<p>Is this plausible? Will I be able to survive with no calc background?</p>
<p>Pre-Calc ought to have given you a Calc background. You could totally probably do it, depending on how you felt in precalc. Was it easy for you? Did you understand all of the concepts?</p>
<p>Some schools only offer Calc BC, some schools do a semester of Calc AB and a semester of Calc BC and allow students to choose which test they’re ready for, and some schools have a year of Calc AB and a year of Calc BC. There is a clear difference in scores based upon how much time a student has spent learning Calc in school (from personal experience and stats from my Calc BC teacher).
Also, if you’re planning on going into any STEM field, you will absolutely be required to take additional calculus, no matter your AP scores, in which case you do not want to be behind everyone else. I highly recommend doing Calc AB and going for proficiency in the basics before moving on.</p>
<p>I did AP Calc BC out of Algebra 2 last year and got a 5 on the AP exam. BC is really just AB with a couple of additional concepts. You’re not skipping out on anything by taking BC, you’re just doing them faster.</p>
<p>Well, i would just review some of the basic concepts like derivatives and limits, etc.</p>
<p>The typical path for my high school was to go from pre-Calc straight to Calc BC. There’s nothing inherently wrong or difficult with that particular path. I did it and got a 5 on the exam.</p>
<p>This thread is super helpful considering I just got out of Algebra 2/Trig. into AP Calc BC. So many people thought I would’ve been better off taking Precalc…
I’m glad some feel those taking a lower math can make it. I’m good with math so I wouldn’t struggle tremendously D:</p>
<p>AP Calculus AB = Calculus I
AP Calculus BC = Calculus I and Calculus II</p>
<p>BC still begins at the beginning.</p>
<p>
I had thought this before too, but I only recently found out that many schools do it differently. That is, some schools make AB a pre-requisite for BC and so spend a year on AB and then a year on BC - essentially two years doing Calc I and Calc II. Some schools have AB or BC where AB covers the semester-long class in a year and BC covers a yearlong class in a year. So BC would cover several of the same topics as AB, but at a much quicker pace. </p>
<p>OP, if your school does not have AB as a pre-req to BC and covers all the AB material in BC, then I see no reason why you should be concerned taking BC from pre-calc. However, if your school doesn’t cover AB topics in BC, then you probably shouldn’t do that.</p>
<p>Should be fine. Everyone in my school either chooses Calc AB or Calc BC coming out of Precalc. Very few, if anyone, takes both.</p>