Title Says it all. I tried skipping out of Geo/Trig Sophomore year, but I didn’t pass since I didn’t have prior education in the field. My math as of now is:
Fresh: Combined Algebra
Soph: Geo/Trig
Jun: PreCalc
Sen: AP Calc AB
I’m just scared that since I didn’t pass the advancement, top tier colleges might see this as a bad thing. My friends are already in Precalc and AP Calc AB.
Do you think if I didn’t advance, would I have a lower chance of getting in?
Thanks 
Not gonna lie that the students applying for those schools are really advanced. Most probably took precal in 9/10 grade. If you can, try to take one math from an online provider.
Or maybe take AP stats along side with precal in 11, and then take AP Calc BC in 12.
I know a lot of people that just do BC (it is equivalent to calc 1&2) because the exam has a very generous curve. About 45% of takers get 5’s.
AP Calculus AB = Calculus I and
AP Calculus BC = Calculus I and II,
at least as far as the exams. This means it should be possible to take BC without taking AB first, since the BC class should cover everything in the AB class in addition to some other stuff. However, some high schools set up their classes so that AB = Calculus I and BC = Calculus II. In a case like that, you would want to take AB before taking BC.
Fellow highschooler here, but I’m far enough ahead in the maths that I can make a helpful answer
it doesn’t mean much by itself
I’m not gonna lie: I’ve heard of all sorts of math people going everywhere. Have fun with it, study what you like, and you’ll be good to go. How can math help you do your cool stuff?
Personally, I can’t even name a school that wants more than calculus from its applicants before graduation. If an advanced kid is accepted to one of those universities, they’d probably end up retaking stuff- possibly with extra theory (18.14 for MIT).
This whole admissions schtick is about doing the best with what you’ve got. Skipping things is not doing the best with what you’ve got, it’s getting something else faster. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re both passionate and prepared. High-achievers wanna skip math classes like they gobble up APs.
If you feel passionate about math, you’ll get further later than you ever would’ve without a foundation. Some people just got that foundation laid down early, and/or felt driven to make it themselves. It’s not a ****ing contest, friend; nobody will hold the fact you weren’t doing differential equations in high school against you.
AB is ok for top colleges. All of those colleges offer calc 1 for students who didn’t even master AB in high school. AB is not going to wow them by any means but they admit plenty of students with AB. If you don’t get in, it’s more likely due to something other than whether you completed more math.
It is stupid to try to just skip foundational math classes unless you are super motivated and really have mastered the material in some other way. Yes, there are kids who do learn it outside of school classes, but cracking a book for a few days to try to test out is not sufficient. Usually those kids are obsessed with math, spend a lot of time thinking about it, and end up going above and beyond the canned requirements for those courses when they learn it themselves.
I don’t know why the idea of simply skipping over math classes keeps popping up on this site–these are sequential courses and they build on each other more so than just about any other subject. And those topics are being tested on the SATs so if you aren’t totally solid on that material you are just shooting yourself in the foot for admissions.
OMPursuit, ever thought of public speaking? That was very inspiring. Thanks for the insight!