<p>So I am taking AP Calc BC this year and our teacher is just now teaching us about sequences and series (he's very slow). We haven't even learned anything about Polar graphs or Parametrics.</p>
<p>Although I am teaching myself the chapters that we didn't cover but let's assume the worst case scenario.</p>
<p>What would be a projected score if a person took the AP Calc BC exam without taking or knowing about BC? Let's also assume the person is very good at AP Calc AB and would get a 5 if he took that only.</p>
<p>3 or 4, depending on your luck with the FRQ’s–if there aren’t any on polar or parametric, you should be able to get a 4. If there is a FRQ on either, probably a 3. If crazy stuff happens and there are 2 FRQ’s on parametric and/or polar, you may fail.</p>
<p>Well, I’m not sure. You could probably get a 4 if you studied, and then get a 5 on the AB subscore. And even if you got, like, a 2 on the BC part (which is kind of impossible–you probably learned improper integrals, integration by parts, and at least basic series things like proving convergence/divergence), you would still do fine on the AB part and get credit for it.</p>
<p>The thing is that for the free response, the sixth question will be Taylor series, which you’ll end up learning at the last second, and my teacher is expecting a polar question (which are trickier than parametric) because they haven’t appeared in a while. If you do well on the other free responses, though, you couldddd pull a 4.</p>
<p>Few questions, how much is on vectors and polar representations? Deriving and integrating then doesn’t seem too bad. But do I need to know about dot products, parallel/perpendicular vectors, angles between two vectors and types of polar graphs (e.g. roses, spirals, cardiods etc.)?</p>
<p>Thesos76–I’m pretty sure we don’t need to know dot products, parallel/perpendicular vectors, or angles between two vectors. Usually vector questions are like “A particle’s position at time t is denoted by the vector <2t^2 + 5, 3t^3>. Find the magnitude of the acceleration at t = 2” or something, so you’ll have to know how to find the magnitude of a vector (which is just pythagorean theorem), but that’s pretty much it…
Knowing types of polar graphs doesn’t seem necessary, but it’s helpful so that you know whether to integrate from 0 to pi or 0 to 2pi. It’s also helpful for when you’re finding the area between two polar curves, since you can get an idea of what each curve looks like and which one is on the outside.</p>
<p>There is always one FRQ with a polar or parametric, so assuming you could get at least one point for putting the correct units, then your chances at a five are slim, that is unless you’re absolutely rocking the rest of the exam. You aren’t going to get by without knowing polar and parametrics, so if your teacher doesn’t get to it, I hate to say it, but you’re going to have to teach yourself and do some practice on your own.</p>
<p>I digress, but:
Oh my . . . I didn’t realize that polars¶metrics were so important on the exam.
Are there any other topics, besides them and Series, that always show up on the FRQ?</p>
<p>Sequences and series can be a huge pain in the you-know-what too. I wouldn’t write them off as one of the easier topics in BC. I would say series are much more difficult than parametric equations and polar functions, but that’s just me.</p>
<p>I def think series and sequences are the hardest BC topic. Polar and parametric shouldn’t be too hard to learn. If you haven’t dealt with polar/parametrics before then just read up a bit on the basics and then basically all you need to memorize are the slope formulas, area (polar) formula, and arc length formulas.</p>
<p>Could someone explain to me how Lagrange Errors Bounds work and how well do we need to know our Trig Identities, I know the reciprocal, Pythagorean and half-angle identities. Do I need to know Sum/Difference or Sum to product or Laws ones? And how complicated can partial fractions get? Will there be functions with degree > 2 on the bottom? Will you ever be asked to apply the Squeeze Theorem in an explanation? Also other than the e^x, 1/(1-x), sinx and cosx, are there any other Maclaurin series that I should memorize for the test? And when they ask for areas of polar figures do they use phrases like " one petal of the rose curve" or “inner and outer loops of the limacon” or do they usually give you the limits of integration?</p>
<p>Honestly, if you’re so unlucky that you get a FRQ sub-part on Lagrange, just skip it. It’s going to be worth 2 points, max. Memorize the formula and write it down if you do get that question and see what inspiration comes to you during the test. Don’t worry about it.</p>
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<p>Know the ones you know and probably have sum, difference, and power-reducing in the back of your mind. You won’t need the others you listed.</p>
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<p>No. At least, not that I’ve ever seen.</p>
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<p>Not that I’ve seen, but who knows what’s going to be on the test this year? Just know it; it’s not too complicated.</p>
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<p>Umm, I don’t think so; anything else should be easy to generate. Do know FOR SURE how to take the series for something like e^x and turn it into the series for e^2x. It’ll save you a lot of time and trouble if you can use the series you know in your head (e^x) to get to e^2x than to have to take 3 or 4 derivatives and blah blah blah.</p>
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<p>I have never seen a polar problem where they give you the limits of integration.</p>
Well then what is you take on skipping that section or is it easy to learn? I had to teach myself parametrics, vectors and polar coordinates this past week and I never really understood finding the limits of integration for polar since I don’t intend to memorize/understand the different types of polar graphs. (i.e. roses, etc.)</p>
<p>^^I think I saw it here and there when I did review last year.</p>
<p>^Well, on any given polar question, I’d say there’s at least a 80% chance that you’ll need to find the limits of integration. So you’d better learn it. Honestly, finding the limits of integration is probably what the AP people use to see if you really understand polar, because in the end, everything after finding the lower and upper is plugging into a formula and integrating like normal.</p>
<p>Vectors are honestly a half hour/one hour subject. Finding the magnitude of a velocity vector is the Pythagorean Theorem and there’s only a few other formulas you would need to know in order to answer vector related problems.</p>