? I know some people on here got rejected because they have more math courses.
We have an accelerated class named Honors Accelerated Precalculus BC (HAPCBC) for people to take junior year in order to allow them to take AP Calc BC senior year. I skipped a grade of math and am currently taking Hnrs Precalc because my teacher did not recommend me to take the class even though I was receiving 95s in Hnrs Algebra 2. Typically, you want to take AB first and then BC, but rarely does anyone even get to take BC. Seniors are usually taking AB senior year, but I want to take multivariable calc senior year which only around 4-5 people get to take.
A high school multivariable calculus course is not really useful for advanced placement (a transferable college course could be).
Even if it is a college course, the additional placement may not be valuable enough to try to cram math in high school.
Does the precalculus for BC course include the beginning part of calculus?
@NASA2014 Why would a student get turned away because they took “too much math”?
OP, only consider taking BC if the BC class covers both AB and BC material. At our school, kids go from Honors Pre-Calc to either AB or BC. The BC class covers all of AB concepts in the first semester and the remaining BC concepts in the second semester. It moves very quickly.
You realize that AB is Calc I and BC is Calc I & Calc II, right? You’re not really skipping.
@NASA2014 yeah who would get rejected on the basis of “too much math?” That doesnt make sense.
@BiologyMajorHere : at some high schools, such as apparently OP’s, BC is the continuation of AB. Students take AB THEN BC, and so BC does not contain AB material.
@reallypanicked:
Don’t double up in math for AP Stats - you’ll be taking stats in college anyway 1° because it’s often a requirement and AP Stats doesn’t quite cover the same content as College Stats and 2°it’s a class you can put on your resume under “relevant coursework” regardless of the internship applied for, and AP stats doesn’t qualify.
Is there a way for you to take Calc1 at a local community college over the summer?
That would be a better way for you to jump into Calc BC.
However I would NOT recommend taking Calc BC with no Calc AB or Calc1.
@MYOS1634 @homerdog See now my question here is, will colleges care that I only took math up to Calc BC and not multivariable? Would taking multivariable give me an edge during admission?
Not really. As long as you have calculus, you’re good.
Most importantly, your schedule has to be balanced and in sync with what you’d like to do after HS.
What would your Jr and Sr schedules look like (enter “math” since you don’t know what calc you’ll be taking, but enter everything else as you expect it to be).
@MYOS1634
Junior year:
APUSH
AP Physics 1
AP Lang
Math
AP Stats
Hnrs Spanish 4
Adv debate/Psychology
Senior year:
AP Gov/AP Psychology
AP Spanish
AP Physics 2
Math
AP Lit
AP Bio or AP Env Sci
??
That’s WAY too many APs.
What matters is not the number so much as having a coherent, balanced schedule.
Jr year, drop AP stats, totally understand necessary. Make sure you take stats in college.
Replace AP lit with honors English since you’re clearly not getting into humanities/social science majors. Replace AP Bio or APES with AP CS Principles or a regular cs class. For your last period, I’d recommend Culinary Arts as it’ll be helpful your whole life but especially when you’re trying to get by in your apartment as a junior in college and/trying to impress a young woman 
Two things you COULD do if you really really want to take MV senior year: take calculus 1 over the summer at a local community college then bc Fall 2018 and MV Fall 2019. OR take calculus AB Fall 2018, calc2 at the local community college over the summer, and MV Fall 2019.
@MYOS1634 Unfortunately, my school does not offer any CS classes. I simply want to take AP Stats to get a grasp of the subject before college and at my school it’s not considered particularly difficult. Is it okay if I PM you?
Sure.
But if you’re able to handle calculus as a junior and are thinking of MV as a senior, college stats should be fine without a preview via AP Stats.
I “skipped” AB, and I am currently taking BC in my junior year. Technically, you are not skipping anything, since, in BC calc, you learn all of Calc I in the first semester. The difference between AB and BC is the speed of the course. I would say that if you are prepared to keep up, BC will be just fine for you. You will still learn all of the same things, just at a faster speed.
However, if you have trouble with classes that move too fast, do not take BC before AB. Both have pretty heavy workloads, but BC moves at twice the rate of AB.
You can do it, if you prepare yourself and know what you’re getting into!! Good luck.
College statistics courses that are higher level than the non-calculus introductory course that AP statistics emulates typically have only math prerequisites. I.e. AP statistics is not necessary for the purpose of preparing for more advanced statistics courses, although it can be helpful if you just want to see if you are interested in the subject and calculus-based introductory statistics courses are not available (they usually are not available in high schools or community colleges).
@jsimon9 : thats because your school has an ‘AB OR BC’ system: BC incorporates the AB content and goes faster. Op’s school has an ’ AB then BC’ class, where AB is level one only, and BC level two only.