Taking Multivariable Calculus at a Community College

Hello all. I’m a sophomore, and I recently took the BC Calculus (I don’t have the score yet, but I’m pretty darn sure I passed). I took Analysis H this year, and traditionally I would take BC calculus next year. However, given I self-studied BC calculus this year and passed the test, taking the class again would not make sense. I was thinking of dual enrolling in a CC to take Multi variable Calculus and Linear Algebra, but the only two CCs around me are not exactly top notch. In fact, I’m a little bit worried the difficulty level would be a step down from my high school. So my question is this: Both in terms of my own intellectual fulfillment and my college application down the road, is it a smarter choice to repeat BC calculus at my high school or take higher math at a less-than-perfect CC? Thanks for the help.

It seems like you can answer this yourself. Normally the concern would be underpreparation in the DE class, but you actually think it would be (too) easy. If that’s really the case, then go for it. It’s not like sitting in a class covering material you know already would be more intellectually fulfilling then studying new material.

Take the college classes.
I assume you will do one semester of MV and one of LA spread over the year.
Even at a c.c. these classes have to cover the core curriculum to be transferable.

Unless you are a math major, I would just move on and take MVC at the CC. I’ll assume that the CC has a placement test that will accurately assess where you should be placed.

keep in mind that if you take this at a CC you will forever in the future have to report this grade. Every college, grad program, etc. is going to ask you to list all colleges attended and there is a national database that they can check to be sure you reported everything. This isn’t a problem if you get an A, but if it turns out the class is harder than you expected and you get a C or worse then this is something to think about.

I assume you mean the BC AP test. If you get a 4 or 5 then move on. If you only get a 3 then take the BC class. My son took AP BC Calculus as a sophomore and then got accepted to the Regional Governor’s STEM school where they offered a dual enrolled MV and LA class. They wanted to see a 5 on the BC test to place him directly in that class. He did get a 5 but if he had scored a 4 they would have required another placement test to get in. I think with a 3 they would have made him take their dual enrolled college calculus class.

By “passed” do you mean an easy 5, or a 3 that was not that easy?

You may want to try some college final exams for calculus 1 and 2 courses to check your knowledge before taking calculus 3.

Do you mean the AP Calc BC exam? That one hasn’t happened yet this year; it takes place this Tuesday, May 14.

I meant the school final (we’re on a weird schedule). I’m also signed up for the AP exam on Tuesday.

Perhaps you may want to try these quizzes to check how ready you are for calculus 3 (or 2).
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/rur_index.html

Here are some final exams from colleges that you may want to try:
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-01-single-variable-calculus-fall-2005/exams/ocw01f05final-1.pdf
http://math.mit.edu/~jspeck/18.01_Fall%202014/Exams/Final%20Exam_Review%20problems/Final%20exam_review%20problems.pdf
https://tbp.berkeley.edu/courses/math/1B/