<p>Okay here's my situation:</p>
<p>I am taking PreCalc at a University this summer (pretty certain I'll get an A) and I was planning on taking Calculus next year (junior year) and then AP Calculus my senior year because I had senior friends who had said that AP Calculus was difficult because the teacher is awful </p>
<p>If I took Calculus next year my schedule would look like this
1. Academic Decathlon
2. Physics
3. Physics Lab
4. AP Bio
5. AP Bio Lab
6. AP European History
7. Spanish III
8. Honors English
9. Calculus</p>
<p>However, I am preparing a project to present before the school board that would allow me to take class periods my senior year as independent study so I could take an independent study AP Calculus BC if I took AP Calculus AB next year as a Junior.</p>
<p>So I am considering taking AP Calculus next year.....so I guess my question is AP Calculus REALLY as easy as everyone says? Even if I'm only so-so on math (I got 5s on all four of my AP exams this year but none of them were math)? Do you have advice on this? I'd really appreciate it!!!</p>
<p>Don’t ever take regular calculus. Go AP or not at all; I would recommend the former.</p>
<p>^ Yes. AP Calculus AB is intended to be an introductory calculus class.</p>
<p>Is the regular Calculus teacher good? I would think a better choice for you (if the regular Calculus teacher is better than the AP teacher) would be to take regular Calculus and self-study the remaining concepts for either the AB or the BC exam. Calculus is a lot easier to understand with a good teacher (who can also help you self-study if you need the assistance).</p>
<p>skip regular calc and do ap. i was hesitant but i winged it and got around a 94% average for the year and a 5 on the exam. just work hard and do the homework</p>
<p>Taking a regular and then its AP correspondent is just redundant. Just take AP Calculus to save a class for senior year.</p>
<p>When you’re given an AP Calculus textbook and an awful teacher, the better teacher would be the textbook, depending on how it is written, of course. If the textbook fails, Princeton Review is a good guide for AP Calculus.</p>
<p>Don’t be redundant. I agree with silverturtle. Go for AP or not at all, don’t take both. Personally, AP Calc AB was very very easy for me. Calc BC is slightly more challenging (but also more exciting to learn). You’ll have fun. AP stats is always a great alternative if you aren’t a math person. I took Calc BC and Stats last year and I never felt as if I was taking 2 math classes. They were so different that at some points I felt I was learning grammar in statistics. haha.</p>
<p>Just do AP Calculus AB. If you’re going to self-study the BC (which is simply AB with more material), then fine. With a good book that covers all the exam data, you should be fine.</p>
<p>Great! Thank you everyone for your opinions! I think I will take AP Calculus.</p>
<p>Now I just have to contact the school and figure out a way to get my summer homework for AP Calculus…</p>
<p>Erg I hate my school!!! So very very much!!! They were unable to fit AP Calculus in my schedule, only Calculus. So I have two options:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take Calculus next year. Take AP Calculus the following year.
The Problem: Our school does this weird weighting thing where all AP classes get 10%<br>
added at the END of the school year. This would mean that if I had an 84% in Calculus Junior year it would show up on college transcripts as a 94%. If I got an 84% senior year, it would show up as an 84% </p></li>
<li><p>Take Calculus next year. Self-study for the AP exam. Take BC my senior year.
The Catch: Does self-studying count as much as Ap classes for college admissions? No. Is the Calculus class advanced enough? No.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Did I mention that I hate my school? Hate it. And thanks for your help, this just really frustrates me.</p>
<p>Calculus FTW!</p>
<p>Better yet, AP Calculus BC FTW!</p>
<p>It’s actually not that hard, I’m self-studying for the BC Exam for the May 2011 Exam, and so far so good. (I’m almost half-way through the Peterson’s Master AP Calculus AB/BC)</p>
<p>I guess it depends on the type of person you are, but for many Calculus [BC] is an easy 5.</p>
<p>The reason why there were many 5’s for Calculus BC is that majority of the exam takers are already skilled in mathematics. </p>
<p>@ OP If you’re not mathematically inclined, self-study for AB exam and then take BC class senior year. If you are and wish to take Multivariable Calculus at a local college during your senior year, self-study for BC exam.</p>
<p>Okay. So I’m going to take Calculus next year but self-study for the AP Calculus exam at the end of the year. Then I’m going to take AP Calc BC my senior year (@ jerrry…nooo not mathematically inclined 
). Thanks for your help!! Any more suggestions would still be appreciated. I’m disappointed because if I took AP Calc AB next year I would have taken every AP our school offers, sad :(.</p>
<p>Do you think that it would be better to take AP Calculus online instead of Calculus next year? </p>
<p>If so, does anyone have any recommendations of program that would be good to use? I’m in Pennsylvania? What about EPGY? Does that program give a grade?</p>
<p>I think it’s better to take AP Calculus online.</p>
<p>^ Is there a specific program that you would recommend? Because no one at my school has ever taken an online course before.</p>
<p>Does it give you a grade?</p>