<p>I found the current curriculum guide for my old high school.</p>
<p>They offer a lot more AP courses now compared to back when I was a student there.</p>
<p>For calculus, they now offer three possible courses:</p>
<p>Calculus (students not expected to take AP tests, presumably for non-honors-math students who are one year ahead)
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC</p>
<p>Each is a one year course. The listed prerequisite for either AP course is a a sufficiently high grade in honors precalculus or a higher grade in regular precalculus. In other words, a student who is good at math can take AP Calculus BC in one year and learn calculus at the same pace as a university freshman taking calculus. This is different from, and makes more sense than, the apparently common practice reported here of making students take AP Calculus AB one year before taking AP Calculus BC the next year.</p>
<p>I think it all depends on your school district. The school I’m from, if you’re one year ahead you take pre-calc sophomore year, AB your junior year, and BC your senior year. The “normal” track is geometry in tenth, pre-calc in eleventh, and your choice of statistics (AP or standard), advanced math concepts, or a non-AP calculus class.</p>
<p>I actually liked taking AB before BC a lot because it let me actually understand a lot more of what was going on, and I think I’ve retained a lot more knowledge of math over the years versus my friends that only had BC in high school and managed to finish with a 5.</p>
<p>When do you take Algebra II? Does that come before Geometry, or is it considered part of pre-Calc? Just wondering, every school district seems to do things differently.</p>
<p>I remember my school starting to be tracked around third grade or so. I think pre-algebra was sixth grade (they skipped us ahead a year of the “normal” math then), algebra seventh, algebra 2/trig eighth, geometry/other trig ninth, pre-calc tenth, etc. If you weren’t in the accelerated math you’d take pre-algebra in seventh grade.</p>
<p>I always thought giving a whole year to pre-calc seemed like a bit of a waste, but then again I’m also one of the only people I know that still has that unit circle memorized.</p>
<p>(I should also mention that as of 10th grade we switched to block scheduling, so we had four classes at a time, each class only lasting half a year. A real bummer if you had a spring AP class and a month of the class was after the exam.)</p>
<p>Good-in-math students typically started Algebra I in eighth grade and reach Calculus in twelfth grade (BC only when I was in school, but now there are non-AP, AB, and BC options).</p>
<p>Great-in-math students started Algebra I in seventh grade and completed Calculus in eleventh grade (I would assume that all or almost all such students choose BC). There was maybe one every few years back when I was in high school, but there appear to be more now, as the “two years ahead” math schedule is listed in the curriculum guide.</p>
This, I suspect, is exactly why my high school chose to require a 2-year Calc sequence. And it is indeed required; the only way to skip Calc AB is to pass a final exam for the course. The BC course assumes that students have already taken AB, and starts with “C” calculus after a bit of review. But both classes end a full month before the AP test, and a LOT of time is put into reviewing for the exam. (It was an excellent foundation, especially for “good but not great” math students like myself.)</p>
<p>My high school did offer MV calculus through the state U (which sent a professor to the school), but tuition was paid by the student, not the school. The pre-calc integrated sequence, contrary to calc, is designed to be accelerated, so plenty of people did get to MV calc by senior year.</p>
<p>Uhh, this doesn’t sound right to me, especially since the way I’ve seen credit for AP Calculus handled in most schools, Calc AB gives a semester’s worth of credit while Calc BC gives a year’s worth of credit. I think the ‘A’ represents pre-calc, ‘B’ represents most school’s Calc 1, and ‘C’ represents most school’s Calc 2, though the classes Calc 1 and Calc 2 don’t seem to be standardized in any way. And that’s why it’s called Calc BC and not Calc ABC. I couldn’t find anything confirming this, so I may be wrong, but this seems to make sense.</p>
<p>And as to why Calculus is sometimes taught in high school over two years, I think that just goes along with a lot of other things that never made sense to me. Why is it that sometimes the only differences between math concepts taught in elementary grades the size of the numbers used? Why does Algebra II consist only of topics taught in Pre-Calculus or Algebra I?</p>
<p>My kids’ hs used to offer AP BC calculus to the very best math students in the junior year, and AB in the junior year followed by BC in the senior year to others. But so many kids in the first group struggled with the material that the policy has now changed, and everybody, no matter what his or her math talent, has to follow the slower 2-year route.</p>
<p>My S took AB calculus in his junior year, got a 5 on the exam, but couldn’t proceed to BC because of a schedule conflict. So he took 2nd semester calculus for engineers at our state flagship (which is local for us). He found the university course far more demanding, interesting, and proof-oriented than the AP class, even though it technically covered the same material as BC. If I had known about this lack of correlation, I think I would have advised him to take calculus from scratch in college. In general I think the AP classes are great preparation for college, but I don’t think the AP classes my kids have taken are really as challenging as an introductory class at an elite college. For instance, in AP English Language, my S had to write, I think, 5 papers over the course of the year. In a freshman comp class, he’d have to write a paper every week.</p>
<p>In our school district they require 4 years of math. The normal course of math is Algebra I (unless you had it in 8th grade), Geometry, PreCalc and then AP Calc BC (or if you are not strong in math, other misc. options.) We are on a block schedule, with 4 classes a semester for 90 minutes. If you took PreCalc, the entire year’s work would be covered in 1 semester. However, AP Calc BC is considered a 2 credit course so you would have to take this the entire year for 90 minutes. This would be the equivalent of taking the class for 2 years in a regular schedule. S1 took AP Calc BC and received a 5. Since he is an engineering student, I wasn’t sure if he should retake Calc 1 at his state university. They said no, and he started in the honors sophomore class for Calculus instead. He worked his butt off and earned a B. Afterward I asked him if he thought it would have been better retaking freshman calc but he thought his school covered everything needed for the sophomore level. He is taking the 2nd half this semester of honors sophomore calc and is finding it much easier. On a side note, he took AP Physics C in high school and earned a 5 but his state university would not accept this credit. S2 is a junior and I am advising him to basically take the AP classes that will NOT relate to his possible science/math major in college so he is taking this like AP Psych and AP Government as classes that might count as electives. This is because I’ve recently been told that a student should not take APs that might count in his major so when in college they do not miss an important information that might be a building stone in their college career. Do others believe this or should S2 also be taking AP Calc and an AP science?</p>
<p>Yes, he should. If he has to or wants to repeat the freshman courses in university, he will be better prepared, especially if he chooses to take the honors or “with extra theory” versions of the courses at the university.</p>
<p>The usual choices for someone with AP Calculus are:</p>
<p>A. Jump ahead in honors / extra theory math.
B. Start over in honors / extra theory math.
C. Jump ahead in regular math.
D. Start over in regular math.</p>
<p>With a score of 5, A, B, or C is probably the best choice for the student. With a score of 4, probably B or D, maybe C. With a score of 3, probably D.</p>
<p>Of course, this assumes that the student is majoring in something where math is a core requirement; for students taking a “light” calculus sequence for social studies majors or something like that, C might be ok even with a score of 3.</p>
<p>It also assumes a school that is not a super-elite science and engineering school, where every student is good at math and probably has AP credit and the school has specific recommendations based on that (e.g. everyone does B).</p>
<p>As far as other AP courses and tests go, English is the most likely to be useful for subject credit at most universities.</p>
<p>ABSOLUTELY. A future engineer is not gonna impress MIT or GA Tech or Purdue or Harvey Mudd with AP Gov and AP Psych. Ditto a future bio major. Not only aren’t the courses relevant, they are so-called ‘AP Lites’, i.e., they are not considered as rigorous by adcoms as the big three sciences and Calc BC.</p>
<p>Assuming he’s ready to take AP classes and will do well in them he should take them. If he’s aiming high he should take the AP Classes because admissions committees are looking for a demanding curriculum. (And I agree with BlueBayou - a math and science kid should be taking math and science APs.) Many colleges will have placement tests and not just place you according to exam scores. My older son had no trouble jumping into advance math and physics courses. But every kid is different - there is no blanket right answer. That said I don’t think most colleges will make you take the advanced course because you took the AP.</p>
<p>kjcphmom, I agree with everyone who’s posted, your son (S2) should definitely take AP calculus and and AP science, if he is a science/math person. The great majority of students who will be majoring in science/math come in with some calculus experience. The courses are still advantageous even if he chooses to repeat some of the material in college. Many universities offer courses that are tailored to student who have had AP calc/sci in high school, but who are not ready for the upper-level courses right off the bat. These often have fewer students, and sometimes better profs.</p>
<p>True – AP credit, when accepted, gives the option of jumping ahead in the math or whatever course sequence. Jumping ahead is not required (and indeed may not be advisable for AP scores lower than 5 if the subject is a core requirement for the major), although AP credit will typically be removed if the student takes the course that overlaps the AP credit.</p>
<p>My D is a junior who is currently taking precalculus. Her HS has an amazing AP Stats teacher and mediocre AP Calc AB teachers, so she is choosing to take AP Stats senior year and Calculus at the local community college over the summer. I’m assuming (based on articulation agreements and the like) that the community college calc course is going to be similar to those taught at most other colleges. D is not aiming for top colleges or for a STEM major, so I think she should be OK with this approach. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Yes, if the community college has articulation agreements with major universities (typically this is done with the in-state public universities), you can check the articulation list to make sure to choose a calculus course equivalent to a course at the university.</p>
<p>But watch out for quarter / semester system differences which may cause students to have to partially repeat courses if they do not take the full sequence.</p>
<p>UCBalumnus, thank you for the very clear outline of A,B,C,D options for what to do in college after making a 5 on the BC Calc exam. Son’s HS offers BC calc to kids who took honors pre-calc, and does not make them take Calc AB first. My son is a freshman STEM major and chose C, and he did fine in Calc III and is loving Diff Eq this semester. But last summer, it was really weighing on my mind. Just as most parents on here, we all want our kids to start the first semester and be successful, and this decision is a tough one.</p>