<p>To my knowledge, Calc AB = calc 1, calc BC = calc 2 is right, Our local college students spend their 1st semester doing calc 1, second semester doing calc 2. Calc 2 is built up on top of calc 1. adding things to both differentiation and integration, plus adding several types of series. I bought Barrons calc book to work with D. there are things clearly marked as “BC only”. That’s how I figured out. never seriously studied CB’s description. </p>
<p>D’s school does rank. So far she’s ranked #2. there is a boy taking 6 APs this year, so he ranks #1. D at one point wanted to compete. I strongly disagreed, because I thought she should devote some time to the SATs. She accepted my suggestion. Now she is very happy she’s got all the tests done in the junior year. So far in her school’s junior class, she is the only one who took the SAT and got decent scores. I’ve heard her camp friends struggling with SATs and ACTs in their senior year. The kind of pressure they felt when they did that was so enormous. some of them did worse and worse and was so miserable, because last minute testing makes people really nervous. I don’t want her to get to that point. </p>
<p>I don’t know if I’m right. But IMO, getting good SAT scores and be ready for college (there’s so much to do!) are more important than ranking #1. </p>
<p>We as parents, did a lot to help her in planning for college stuff. I agree this is too much for a 15 year old. </p>
<p>We just started ranking (and weighting) this year, parents were complaining about scholarships that required top X rank…so they brought it back (after taking it away 20 or so years ago due to complaints about THAT). I think D can ignore the hoopla and take what she wants to take next year. She took some APs before they started weighting them and she’ll take some not-APs next year if she wants. </p>
<p>What she has done that isn’t very rank-positive is take more than 5 core courses at a time. She doubles up on science, usually. So be it…that’s what she likes.</p>
<p>@keepmecruisin - looks like a very challenging schedule to me! @twogirls - glad your daughter is happy with her schedule!</p>
<p>Add me to the list of those relieved that their school system doesn’t rank, my kid is blissfully unaware of his classmates gpa’s…he will however give a detailed list of classmates who he considers to be kiss ups. :-* </p>
<p>Just did a load of laundry in case we lose power due to the ice storm that is supposed to hit over night - all laptops, cell phones, and tablets are being charged - I’m ready but please be kind mother nature.</p>
<p>Not only does D’s school not rank, they don’t compute a GPA. And they say to the world that any schedule is “most rigorous”. It’s supposed to foster cooperation. I don’t think the GPA non-calculation helps any. There’s an internal calculation that is non-intuitive (and that’s what Naviance is based upon) but I think it give kids a false sense of themselves, since any calculation at an admissions office is likely to come out different. </p>
<p>My D2012 applied to 11 schools, but three were UC campuses that were just extra check-boxes on the UC app. </p>
<p>However that college apps was the easy part. The real drag was all the extra apps and essays for scholarships and special programs. She must’ve done dozens of those. Some were pretty easy (adaptations of college essays), but others were really specific. It just went on and on, well into spring and even summer. Eventually she decided she was <em>done</em>. There were more I wanted her to do, post-acceptance, specific to her college. But she was so worn out she just <em>couldn’t</em> do any more.</p>
<p>D’s high school weights and ranks but, um, I haven’t a clue about D’s class rank. Neither does she. She’s not applying to the top colleges, so she, H and I came to the decision that it would be better if she spent the effort on her activities, interests, stay curious and try out new things than worry about class rank. It may be a mistake but it seems to work for D for now. </p>
<p>Report cards only show the weighted GPA, which annoys me because I’d rather have the unweighted GPA.</p>
<p>Regarding applying to 20 college, I think it sounds like a nightmare but we could be close to that here unless D15 becomes more specifically focused. One of the main reasons to apply to a large number is merit scholarships. D15 NEEDS merit money as we are not able to pay our EFC. Because she is a likely NMSF but NOT likely NMF, and has an ok but not great GPA but a strong upward trend in grades ( 1st semester this quarter was all A’s, first time ever, bring her overall to a 3.41 UW, 3.6 W…a repeat performance semester 2 will put her rght at a 3.5/3.7), the merit aid picture is not completely clear. I have a few schools she is willing to attend that would give her full tuition, and several more ( 8 or 9) where she MIGHT get full tuition because. Because she is not looking at top name brand schools, and several are OOS publics, not all of these applications will be super time consuming, But some require multiple essays so it will definitely be time consuimg.All schools on her list have her majors ( CS with a double major or minor in classics). It helps that she has become very focused on CS as a major this year. My strategy is for her to spend most of August on college applications and she should have one acceptance with scholarship in hand before school begins in September. I fully expect the fall to be stressful, and also expect to spend a lot of money sending her to admitted student days so she can choose among the options that are affordable.</p>
<p>I think many with a large number of applicatoins are in the same boat- looking for $$. Or they are very undecided as to major. Casting a wide net is sometimes the best strategy, though 20 applications is a big challenge in terms of time and money spent. I get stressed just thinking about it!</p>
<p>Another day and another snow storm. Our school does not rank either, but enclosed in the high school profile, the medium gpa is listed for the past 4 years.
With this information most colleges can see where the students fall percentage wise. Our profile currently places the medium at 3.1. I wonder is this consistent with most high schools?
Our profile,is filled with great information, a one pager and can be easily read. I just wish the college CDS would be like this–it would make looking at the numbers easier.</p>
<p>Mittentigger my kid will also be casting a wide net in her quest for merit money - 15 schools at least, with an extra one added as they start to look interesting. She would go to our in state school ( affordable and a safety) and there are two OOS ( she shockingly expressed interest in one) where she qualifies for merit automatically. I suspect she will get merit from many of the schools she is applying to, but the big question for us will be HOW MUCH. She will be very very busy this summer and fall doing all of these essays. </p>
<p>Our school ranks by decile but senior year I will ask her to find out exactly where she stands within that decile because she may need that info when filling out some of her her apps. I have a strong feeling where she is but I would like it confirmed. Unfortunately the kids here talk about GPAs all the time but my kid keeps quiet</p>
<pre><code>:-$ . An unweighted B+ is a 3.33, an unweighted A- is a 3.66, an unweighted A is a 4.0 and an unweighted A+ is a 4.33. In honors classes you add .33 and for AP/IB classes you add .43. Many of her friends in her classes are either done with testing or have started the process and have at least one test under their belt. Some of the kids in my D’s classes seem to be telling kids their scores- drives my kid nuts
</code></pre>
<p>I just looked at the course catalog for AP Calc AB versus BC. It states that AB will cover 1.5 semesters of college calc and BC covers 2 semesters. BC obviously moves faster than AB, but AB moves faster than I originally thought. </p>
<p>Ice day here but at least we have power! I think (may be wrong) this day off will have to be made up at the end of the year.</p>
<p>@twogirls - I’m confused about the AB vs BC ^ - are you saying that you checked the colleges that your daughter is interested in and they are giving 1.5 semesters of credit for the AB class or that your daughter’s hs teaches more calc than is needed for the AP AB test? In any event, given the info you gave above with the weighted grades it looks like your daughter played the game right and chose the max AP courses for max weighted points. And who knows - maybe AP Euro will turn out to be her passion - hard to tell with 16 year olds! </p>
<p>16 year olds are an unpredictable group :-O. The HS course catalog updated for 2014-15 states that the AP calc AB class teaches 1.5 semesters of college calculus and BC teaches 2 semesters of college calculus. Now, count me in as somebody who knows nothing about calculus :-S </p>
<p>The snow here has ended and we seem to have freezing rain falling. I am scared to do laundry just in case we lose power. </p>
<p>I thought AB covers one semester of college calculus (Cal I) in two semesters of HS (moves slower) and BC covers one year of college calculus (Cal I and II) in one year of HS (i.e., same speed as college course). BC just covers more scope and moves faster. </p>
<p>We don’t rank here and I am glad we don’t. Grades are 4.0 based (A - 4.0, B-3.0…etc. no +/- scale) and honor/AP/IB get 1 more point (i.e., 5 points). It’s not that usual to see kids with 4.6/4.7 wt GPA b/c one extra points they get. </p>
<p>No senior schedule yet, well, not until next week. D has IB required courses so she won’t have too much flexibilities. She is wondering if she should take Art (course she wants to) or 2nd Math (course she feels she has to)… </p>
<p>As we landed very early this morning & turned on our phones DD & I both received the " no school" message via the schools alert system.</p>
<p>Dad spent some time yesterday’s rearranging our schedule to get out late last nightmsince leaving today would not have been very probable. There were quite a few players from various teams on our flight. The airline was good, no charge for the change due to the impending bad winter weather. </p>
<p>Yes I also thought that AB teaches one semester of college calculus over two semesters, but according to the course catalog just put out by our HS, they teach 1.5 semesters of college calculus in AB :-? over two semesters. Again, I know nothing about calculus :-SS. We had a similar issue last year in honors chem- many felt it was taught above the honors level but perhaps slightly below the AP level. Some parents felt this was not fair to kids who were truly looking for an honors class. </p>
<p>What is the difference between AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC?
The difference between AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC is one of scope and not level of difficulty. Calculus AB includes techniques and applications of the derivative, the definite integral, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. It is equivalent to at least one semester of calculus at most colleges and universities. Calculus BC includes all topics in AB and additional topics in differential and integral calculus (including parametric, polar, and vector functions) and series. It is equivalent to at least one year of calculus at most colleges and universities. Calculus BC is an extension of AB, and each course is challenging and demanding and requires a similar depth of understanding of common topics.</p>
<p>What I got from the AP college board site was that Calc AB is the first semester/course in a college series and the syllabus for Calc AB seems to confirm that - functions, derivatives and integrals. BC goes over all that and then does polynomials and series like the Taylor series. That sounds like my second semester of calculus in college (I had tested out of the first semester because I had taken apparently what was equivalent to AB in high school but I didn’t take the AP exam.)</p>
<p>Thanks FromMD. I have been letting her decide which classes to take and so far that plan has been working for her :D. She knows that at any point she can walk into guidance and switch. I have learned not to mess with her LOL [-X </p>
<p>@SlackerMom - I think that’s correct. That’s what I was trying to say but you know dumb engineers can’t write. </p>
<p>@twogirls - I think people spent too much time and effort on this AB vs. BC. I don’t necessary think taking one over the other proves anything. IMHO, it all depends on your little one’s schedule and other things she has to do. I think she needs to look at the entire work load/schedule and decide if it’s well balanced. My two cents. </p>
<p>She is completely done with that discussion thankfully LOL. Seems kids move on very quickly and for her it was never really an issue. I am in complete agreement with you that it does not matter at all. </p>
<p>Right now she is looking at junior ball dresses that people are posting. She is getting the dress she likes regardless of whether somebody else has it </p>
thankfully LOL. Seems kids move on very quickly and for her it was never really an issue. I am in complete agreement with you that it does not matter at all. </p>