AP Calculus BC advice [self-study, prospective pre-med]

Well, I’m not really interested in taking classes past AP Calc BC. I want to go into premed, so it’s not that much of an importance to me. Just want to get done with the AP Calc BC exam. I am also taking ap STATS this year.

Some medical schools require calculus, and some of them may not accept only AP credit to fulfill such a requirement. The expectation in that case is the applicant has taken a college course (preferably an appropriate more advanced one after AP credit rather than repeating AP credit, since the latter can look like grade grubbing).

Medical schools may require statistics as well, but more likely require a more difficult course than the college course that AP statistics emulates (and may not accept AP statistics credit anyway). More difficult statistics courses in college are often calculus based, so you need to good knowledge of calculus to succeed in them.

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Do you think I should just try to learn the last 3 units from Barrons/Princeton? And then spend the next 2.5 weeks just doing practice problems and such

That’s what I did, but if you don’t want to take anymore math in college, it’s not a great idea. I’m also premed, and they’ll want a math at the university level. A lot of med schools will be fine with it being a stats class, but you’ll have to take another stats class on top of AP stats at college. One thing to note with AP classes and being premed is that whatever the requirements are, they often have to be taken at your actual college. So for example, I took AP bio which gives me credit for General Bio I and II with lab. Almost every med school requires two semesters of biology with lab, so I’m taking anatomy I and II with the corequisite labs. Also, you don’t need calc bc for med school, just AB.

You seem like you’re going to try no matter what advice you get lol, so you may as well try. I’d recommend requesting that they wipe the credit from your transcript before college if you plan to take anymore calc, and if you don’t, I don’t know why you are taking BC in the first place, but it won’t really help or hurt you either way.

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Yeah i kind of have to try now. Parent satisfaction and such. I just wanted to know what books/resources that i could use to use my time most efficiently and optimally.
I took BC because i did not want to do AB and then do another year of calc just to take BC.

Took the exam 2 weeks ago.
Most likely got a 5.

Thank you to those who did not believe in me, you have motivated me.

Just my two cents, if you want to be a doctor, you should get used to listening to the patient, nurses, family members, and other medical staff if you ask for their advice. Medicine is not just getting the highest scores and passing tests.

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Congrats! Do you have a math class to take in senior year?

Which math class do you plan to take in university? I would recommend a calculus-based probability and statistics class.

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Medical schools often want to see a statistics course that is more advanced than the “statistics for general education” courses that AP statistics emulates. These statistics courses are more likely to be calculus-based.

Some medical schools also want to see a calculus course.

If you plan on med school, you’ll need to take Calc 1 or Calc 2 (to have a college calc class on your transcript) and Biostats, typically one per semester in your first year. Those also meet Quantitative requirements for gen eds.

I’m afraid you missed the point wrt taking the test or not: it wasn’t about getting a 5 but rather in actually knowing the material well (90%+) even if it doesn’t change your score.

Of course, most students simply change their minds about being premed so that’s fine too. As long as you don’t plan to go into STEM or more quantitative areas of business, you’re okay.
At worst, if need be, you’ll retake calc in college.

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Taking such a course after a good AP calculus BC score can look like grade grubbing, but the other option in that case is taking a more advanced course in college like calculus 3. Of course, if you are a math major, you will be taking plenty of more advanced math like calculus 3, real analysis, etc..

You guys do realize that just cuz I got a 5 on ap calc doesnt mean I can’t retake calc 2 if I wanted to right

Not sure how I upsetted you, but everyone was advising me to cancel the exam and retake it next year. Why would I have paid extra fees just to cancel it and still worry about it for a whole another year. Why would I not have tried if I had the opportunity to? By the time I get to college, if I feel weak in concepts, I will just retake Calc 2. What is the issue?

It’s also just not about the exam itself. I also do want to try to go through the MIT OCW’s Calculus courses this summer.

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What’s your plan for senior year math class?

Honestly not sure. Probably won’t be taking any math class. I already did AP Calc and AP Stats. This will probably give me more time to focus on college apps, other APs, etc.

People. The OP heard people’s advice, made their decision, and followed through with it. They have also updated everybody regarding their decision and their reasons for the decision. Hashing through the last discussion or berating the OP for making their decision is not useful.

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“I already did AP Calc and AP Stats”
Confusing.
Did you take an actual course in AP Calculus?
If a course isn’t on your transcript, you may be short of math credits to not only graduate, but also, to get into a university.
The universities want to see coursework.

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Yes, taking Calc2 as a premed was kind of my point :grin: In fact, some universities offer the calc sequence with variations - with applications for biology, with applications for engineers, etc. Which would make things interesting since you’d already know the concepts and would see them Imin another context.

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