I need to decide if I want to self-study AP Statistics or take it senior year (going into junior year). I thought I was going to take AP Statistics this year, but last minute my GC said she couldn’t schedule it and I’m stuck with Multivariable Calculus instead. Hopefully my GPA doesn’t die…
Anyways, I want to get National AP Scholar (so 8 APs), and since I thought I was taking AP Stat for junior year, I thought I’d be fine. But now, since I don’t have that extra AP, I have to self study one.
Basically, I’m asking if taking Calc-Based Stats, a class only 0-4 people out of like 300 seniors take per year (senior-only class at my school, but it’s apparently a college-grad level class) will even be useful on college apps, like will it even look better than AP Statistics?
I can’t really say which one I’m more interested in…I’m just pretty sure I would do better in AP Stats since it’s a lot easier than Calc-based Stats. So I guess it’s really a question of GPA vs courseload.
Also, is self-studying AP Stats really hard? (If I take AP Stats senior year instead of Calc-based, I’d probably self-study AP Psych this year.)
Calculus-based statistics is generally a more advanced and rigorous introductory statistics course than the non-calculus-based statistics that AP statistics is modeled on. I.e. it should cover the same basic topics, but is free to used calculus in explaining things. If you know calculus, the calculus-based course may be more interesting to you anyway.
You should be able to do well on the AP statistics exam after taking calculus-based statistics.
@ucbalumnus good point, thank you! I think I will most likely just deal with it and take Calc-based Stat senior year…and self study AP Stats prior so I’ll have previous stat knowledge going into it…
You’re asking the wrong question. Calc-based stats will be more usefull if you plan on being a STEM-major. Choosing a class or an EC or anything else to be “useful on college apps” is just folly.
As long as calc-based stat covers most of what AP does (inferencing, tests, distributions, etc.) you should have no problem passing the test. I took AP stat as a junior and wished that calc-stat was a thing in my school.
I personally would not take calculus based statistics in high school. It is truly a course that you want to take at the university level (but I feel that way about every math class higher than Calculus I).
@VickiSoCal So National AP Scholar means nothing (even if you’re the only one from your school in a few years) as long as there is a presence of a rigorous courseload?
@skieurope I understand what you’re saying entirely. However, I only have those two options and have no idea which one would be more interesting. I plan on being a biochem major; I looked at a few curriculums and few require past Calc 2, so I just wasn’t sure if AP Statistics of Calc-based Stats would help in any way at all…
@Burdened Hm; I bet it will be pretty introductory. However, I only have those 2 options left for senior year…so you think AP Statistics is a better option?
If you know calculus, and are offered a choice of introductory statistics courses covering the same general topics, but one choice uses calculus and the other does not, the one that uses calculus will probably be more interesting for you from an academic sense.
I don’t get why #7 argues against taking what should be the more academically interesting course given these choices.
@ucbalumnus The reason why is because my perspective is a little biased (math major with many, many stats classes as an undergrad). I honestly thought that the high school curriculum was exceedingly boring and poorly taught. When I think about the difficulty difference between AP stats and STAT 134 at Berkeley and the sheer difference in rigor, I can’t help but think that a course like calculus based probability shouldn’t be taught in high school. I honestly just don’t believe it to do it any justice. I don’t know anyone in my high school that did probability in particular, I know a few that did take multivariable and linear algebra in high school and did extremely poorly because of the jump not only from year-long to semester/quarter, but upper division coursework added on top of that.
But, I honestly don’t know what kind of statistics course it is by OP’s description. If I had to guess, it’s the equivalent of STAT 20, which I agree, isn’t conceptually any harder than AP statistics but it isn’t as if OP is going to get college credit for taking this class. I also fundamentally disagree that knowing calculus makes a topic automatically more interesting. In fact, statistics doesn’t even really begin to make sense until linear algebra.
Yes, my assumption is that the calculus based course is more like STAT 20, not STAT 134. It is extremely unlikely that a high school would offer anything like STAT 134.
But a STAT 20 like course should not be an issue for an advanced high school student who knows calculus. It probably is not that calculus intensive anyway, but it will not have to hand wave around calculus when using calculus would explain something more easily.
Do not overload on difficult classes or math classes just to get National AP Scholar…realize that is an advertizing device to try to get you to take more AP classes/Tests=more money for the AP people.
AP stats is one of the easiest aps to self study. I just used barron’s ap guide for ap stats to study and got a 5 (sometimes barron does a shitty job explaining certain concepts such as how to read a regression table. for that just search up online.). Psychology is also another easy one. Barron covers all the topics amazingly. Just read it 4-6 times and you are set. (Oh and do 4-8 frs and study the rubrics so you know how they grade the frqs).
@bopper hmm that’s probably true…however the AP course in this case is the “easier” course. But I guess the overall message is that National AP Scholar is pretty much useless…
@Demonslayer1234 Thank you for the advice! I will definitely get the AP Stats AP Guide then. I’m not the best at AP self study (4 on AP Environmental Science self study…), but I have a few friends who are also self-studying stat so hopefully they can motivate me to try harder.
I guess I will take Calc-Based Statistics senior year and see how it is…first I have to get through next year’s Multivariable Calculus…and try to self-study AP Statistics.
Thank you for all of your advice everyone. I think I’m still kinda scared of Calc-Based Statistics, but it’s going to be good preparation for a future of hard classes!
No need to self study AP statistics if your calculus-based statistics course covers the same general topics but is not afraid to use calculus when calculus is useful to explain something.
Is multivariable calculus a course at a local college? If not (i.e. it is a high school course), it will not get subject credit or advanced placement in college (unless the college offers credit by exam and you pass its exam), and may not necessarily cover the material as well as a college course would. Note that multivariable calculus is typically a semester course in college (the same goes for introductory statistics, whether calculus-based or non-calculus-based).
@ucbalumnus oh right, I forgot about that. I found a textbook with the same title as the course and it looks very overwhelming, but it’s not even a pre-req to have taken AP Statistics, so I guess it overlaps.
Multivariable is at my high school…it’s not really the best taught as it’s a self-study sort of class. The teacher gives the textbook and assignments but isn’t available for classtime help, lectures, interaction…but there’s nothing else I’m allowed to take junior year. I wasn’t really into taking 2 college courses without credit, but I made the mistake of self-studying Calc AB due to a lot of peer pressure and am stuck on this math track now.
@bopper that was one of the main reasons why I asked the question…I wasn’t sure if GPA or courseload mattered more. I know it’s true that you need “A’s in the hardest classes”, but I’m still not sure if AP Statistics is viewed as the “hardest classes”…I know calc-based stats is though since it’s the highest math class possible offered. I’m not sure how I am going to do honestly…I did okay in Calc BC, but it was a wakeup call that math from then on was going to be difficult…I was used to like high 90s in math, but now I’m happy to get a flat 90 and make up for it with my other courses.
Are you recommending a high 90 in AP Statistics over a 90 (only need to get a 90 for the first semester of senior year haha) in Calc-Based Statistics?
Seems like the real issue that you are more advanced in math than you really should be, and that your calculus knowledge is not as strong as one would expect for a student who is three grade levels ahead in math. Students who complete calculus BC in 10th grade are normally expected to be top students in math, for whom any math course in high school (or frosh/soph level in college) is typically an easy A for them, so they are not afraid of taking something like calculus-based statistics after completing calculus.