<p>What would you recommend for a student that gets a 5 on his/her AP Calc AB exam as a Junior and lives in a community where there is no further high school math or at best the only next step is Calc BC? Calc C is available online through Stanford. Thanks!</p>
<p>M</p>
<p>OP, sorry for the thread hijack. ;-)</p>
<p>Try taking the AP exam by self-study. That’s what I did for about half the AP exams I’ve ever taken, and it works out well enough if you’re disciplined.
Calc BC is a nasty though (the exam itself). You should still do it, but keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Neo, thanks!</p>
<p>What I’m trying to determine is if there’s a better alternative to Calc BC. Calc C?</p>
<p>M</p>
<p>I think you’re overestimating the “shock” of transitioning to college courses. Most students expect to have to work harder in college, particularly those who take BC calculus, which is often the highest level math course at most high schools. I’m in this situation now, and I feel comfortable with the pace of the material in multivariable calculus.</p>
<p>Additionally, I don’t see the need for most high school students to rush through calculus in a single year. If you did it junior year, you wouldn’t have any math courses left to take senior year. Unless your high school offers multivariable, or you take the course at a local university, the only other option will be AP statistics. As you mentioned, AP Stats often doesn’t count towards engineering curricula. Also, AP Stats would likely be at a slower pace than AB+BC, so you could lose any conditioning you gained the previous year.</p>
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<p>My D took Multi-variable and AP Statistics to keep taking classes.</p>
<p>The “need” is to keep the kid from being board out of their mind. I was bored enough when I took BC calc. I couldn’t imagine having to stretch that class over 2 years. However, I will admit that accelerating Calc 3 into 4 weeks during the summer was too much.</p>
<p>Taciturn, thanks!</p>
<p>As the head of my son’s middle school said when he was asked about doubling up sciences at the expense of a more rounded experience, “Ya get to go to college ya know.” :-)</p>
<p>Opera,</p>
<p>No multivariable option for my son. I think he’ll be fine in BC. He’ll be taking his fifth year of Mandarin along with multiple other AP classes. Maybe a slight math deceleration, without a complete jump into finite math or only Stats might be a welcomed break.</p>
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<p>Either that or the next calculus course in sequence at a local college, if that is all that there is available.</p>
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<p>Students who reach calculus as juniors (two years ahead in math) are close to math prodigies, so they would likely be well capable of handling calculus at college pace (which students zero years ahead in math are expected to handle). They would likely be bored at the slower pace of AB.</p>
<p>Respectfully, students who reach calculus by the time they are juniors are primarily those who were recognized in third grade as having an aptitude for math, were advanced to fourth grade math and then kept pace with their new peers. </p>
<p>As for needing more than BC in high school, I spoke with the admissions department of a very prestigious program today and they said they occasionally admit kids with less, but students never come in with more than BC. They felt the best prep was BC, taught in their native high school, by a good teacher they were familiar with and AP Physics C, mechanics. </p>
<p>I’m not oing to look for anything more. He’ll have his hands plenty full with other stuff.</p>
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<p>When I was in high school, about 8% of the senior class was in calculus (a year ahead). A junior in calculus (two years ahead) came through perhaps once every few years and was known as the top student in math; no one doubted that calculus BC in one year would be an easy A in the class and an easy 5 on the AP test for such a student.</p>
<p>I agree that there are diminishing returns with respect to scheduling for an engineering major for taking math beyond the BC level while still in high school (unless one wants to take more advanced math courses as free electives). Starting college in multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations is advanced enough to remove as much of the lower division schedule pressure as possible for an engineering major.</p>
<p>I apologize for not clarifying. My school has a Calculus BC class, and to take that you also have to take a calc bc lab.</p>
<p>So I figured 2 for bc, and then statistics.</p>
<p>But if statistics is pretty much a waste of time for me I have other things I can take.</p>
<p>TrapperTeen</p>
<p>Statistics is most certainly not a waste of time. It has so many applications that simply knowing it gives you an advantage in just about every technical class ever.
You can learn it little by little if classes don’t require it, but it’s a very useful class and far from a waste of time.</p>
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<p>I would be surprised if Statistics (at some level) is not a required class for engineers. Even HS statistics (not AP) would give you a good foundation for taking it in college. Being exposed to some concepts, and letting them settle in, is helpful.</p>
<p>ubcalum, </p>
<p>My son goes to a small school. There are 75 or so in his class. He’s a junior. He and 14 others are in Calculus.</p>
<p>When I was in school, it was more like you described. Pre-Calc was the typical senior class. A small group made it to Calc as seniors. There were never juniors in Calc.</p>
<p>I think tracking for “talented and gifted” programs has identified more people that, in a supportive environment, can be accelerated in math. In fact, I know several kids who are taking Calc as Sophomores. They are no smarter than th rest. They just attended a tiny, rural public school that had a teacher that made math fun and was given the freedom to go at the pace the whole group could handle.</p>
<p>Well, the way my high school worked is that it was similar to college. You take whatever you want after your first semester of getting freshman english out of the way. </p>
<p>So, kids could take Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, and then Calculus their junior year.</p>
<p>So it would be good to take statistics ap?</p>
<p>Also would taking physics c electricity and magnetism help in the field I am going into? It would be a self study because at my school they don’t offer a class for it.</p>
<p>Right now I am taking calc bc and physics c mechanics.</p>
<p>TrapperTeen</p>
<p>Some colleges accept AP physics C scores for subject credit, but fewer do for E&M than for mechanics.</p>
<p>Would it be a good thing to know for college level physics tho?
Thanks,</p>
<p>TrapperTeen</p>
<p>College physics often assumes high school physics as a prerequisite. Of course, a more rigorous high school physics course (e.g. AP) is better than a typical regular high school physics course (even if the AP credit is not accepted).</p>
<p>AP statistics can be self taught in under a month honestly</p>