Yes, varies a lot I think. My D took Calc BC as a junior (4) then finite math as a senior. (She was overloading her schedule with extra science courses and didn’t want another hard math so passed on multi-variable.)
Was thinking of re-taking Calc 2 in college, esp. b/c of the gap, but her advisor said Calc 3 was a better (and easier!) class and strongly recommended not re-taking 2. I think it’s more of a ‘sort out’ class for pre-med, etc.at her particular college. She worked hard at Calc 3 as a first semester, first year, ended up doing very well.
My generic advice would be to start at Calc 2. I’ve heard too many stories that HS AP courses aren’t the “same as college courses” as they claim to be. Calc 1 would go going back too far, with a 4 or 5, but Calc 3/MVC/LA might be a stretch to dive right into. Unless a 5, and the actual course, was easy-peasy.
(Fwiw, I used my 4 on BC to go right into Calc 3 and was fine… But that was long ago).
At Berkeley L&S you won’t get credit for Calc 2 unless you get a 5 in BC (for Engineering you can get credit with a 4 or 5). For a 5 in the BC portion I would probably skip unless the AP class was from a long time ago, say 2 years ago; for a 4 I wouldn’t skip.
I have two sons who tested out of Calc 1 and 2 with AP credit at two different universities, the oldest a Comp Sci and Eng major, the younger a Comp Sci major. Both got 5s on both AP exams. The oldest is sitting here next to me (he is a sophomore on spring break) and though he got a C in Calc 3 his first semester (he had a really poor Calc teacher. He ended up having her for Linear Algebra in Spring of freshman year and got an A—she was just not suited to teaching Calc in his opinion and he was learning how to do college) he said he absolutely wouldn’t have changed a thing because Calc 1 and 2 were absolute weed out classes. He’s now finishing his last math class. No regrets. The younger one is finishing his freshman year and got an A in Calc 3 last semester. It was something I worried about for both of them but they both talked to professors and advisers before making their decisions and were both happy with their decisions (I will also admit that the older one started with Calc 3 AMA (against mother’s advice) but I think it’s gotta be their decision). They both tested out of both freshman Physics classes too. In my opinion (I majored in Chem E) testing out of Physics and Chemistry as a Comp Sci major is a no-brainer.
My D is a MechE and she went right into calc 3 with no regrets. Calc 2 at her school was known as notoriously difficult, so she didn’t want to torture herself needlessly. She did fine in Calc 3 as well as LinAlg and DiffEq, and was glad to have a little breathing room in her schedule. She was also furious that she didn’t place out of intro Chem (only scored a 4 and her college requires a 5) because she found the class a repeat of what she learned in HS, and the curve was tough. My S is following in her footsteps, and she has recommended to him to skip Calc 2 and Chem, as well as Physics 1 and 2 if he can score a 5 on both Physics C exams. Both of my kids went/go to a tough independent HS that teaches beyond what is required for AP exams, so things may vary depending on what the student’s HS preparation is like.
Interesting that this question never comes up when a high school student finishes calculus BC in 11th grade or earlier and wants to take more math at a local college. In that case, it is always assumed that the student is capable of taking multivariable calculus next, without even knowing how the student did in the calculus BC course or AP exam, or what the college’s math placement recommendations with respect to AP scores are.
Why is there a common recommendation to repeat AP credit for a college frosh, but not for a high school student taking more advanced math at a college?
Also, the common recommendation is to repeat AP credit seems to waste whatever effort was made by the parent and student to get on track to take calculus in high school.
My daughter is a freshman statistics major. She got a 5 on her BC exam, and went straight into Calc 3 last semester. Her final grade was around a 96 or 97. She also got a 5 on her AP Stats exam, but since that’s her major she decided to take Engineering stats at her school, which is basically Stats 1 and 2 in one class. She could have gone directly to Stats 2 but her advisor advised her not to. She’s happy with her decision.
As some others have said, my d says Calc 2 is a major weeding out course at her school, and Calc 3 is actually supposed to be easier.
When I was looking into some similar advice, the rationale given by most people that recommended the repeat was that it would be an “easy A” to boost the GPA.
However, this was in the context of “pre-med” where GPA is paramount (which is somewhat unfortunate since it rewards not challenging yourself or not expanding your comfort zone class-selection-wise if it may hurt the almighty GPA)
This is an interesting thread to follow and I appreciate everyone’s input. My S20 is currently taking AP Calc BC and will take Calc 3 online through UIUC next year as a senior, along with a few other students in his situation. He’s planning to apply for CS at top tier schools, so I’m not sure how this will all play out. In May, he will take the Calc 3 AP exam, as well as Physics I and hopefully he will do well. There has been a lot of missed school due to weather, as well as a teacher’s strike, so it will be interesting to see how he will do and if they covered enough material. Of course, he’s not stressed enough about it to actually do anything outside of class. :))
As for his classes next year, he went back and forth about which APs to take. He was contemplating AP Chem vs. AP World History and whether or not to continue in French and do AP French V (it’ll just mostly be used to get credits in college, where applicable). He decided on AP Chem and AP Physics C, which I think were good choices. Sounds like the AP Chem could potentially be used to place out of Chem in college, so I think this reinforces his decision to do that over AP World. Hopefully this will all work out for him. He wanted to keep a rigorous scheduled based on where he plans to apply.
“it is always assumed that the student is capable of taking multivariable calculus next, without even knowing how the student did in the calculus BC course or AP exam, or what the college’s math placement recommendations with respect to AP scores are.”
Are you saying take m/v in high school in a community college or taking linear algebra, m/v or diff eq their first year of college? If you finish your hs math curriculum in 2 or 3 years, you have no choice but to take something at a c/c since you need four years of math, even if they got a 1 on AP assuming you passed the class.
“Why is there a common recommendation to repeat AP credit for a college frosh, but not for a high school student taking more advanced math at a college?”
I don’t think there’s a common recommendation, it depends on the student, as the thread has shown. These kids taking advanced math in high school are not going to have too many issues with math in college, not saying they’re going to cruise through. And 60% of students who take the BC exam get a 4 or 5, I didn’t see a breakout by class, but will assume that the ones getting a 3 or less are seniors or freshman who stretched too hard.
“Also, the common recommendation is to repeat AP credit seems to waste whatever effort was made by the parent and student to get on track to take calculus in high school.”
Agree, esp for non-stem, if you get a 4 or 5 in Calc AB/BC, you’re better off using the credit and taking something else, maybe stats course or two to fulfill your math requirement, much more useful. And as I mentioned earlier, intro calc class(es) can be huge weedout.