<p>i took precalc honors last year and next year as a junior i'll be in AP calc AB, there is no summer work so i bought the barron's review book and i'm trying to teach myself the basics of calculus (with the review book and internet tutorials)....currently i have a vague understanding of limits but i assume the class gets much more complicated than that.......am i the only one teaching myself calc over the summer, am i a nerd for doing this??? lol...also is this an impractical idea? am i wasting my time?</p>
<p>I’m doing the same, but its going pretty iffy. I’m trying to get into Calc BC though :D</p>
<p>I didnt take trig,
I took Precalc over the summer in 2008 WITHOUT trig nor analytic geometry(i think which means its a regular precalc class) never studied, got an A.
i just passed AP Calc AB both semesters with A, i rarely studied nor did any extra efforts.
Im going to be a Junior in the fall,too. i guess thats the route i took if that helps you, great!
I definitely think you can do it, its not necessary for you to study for it unless you have a load of other classes.
since i have 5 AP and 1 HP for 11th grade(difficult nightmarishly schedule), im studying CALC BC this summer.
I have both barron’s and princeton’s AP CALC prep books that im going to use for BC., and i personally like Princeton’s better cause its more step-to-step and useful to me. if i were to use barron for calc ab, myself would be confused
P.S. i got a 5 on the AP exam without studying for it</p>
<p>did you take calc AB?</p>
<p>OH and some Precal HP teachers recommend people going to Calc BC, but i wouldn’t suggest that…</p>
<p>ddPAO- you sound like you’re full of ****</p>
<p>Im summer previewing AB and I got derivatives done, Im on integrals now.
Using princetons AB BC book</p>
<p>What you mean?</p>
<p>I am also taking Calc I over the summer to be placed in AP Calc BC at my school. I am not self-studying though, I will be taking it at a local college (it actually starts today and ends August 7th).</p>
<p>I self-studied AP Calc AB while taking Honors Precalc and took the AP exam (receive a 5). While self-studying. I see that understanding the materials was easy. However, make sure you know how to analyze graphs well. My textbook didn’t teach me that well at all. Nevertheless, nothing is complicated in calculus. So, you can study Calc AB in two-three months of summer vacation.</p>
<p>I agree with ddPAO about the calc BC - from my friend, the hardest topic is series and taylor polynomial. Understanding this topic was really time-consuming for him.</p>
<p>If you learn these 3 things, you’ll be pretty good
- Derivative
- Integral
- Interpreting integral/derivative graphs and how to apply them to a graph, like you use an integral to find the area under a curve (so you have to really know what they represent)**</p>
<p>then to a lesser extent
- L’Hopital’s Rule (note though- there were 2/3 limit questions on the whole test i believe)
- Volume when you rotate a curve around an axis or a "y/x = " type of line</p>
<p>There’s really not that many things covered in calc ab</p>
<p>source: i took the exam this year, i got a 5.</p>