<p>Should I take the AP Calculus BC Exam if I take the AB class at school? My school doesn't offer a BC class so I need to self study the extra material. </p>
<p>My question is: When do should you start self-studying the BC material? Are you able to in the beginning of your AB course? half-way? or towards/at the end of the AB class? </p>
<p>If you said towards/at the end of the AB class, should I start self-studying AB material now to have a head start or just review Precalc? What can I do to ensure a 5 on the AP Calculus BC exam AND a 5 on the AB subscore? (I don't prefer cramming BC material at the last month or so) --This brings up another question, how long does it take to self-study the extra BC material?</p>
<p>I was in a pretty similar situation last year. My high school had just AB. My teacher gave a pretty simple way to explain it the difference in amount of material. AB covers A and B while BC covers A, B, and C, so if you want to take the BC exam, all you have to learn is C which isn't much. you feel me? He offered a weekly class after school for the second semester for like 1.5 hours to teach to BC material to about five of us who were interested. It was enough to get a 5 on BC and as the AB subscore. Say he didn't have that extra class though. 1.5 hours times maybe 15 classes is nothing relative to the full year AB course, so you can definitely self study for just the second half (once you have the AB foundations) maybe a couple hours a week and get a 5 on BC and AB.</p>
<p>I don't think it should take too long to self-study the BC material. I was in an AB class and took the BC exam. Most of the extra topics for BC are additional methods for doing certain things, so you can just study the BC stuff when you're going through AB material. Sequences and series are a big chunk of the BC topics and they aren't covered in AB, so that would have to be the only thing I think you'd have to devote a large chunk of time to.</p>