Calculus in high school over two years -- why?

[b_r_um]

<p>

This does not seem to make too much sense – the students who are two or more grades ahead in math should theoretically be the best students in math, and fully capable of handling a one year BC course. They would probably be bored at the slow pace of taking AB over a year and then the remaining part of BC over another year.

My high school had just switched from the BC curriculum to the AB curriculum when I took the course. They decided that they were doing students a disfavor by pushing them through Calc BC in 80% of a school year. Classes ended in late June, but the AP exams happen in early May.</p>

<p>I for my part did not feel bored in Calc AB at all. My teacher added some topics to the AB curriculum: I got my first exposure to rigorous mathematics (we spent 3 weeks on limits and continuity instead of the 1 week suggested by Collegeboard, to work through the epsilon-delta proofs), I learned how to program (I wrote my own slope field plotter and Riemann sum calculator) and we also set a bit of class time aside for math competitions. I am convinced that I learned more in our enhanced Calc AB class than I would have gotten out of regular Calc BC!</p>

<p>I do hope that schools teaching Calc BC over two years enhance the Collegeboard curriculum in one way or another. It’s hard to imagine how the extra BC topics might fill two full semesters all by themselves.</p>