<p>how about skipping calc AB and go right into BC?? Is that a good idea??
Do you have to take both Ap exams for Calc AB and BC???</p>
<p>No, since BC includes AB you don't need to take AB. You'll get everything in BC you'd have gotten in AB just at a quicker pace. You take one exam, the BC exam, but also get an AB subscore. They'll grade the portion covering the AB material and give a 1-5 score on that. Most people I know don't take both.</p>
<p>but people here at my school usually take calc AB in their junior year and take AP exams... and they take Calc C (i'm not sure if it was BC.. i may have misread)</p>
<p>I'm going to ask my math teacher about this... idea that i take summer class at local cc to skip AB, i'm a rising senior by the way. Would you recommend this? I'm hard worker and got all A's without any difficulty.</p>
<p>If your school teaches a true AP BC Calculus curriculum then there is no reason to take AB. Ask your teacher if the BC course will include the AB material and if it does then you are set. Just take BC Senior year. No reason for CC if you don't have to.</p>
<p>I've just been thinking, would a school really care whether I take precalc or stat (non-leveled). I'm NOT majoring in anything that has a thing to do with math, and im very strong in everything else. I don't reall ymind taking either, but stat would prob be more fun</p>
<p>everzinny,
My son's AP Calc BC class reviewed AP Calc AB for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the year. That's a whole year of high school math in a couple of weeks before moving on. Maybe it would be best to ask the math teacher's opinion. Ask if students who skip the AB course are generally successful without it. Most students in our high school take both courses.</p>
<p>david,
Just an anecdotal story. A bazillion years ago, I decided that I was an arts and humanities person, and did not take math OR science in my senior year. Big mistake. I changed my mind! Once I got to college, I decided to go into pharmacy, which required calc and physics and lots of bio and chem. Needless to say, I was woefully unprepared. Since lots of people change directions, I would go with the precalc...just in case you are one of those people! ("fun" is not a factor in math...that's what electives and ec's are for).</p>
<p>not_silly - My son did exactly what you are asking - he skipped Alg2/Trig because he was out of sequence with his new school and wanted to get on the track for AP math classes. In lieu of this class, and with his GC's and Math deprtment's approval, he took the highest math class at a local CC. This was a big mistake - in six weeks they covered the theories (he got an A) but he had very little "practice" manipulating the equations and he learned no trig. This turned out to be a big problem for him in the next two years, especially this year in Calculus. The CC course was not nearly the equivalent of an honors math class even though he tested into the highest level at the CC. Plus, the lack of practice and challenging problems was clearly an issue for him. Remember, not everyone has to take AP Calc!</p>