Calculus at Community College or AP Calc at High School?

[mommusic]

That's usually true, but many colleges will also not accept college classes that were not included on the high school transcript.

I had wondered about that. Sometimes summer programs (not college courses, but "gifted & talented" humanities type programs) will give you a few credit hours through a CC (after paying tuition, of course) and I wondered if they would be accepted anywhere.

I was sceptical.

[ZFanatic]

Usually they're accepted at the state schools in that state. At least that's how the UT system works (and A&M and TxTech)

[hudsonvalley51]

I believe that is the case in New York as well -- that CC classes taken in the summer for credit and paid for are transferrable to MOST in-state public colleges. But that is not a universal practice even by all of the SUNYs. If someone is taking these classes with the hope of receiving college credit at a 4-year school whether SUNY or elsewhere it is very important to do your homework.

I attended my daughter's "meet the teacher" night yesterday and was appalled at the bad information being passed off as gospel by some faculty members. Parents were told, for example, that they should pay SUNY Albany the $800 fee so that they could earn college credit for their French/Spanish IV and V classes and that "Almost All" colleges accepted these credits. We were told the same thing about other SUNY-in-the-Classroom courses offered by the science department. With regard to AP exams one faculty member (not a math teacher) stated that you needed to score a 3 in order to receive credit at colleges, while another teacher opined that Ivy League schools have now begun requiring a 4 or 5 on AP exams because they were "greedy" and wanted students to have to pay for their introductory courses. Lots of bad information is floating around out there, and a lot of it comes from people who should know better.

[anothermom3]

MY DS2 is taking this route - he wanted to be done with math this year - as a junior - so he took Precalc at a community college, so he could accelerate and take Calc as a junior. (No intentions on being a Math major - just wanted a senior year courseload with other classes that conflicted with Math). All in all, the community college class was 'very easy' according to my son, and the transition to Calc in HS has been with some bumps this year... MY two cents : Check the syllabus carefully to make sure the community college class covers the same material - and talk to the teacher about the level of depth...

[nemom]

My son took the Computer Science AP (the harder one that has been dropped now) so that he can get placement into higher level CS classes at the University this spring/next year. The CS department is happy to use that to place him. Since he is still a high school student, the question of credit hasn't come up yet, but I'm fairly confident that colleges will let him place into upper level classes. Credit isn't an issue since he doesn't want to speed through college.
I'll make sure he keeps some material (syllabus/tests/etc) to show colleges.
I would tend to think that a solid calc AB course in high school would be as good , if not better than calc at a CC. I don't think having only AB would matter much, even for an engineer. But, if he is ambitious and has some access to a tutor, he could also consider self-studying and then taking the BC exam. And, it occurs to me that taking AB and doing well gives him a good source for a teacher recommendation letter - probably better than asking a CC instructor for one.

[nemom]

My son's school deals with this a lot since kids commonly have quite a few college credits by graduation (typically, close to a full year). They rarely take APs because most colleges are fine with seeing the college courses (backed up sometimes with supplemental data like syllabus). However, the school also notes that how colleges view courses in terms of credit varies greatly. More selective schools do tend to be fussier.

[Sally_Rubenstone]

I have a similar question. What if high school only offers AP Calculus AB? In this case would it be preferable to take calculus at the local community college? D plans to major in engineering in college.

If your daughter can take AB in school and BC elsewhere (either in the summer, evenings, weekends, etc.) that might be helpful to her and also will "look good" on applications. But you will need to check carefully to see what the high school calc syllabus includes and what the CC offers to avoid both gaps and redundancy.

[aigiqinf]

It occurs to me that one of the issues here is if the AP Calculus at the student's school is AB or BC. If the AP Calculus is AB, it is pointless to sit there for an entire year. In that case, I think he or she should take Calculus I and II. Besides, if he takes even BC and then tries to take Calculus III at the college he may find they skipped what the college expects the students to know (epsilon-delta notation, advanced proofs, etc.).

I took AP Calculus BC online as a sophomore because my school does not offer APs--heck it doesn't even offer Pre-cal. We received a textbook that was 1/2 inch for all of Calculus I and II, the course itself contained no lessons after the first unit or 2. No teacher at my school is competent in calculus and I almost failed the course (one could not drop for any reason after the first 5 days).

I'm taking Calculus I right now at my community college, and I can tell you that the problems here are significantly harder and we receive quite a bit more of them in a shorter amount of time. Only 3 or 4 people have A's (thankfully I'm one of them). I plan to retake the BC test this year so it doesn't look like I did poorly in BC and then ran to the community college for an easier time.

I think AP over college course is a good idea only when you go to a top high school. Otherwise your teacher may have a BA in "Math Education" and no student received a grade of 3+ in the past 20 years vs. a teacher whom you know at least has a MA or MS in math.

[aigiqinf]

Also, in North Carolina high school students are guaranteed credit at any UNC school, including UNC-CH and NCSU, for a C or better in any college transfer course. Many private schools (Except Wake, Davidson, and Duke) have signed the same agreement the UNC schools did, also ensuring credit.

[TheMan777]

What is this about universities not accepting CC creds. I have almost 30 credits and at least 50% of that transferred. Three courses transferred for one class (general program). And some of them were not in my program.

CC courses are at least the same quality of APs in school. BUT if you want the cheaper option, go for the APs. Also, APs will not count towards transfer credits, which is a plus..

[aigiqinf]

What is this about universities not accepting CC creds. I have almost 30 credits and at least 50% of that transferred. Three courses transferred for one class (general program). And some of them were not in my program.

M-O-N-E-Y

Some schools will even straight up tell you that they'll give you credit for courses but you have to pay them the equivalent of their tuition rate for the credits. I'm still clarifying this will my state flagship, but their policy seems to suggest that while they'll only let you transfer 64 credit hours you can use other courses to meet requirements even if you don't get hours for them. I'll graduate from high school with over 80 credit hours.

[2VU0609]

S went to a hs that only offered AP Calculus AB. Because it is normally taken by seniors at his hs, it was a conflict for him with the junior year 2 hour American Studies class for juniors that encompasses AP US History and AP Literature exam. He took the AP class independent study with the hs teacher (who he had also had for Algebra II) and also took it at our local cc. Made a 5 on the AP test and was able to move on to an independent study course in real analysis through the Stanford program his senior year. Although he started in engineering, he quickly switched majors to economics and mathematics and encountered no issues in moving forward in his university's math classes. He was given credit for the 4 hour calculus class from the cc and another class taken at the cc his senior year. I believe that it is important to keep those kids who have accelerated in math involved in it and moving forward and cc classes are a good way to do that.

[nemom]

Folks should also be aware that one cannot take both the AP Calc AB and the AP Calc BC in the same year.

[archiemom]

Also be aware that the HS class taken does not restrict one to a specific AP exam. I had no idea that AP Calc at our high school was AB until this year (now that S2 is taking it). S1, three years ago, took AP Calc and then earned a 5 on the AP BC exam. I hadn't realized that while the course at our HS was labeled "AB", that students can (and often do) opt to take the BC exam. Now with this knowledge, I am encouraging S2 to be sure he does whatever it takes to learn the material for the BC test.

[noimagination]

I would do the AP class + a concurrent self-study in additional depth.