<p>I have an A math sophomore student who is taking Precalculus over the summer. She’s nervous about ruining her GPA (she’s in top ten) by taking BC Calc in her Junior year (even though I have faith in her). So, she wants to take AB as Junior and then BC as Senior. </p>
<p>Do top tier schools look down on kids who take both AB and BC (could be seen as less of a challenge, a baby steps route, or a GPA boosting route)?</p>
<p>If she takes both AB and BC, her top ten status should be solid.
If she takes BC as a junior, she gambles with her standing.
But if she takes AB + BC and the colleges frown on the baby steps, then the top ten status loses its value. </p>
<p>So, if colleges frown on the repetition of the math, then we’ll drop the summer precalculus.</p>
<p>I don’t think colleges would care that much if she took AB first, particularly if she isn’t planning to be a STEM major, but BC really isn’t that much extra information (AB is 60% of BC) </p>
<p>Has she spoken with kids in BC for suggestions? Perhaps you could hire one to tutor her if she is really worried - getting a tutor from the very beginning will ensure that she doesn’t fall behind and that she manages the material. </p>
<p>I think you can go any way she is comfortable - don’t over think this.</p>
<p>They don’t frown on this. Plus, my daughter’s school won’t even allow juniors to take BC in junior year unless they had ab in sophomore year. If you are a senior, you can take ab/bc.</p>
<p>Taking Calculus BC without any prior knowledge of AB material (differentiation, integration rules, limits, chain rule, etc.) is difficult. It’s usually a good idea to take AB (or learn AB material elsewhere) before taking BC. Colleges won’t frown on this. Also, there are websites such as <a href=“http://www.artofproblemsolving.com%5B/url%5D”>www.artofproblemsolving.com</a> that have online calculus courses, in which they teach AB and BC material in one year.</p>
<p>However, I know students who have taken Calc AB one year, then taken some really easy course like AP Stats or even trig. Stats isn’t too bad, but trig after calculus is definitely frowned upon, since trig is usually a pre-requisite for calculus.</p>
<p>When I was in high school, students who completed precalculus before senior year went straight to calculus BC, taught over one year (including all of the AB material), just like for college freshmen who were not advanced in math.</p>
<p>There was none of the “take AB one year and the rest of BC the next year” stuff (there was not even AB offered at the time, although it was offered in later years as calculus enrollment increased beyond one classroom). Also, any student who completed precalculus before junior year (two grade levels ahead) was a rare student who was considered a top student in math, who easily got an A grade in the course and a 5 score on the AP test for calculus BC.</p>
<p>Unless she has nothing better to do this summer, she can just take precalculus as a junior, and then calculus AB or BC as a senior. She should make note of the fact that if she slow-paces calculus in high school (by taking AB), she will have to adjust to full speed college math in college.</p>
<p>Is the BC class designed for kids who have already taken AB? If so, I don’t think it’s a good idea to jump straight into BC. The review of AB material will be fairly brief if most students already know it all, and there’s no point in guaranteeing extra stress (or risking her grades) during the all-important junior year.</p>
<p>FWIW, I took AB as a junior and BC as a senior and had only favorable responses from the top colleges I applied to.</p>
<p>AP Calculus is a joke at the high school level.</p>
<p>If the said student can’t survive AP calculus and excel at the high school level, she should not be aiming for top tier colleges (based on her rank) anyways.</p>
<p>And no, there is nothing wrong with taking AB then BC. That is the NORMAL collegeboard AP sequence.</p>
<p>My HS, along with others I know of, doesn’t even offer BC straight from Pre-Calc. My school requires a year of AB and then a year of BC material. So if she’s worried about floundering in BC, don’t base the decision on what looks good for colleges because high schools vary greatly in how AP Calculus is offered exactly. Taking AB and BC separately won’t make a bit of difference in the college application.</p>
<p>If slow-pacing calculus over two years in high school (for the supposedly top students in math) is the norm these days, then that may explain why a lot of college students find the faster pace of math in college to be a shock to them.</p>
<p>I would (and did) go for it. BC is not that much material past AB. The only reason I would say to take AB first is if your school offers it as a two year track, where only the extra BC material is taught during the year (but that would be a very relaxed pace). There’s no reason she can’t keep her rank and take BC, she may just have to study a little more. Good luck!</p>
<p>I took Calculus AB in 10th and BC in 11th grade; I do feel it was a little slow-paced (especially since a good portion of BC was AB review). Probably would’ve been better off taking AB/BC in one year.</p>
<p>It is definitely possible to go straight from pre-calculus to Calculus BC, but you’d have to learn the basic differentiation/integration rules first.</p>
<p>…should not have the option of taking AB (unless tackling 7+ other academic subjects). Someone two years ahead of the curve should easily conquer BC in one swoop. </p>
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</p>
<p>Nope. The BC curriculum starts with those items; BC just goes faster and covers a few more items. Take a look-see at the AP curriculum.</p>
<p>btw: besides junior colleges, does anyone know of 4-year Unis that teach Intro Calc (AB/BC) over two years?</p>
<p>@bluebayou, interesting. But is it possible that some BC classes might just assume the students have a solid foundation of AB material and just go right on to BC-only material?</p>
<p>Heck no, it doesn’t work that way. Again, look up the AP courses on Collegeboard. The curriculum is standardized, by definition. The prereq for BC is precalc. Period.</p>
<p>Think about it. Four year Uni’s don’t offer AB as a stand-alone course taught over one year. (I’m sure MIT does not offer it.) Granted, 99.9% of students at MIT and Caltech have already slept thru HS calculus, but the typical college Frosh only has math up through precalc. They take Calc 1 in college first semester Frosh year. They take Calc 2 second semester. (Calc 1 is the rough equivalent to AB.)</p>
<p>High schools don’t teach AP Chem over two years, do they? How about AP Bio, with a textbook that is over 1,000 pages? Why high schools would purposely slow down their advanced math students is educational malpractice, IMO. (It only makes budgetary sense.)</p>
<p>Yes, most colleges do teach AB (or “Calc 1”) in one semester and BC in one semester. That’s another way of saying that AP is not rigorous enough for college…</p>
<p>IMO there should be an “AP Multi-variable calculus” (even though that’s usually another semester course). I wonder how many students nationwide would take that.</p>