<p>This is my second year of calculus. My first year of calculus was somewhat similar to pre-calculus to basic calculus which introduce derivatives, integrals, U-substitutions, Riemann sum, and basic trig derivatives/integrals. This year, I learned about washer/disc/shell method (I still don’t get it much), vectors (non-calculus), integration by parts, L’Hopital’s Rule, matrix (non-calculus), polar and parametric arc length and surface area, plain arc length and surface area, and improper integral. This leaves some additional stuffs for BC such as series, logistical differentiation(not sure if this is right title), and some others.</p>
<p>I have a prep book so now, after this long introduction (sorry for length but I wanted to express my situation clearly), what do you think I should do to get a 5 in AP Calculus BC test? The school’s class, as you can see, emphasized more on AP Calculus AB concepts as it didn’t even touch series so in order for me to take BC, I’ll have to do independent studying. I have two options:</p>
<li>Take practice questions by Collegeboard (a lot of them will be Free Response though) and consult prep book only when I don’t understand question.</li>
<li>Simply study through the prep book.</li>
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<p>Which is better? SAT people used to suggest that nothing’s better way to study for a test than testmaker’s book (a.k.a holy blue book). But this is my first AP and I don’t know if it’s same here.</p>
<p>P.S. My book is called Ways to get 5 on AP Calculus BC by McGrawHill’s. I also have bit old Barron’s book though. So tell me which one I should focus on more, etc…</p>
<p>just work through a prep book and then take practice questions by CB</p>
<p>honestly, the BC concepts focus on very few things (i.e. how to approx volume/area/arc with washer disc and shell, it’s actually very simple if you see how CB tests it, memorizing the rules of series and certain series esp. maclaurin & taylor, which isn’t that hard either i think CB only tests sin, cos, and natural log for maclaurin)</p>
<p>radius and convergence are tested too (for series), but they seldomly occur and you can skip it and it more than likely won’t affect your score</p>
<p>there’s only a month left anyways, so working through a prep book (the practice questions) would be best</p>
<p>oh and one last advice would be to check out the amazon review of w/e prep book you’re using, most of the review are correct (except the ones posted by idiots that failed the test and blame it all on the prep book)</p>
<p>I was in a similar situation last year, except I didn’t learn anything about calc in class; or you can say I self-studied from scratch. Now that you have a class and teacher, it should be a lot easier since you have a tutor to consult.</p>
<p>For me, to self-study, I first got a textbook, and read through that. After that, I understood most of the material (and re-reads to make sure I do that). Then, I got a few prep books from the library and skimmed through those; sometimes the prep books do teach you specific strategies for the test, or different methods that enhance your understanding.</p>
<p>Lastly, practice. Practice a lot. You have many resources available to you: CB free response questions, CB released multiple choice questions, prep book practice tests. Use them, and you will get a 5 on BC pretty easily.</p>