Thank you so much!
my kid is an actuary. he’s taken lots of math. he knew in hs that he was going this route; he took AB & BC; started college in calc 3 and started on a solid foundation.
The one thing i’ll mention is that this was odd for his high school to take both. they fought with us about giving him math credit for a full year for BC after taking AB, as it was basically repeating parts of the AB class. I suggest checking on that. i think they gave him only 3.5 years of math credit when he graduated from HS.
Very common for kids in my Ds STEM-focused magnet HS to take both AB and BC. Doesn’t make much of a difference compared to those who directly take BC. All kids in the school end up in T-50 colleges. It all depends on whether you think you are comfortable with the fast pace of Calc BC or if you would benefit from the strong base provided by AB to tackle BC.
Our high school has the same approach. AB is the material taught in the first half of BC so there is an overlap of the material.
I think the key here is it depends on the HS–yes some have overlap, but many do not these days: ours does not, nor do most in our area: BC is second semester calc spread out over a year so starting with BC is skipping over the material in the first college semester of calc(which is why our school does not allow precalc to BC). Taking AB first is not an easy route or less rigorous route if it is the only path allowed. Yes, I know our school does it to slow the pace through the material and allow many more people to pass the AP(AB and BC both have 95% pass rate, and the majority get 4/5)–not saying I agree with it, but I don’t want future readers to think they are somehow disadvantaged if their school curriculum is designed with AB and BC non-overlapping.
It is kind of odd that a school would require this sequencing when the students who reach calculus in 11th grade (or earlier) are two (or more) grade levels ahead in math, meaning that they are top-end students in math who should be able to handle all of BC (including AB) in one year immediately after precalculus. But perhaps that is an indication that many students are overaccelerated in math in that school – i.e. there are many students who are two grade levels ahead in math who should really be only one (or perhaps zero) grade levels ahead in math.
1 Like
Oh, it absolutely means many are over accelerated! We know several who get “secret” outside math tutors rather than use school tutors in 5th&6th to try to get into the high math path for those not placed there in 5th–it isn’t the majority but it is a lot and I was shocked to learn it. If you use school tutors and need a lot of extra help in math, they place you lower for 7th so these moms keep it quiet). IT’s is just how this and other local privates work here: AB and BC are separate years. I am sure it relates to getting a sky-high pass rate which is on the school profiles in this area and are seen as bragging rights. When we were asking for ours to be allowed to skip I researched curriculums all over the area and out of state–this is fairly common these days. I did Honors Precal to BC(the bottom half of honors precal was placed in AB–our BC curriculum included AB) at my above-average not-top urban public in the 90s in a different state and went right into Multivariable as a freshman at Duke and did just fine, and I am no math genius. Even my old school does a full year of AB then BC now, mandatory.
D20’s school required AB as a prerequisite to BC; even for AIG and/or former Duke tip kids. She was not allowed to test out of AB. It worked out; she tutored and worked as a “TA” for both AP classes, which helped her speed. Most kids go to UNC and NCSU, so they have an impact on and input into the curriculum and sequencing.
1 Like
I think this behavior is really troubling. On the other hand, it can be very high stakes. If a kid gets onto the lower track in math in middle school, it can mean never reaching calculus in high school- which pretty much wipes out the ability to get into engineering schools these days. One of kiddo’s friends is facing this. He bloomed into quite the stem academic as a junior, but he was tracked to the low level of math. His college options are now limited.
That’s a huge consequence for a young kid whose frontal lobe hasn’t yet developed in 6th grade. So I get why a parent would tutor a particular kid onto the algebra-in-8th-grade track because it keeps options open for calculus senior year. But forcing a geometry-or-beyond-track on a 6th grade kid who isn’t into it, that’s a problem, and there’s very little upside.
That is not this student’s predicament, though- he is further advanced. If he gets calculus by senior year (clearly he will) and has taken “the most rigorous coursework” available, he is fine.
Will taking both Calc AB and BC put me at a disadvantage when applying to college?
I believe the general consensus is there will not be a disadvantage.
As I have said before, when a student asks a question, focus on the question. This is not the opportunity to rehash items for the 1000th time. So let’s move on from the following topics:
- Math acceleration pros and cons
- The math progression at your kid’s HS.
- Math tutors
- Really, any post not answering a question the OP asked
2 Likes
To do the accelerated math program in middle school - which would continue in high school - we had to write an exam, and those of us who scored 80% or higher were allowed to advance (that was my situation). But there was an option for kids who didn’t pass the test to advance math over the summer and a lot of kids decided to do that, mainly because of parental pressure/fear of missing out. Because a lot of these kids advanced through summer courses and from the data the school collected, they’re worried that kids don’t have a solid math foundation since our school has a history of students reporting extremely high-stress levels, they’re trying to put in a lot of new rules to make it difficult to advance. So yes, in a typical high school, it should be the top-end math students in BC, but I think a lot of kids are definitely overaccelerated.
1 Like