<p>As long as you don’t act like “that nerd kid”, you won’t be “that nerd kid”. Just don’t bring up your age ever, or pretend that you’re the same age as the rest of your class and you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>Trig and precalc are super easy self-studies, together they’ll take less than a month, or a week each if you move fast and had a solid Algebra II class (I’ve only had Al I and I still know nearly have of precalc and a good deal of trig already).</p>
<p>What’s the rush? Even if you are able to go into Calc BC as a freshman and do well, it’s better to wait until you have all the pre-reqs so you have the proper foundation you need to be successful later on. If you continue in math, you may eventually get to a point where not having the proper trig knowledge will hurt you. Trig comes up everywhere in both multivariable/vector calculus and in physics for example. Why not take precalc and then go into BC? This is what most people do. I didn’t know it at the time, but as a math major the pre-calc class I took was actually incredibly useful (it wasn’t really precalc, most of it was analytic geometry and discrete math).
I would additionally like to warn you that if you want to go to a top school, you won’t likely receive a sizable advantage from taking extra courses in high school. For example, my friend took AP Physics C, AP Chem, and Calc BC junior year (most people even in the ivy league didn’t take BC until either junior or senior year) and then AP Bio and Multivariable Calc and Linear Algebra as a senior. However, when he got to college (Caltech), he took Calc I, Intro Physics, and Intro Chem, essentially what he had taken two years ago except taught the right way.
In my experience, for college it’s more beneficial that you have a strong foundation in a subject than having taken advanced classes in it. The way these subjects, especially math, are taught in college is very different and to a much higher level than high school. Math (and physics) in college depend on developing an intuitive understanding of the subject, and you can’t do that if you are missing things.</p>
<p>Honestly, It’s not that difficult.</p>
<p>appmaster, that’s not the point I was trying to make. Honestly if you want to do well on the AP exam for Calc BC as a freshmen, you could probably manage this. However, just because you go through the motions and do well in the course does not mean you truly understand the material. You may be able to go through high school like this, but when you get to college you may lack a strong foundation. Most kids I know at top schools retake these courses and are still challenged because the way you learn actual math is much more rigorous than in high school.</p>
<p>The level of preparation you need for Calc BC also depends on the rigor of your school. Calc BC at one school is not the same as at another school. At my school we did many things that were not on the AP test and the class was actually pretty challenging, as well as the pre-reqs that came before. However, at other schools it seems that APs are the only challenging courses so students tend to rush into them.</p>
<p>A specific example pertaining to my earlier point involves kids taking Physics C before really understanding calculus. Yes the calculus on the test is very simple, but to truly understand physics you need to have a deeper understanding of calculus than taking derivatives. You need to understand the physical significance of what you are doing. There are many geometric arguments in physics that you can’t understand without calculus, and trigonometry.</p>
<p>Poeme, my comment wasn’t nessicarily directed at you. I understand the points that you made, however I know multiple people who skipped precalc who are doing fine at the mutlivariable calc level. It really depends on the person, whether they can manage it or not.</p>