It depends how each school teaches it. At our HS, students take either AB or BC, not both, but a student must have completed the advanced precalc class (basically, honors precalc) to be eligible for BC.
S22 did honors precalc sophomore year, took AP Calc AB at school next year but gave AP Calc BC exam by self studying the extra 2 or 3 chapters. He didnāt find it too difficult to do that.
S26 gave AP Bio last week, said it was ok. 2 more this week, including AP Psych on Friday.
Good luck to all the kids for the last week of AP testing!
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Honors precalc + teacher rec is required to do AB at ours. C26 is running at almost 100% in precalc hons but BC isnāt an option. Youād need to do the accelerated algebra 2/precalc hons in sophomore year (so effectively 2 years accelerated) to be on BC track. Our district doesnāt go beyond algebra 1 in middle school.
What I meant by āhow they teach itā is that the material covered in BC seems to differ from HS to HS. At our HS, both AB and BC assume only a precalc background, so the BC class covers both AB and BC material. At other schools where the two are normally taught in sequence, the BC class assumes students already have covered AB, so the starting point for that class would be different.
All students at our HS are taking precalc in 11th grade. Students canāt accelerate faster than that (even my Dās friend who is bored out of his mind because his math professor mom taught him all this stuff ages ago).
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Leigh is a beautiful campus. My 2029 son does a Lax tournament there each summer. My daughter loves it but they donāt have nursing so we didnāt tour.
Itās so interesting how different all the schools are. In our HS if you have an A in your class you donāt have to take the final. My DD has never taken oneā¦ this year she did not take the AP exam for history so she by default has to take the final.
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My daughter is in love with a sure thing college. They have a successful nursing program which she should get into with her stats, are close to home, have recruited her for Stunt and are test optional, and have great merit. Has taken a huge level of stress off her. We will apply to some others and is taking her SATS soon.
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My D26 thought that AP Calc BC yesterday was just awfulā¦ that is the consensus on the Reddit thread thereof. Something about a polar question (bad) versus a parametric (OK). D26 will be happy with a score of 3ā¦ she does not plan to major in STEM so that should be it for HS math, with the exception of a Stats class sheāll take over the summer.
I have been biting my tongue over any other college-related nags (essays this summer, SAT prep) because Now Is Not the Time.
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This is where I am at. I am trying so hard to not pester her until this week is over and she has at least a few days to recover!
D26 will be gone most of the Summer (art program in Ireland) so her time over the Summer to work on application items is limited.
I am so glad of places like this site- itās a one stop shop for lots of information. Gives great advise that I can pass on which then makes planning things out so much easier for D26!!!
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Awesome!
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Iāve been doing the same. Itās hard keeping oneās mouth shut sometimes! 
Iām going to wait until June to bug D26 about application essay stuff.
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At our HS, BC and AB are not sequential. You choose one or the other, assuming you have taken pre-Calc, done well, and your teacher approves your selection. My S26 has a near perfect score in honors pre Calc and likes math so is taking BC next year. The school really does not want kids skipping ahead but some doāthey take geometry online or at a community college and skip ahead to Calc as juniors.
I get a little overwhelmed by the efforts to advance kids quickly in math and science. I get that some kids are truly math geniuses and canāt get enough of it. But often it seems like parental push to make kids uber competitive for admissions is whatās driving it. Can my normal kid who likes math but only gets to Calc BC even be taken seriously as a potential math major? And Iām not even talking about super elite admissionsāeven at UC Davis or U Washington.
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Yes. At our HS the most advanced math class is BC and plenty of kids from our HS go on to be math majors.
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Our high school district heavily discourages doing summer courses for advancement in math, apart from geometry, where they offer a geometry for advancement summer school option (all other summer school courses, including regular geometry, are remedial). My kid sounds like yours but BC just isnāt an option. Anyway, the school sends a bunch of people to T20s every year so Iām assuming the math pathway isnāt an impediment.
We certainly have our share of ātigerā math parents (it was quite an eye-opener attending a high school info session when D19 was in 8th grade and we were fresh off the boat) and my understanding of the limiting of math options, such as max algebra 1 in 8th and the AB-BC requirement, is partly because too many parents were trying to push kids too far ahead. Iām not sure if this is also linked to the schoolās embrace of the Stanford āChallenge Successā initiative, which places stress on wellbeing, mental health and reducing stress for students.
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Thanks, both. I figure this has to be true for the majority of high schoolersāthat they get to some version of Calc and that is great. I think Iām reacting a bit to this conversation I had with another parent yesterday, while we were both proctoring volunteers for the AP Calc BC exam. I told her that my S26 was planning to take BC next year as a senior. And she says, oh my Junior already took this classāwhich meant he took BC as a sophomore (otherwise he would have been in the test that we were proctoringāwhich isnāt permitted). Iām sure heās one of those math genius kidsābut it just made me tired.
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Oh this kid is going to be the death of me. She told me sheās having second thoughts about spending most of her summer at a sleep away camp in CT. That job leaves her very little free time. 
I helped her get that position- Iām very good friends with the owner from my college years. I told her that she needs to decide asap and reach out. Sigh. I hope she goes. Sheās been a camper there for 12 years and itās how sheās spent her summers as far back as she remembers. But I also get it. She wants to hang with her school friends. Her old camp friends mostly are not going to be there. But she forgets that living at camp makes you fast friends with the other girls you work with. And that those weeks are some of her fondest memories. She literally has an entire shelf displayed of camp memories. Sigh.
I am waffling if I give me friend a heads up or let this play out. Iām leaning towards putting this on d26 fully with my support/guidance. But I know how hard it is to stand up for a decision to an adult you donāt know well.
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That is my D26 with every activity. Second, third, fourth, fifth thoughtsā¦ and then when Iād try to hold her to a decision she made, sometimes in the past she felt that I was dragging her into things or forcing her to do things. It got to the point a few years ago that we established a policy where D writes me a formal email asserting that she herself is freely making a commitment to engage in whatever activity it is. Then we can all look back on the email later on. It actually helped!
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My wanna be STEM major is gonna top out with BC senior year. The schools sheās looking at want to see Calc and Physics at some point in their high school career. Shes taking them next year, box checked. MIT strongly encouraged AP Physics over Honors Physics, D26 dropped MIT from her list.
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SAME!!! D26 is waffling on continuing her sport in college. I think with roster spot offers on the table makes it so much more real so sheās panicking. Iām leaving this to her coaches to help her sort out. I donāt need to be blamed for any more stuff.
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