JscalesJr

I'll be taking precalculus next year(3 weeks, actually), but I plan on taking the calculus AB exam. I'm currently going through The Idiots Guide to Calculus, plan on going through Teach Yourself Calculus by P. Abbott, have AP Calculus AB & BC from Kaplan, and will be going to the study sessions offered by the teacher at my school. Will this be good enough to get a 4 or 5?

kelsey11

Well if you are a good studier, but honestly, you should wait and take the actual class or an online class

JscalesJr

I would take the actual class, but I decided not to skip pre calculus and this is my senior year. I just want to get familiar with calculus before I take it in college, and I like math.

emberjed

I self-studied it starting in March and took the AP test. I thought I understood the material reasonably well, but who knows. At any rate, math APs seem to be among the least-often self-studied; maybe it's for a good reason.

Aj39vn23cf2

I skipped pre-Calc and taught myself Calculus AB in a week, but that was only good for a three. I was studying for 10 other tests that week, so that may have something to do with it...but if you do all that, don't slack off, and stick with it, you should be good for a high score.

Kyrix1

Calc AB is highly self studiable; you could probably have no knowledge of calculus, cram the 2 weeks before the test, and get a 5. The test itself is more or less a joke.

That said, I DON'T recommend self studying it unless you plan to major in something like the arts that have nothing to do with calculus. Why? You will NEED a good foundation for BC as well as Physics (not to mention college classes). I'd rather not risk having a shaky foundation upon which to build everything else; taking the class ensures solid knowledge. It's better to finish each section of the test in about 20 minutes like I did and sleep the rest of the time than to not be certain about questions but guess them correctly.

TL;DR: SOLID CALCULUS KNOWLEDGE IS VITAL. self study not recommended.

Equilibrium

^ You can always obtain a solid understanding by working hard independently. I skipped BC by self-studying, and I did fine in Calc III/Diff Eq in college. It's obviously more difficult to master the material by yourself, but it is still doable.

AB is not easy to self-study, but it's most certainly doable. All you have to do is get a good review book (either TPR or Peterson's) and watch some video tutorials online (either Khan Academy or PatrickJMT). Then do lots of practice problems from the review book as well as lots of old AP problems, and you should be all set. As long as you are a good independent learner and manage your study schedule well, self-studying AB should be very doable.

nakaji1083

Well the better question is will you get a 5? You will learn very quickly if you end up to any good universities the only thing they care abou is scores of 5, and yeah I think I could have gotten a 5 on Calc AB without actually taking the class so you should be fine.

Themost

It is worth it, and it is not that hard. I did not take the test but my teacher put me in the BC class this year ( at my school AB is required for BC).


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ptontiger16

Calc AB really isn't that hard. It's mostly differentiation and some integration. Differentiation is so simple that you can do it even if you don't understand the concept. Integration is the art.