Take AP Test after DE?

Pre-College Topics
1

I am a rising junior in high school. I was originally scheduled on a “+2” track (taking AP Calculus BC as a junior), but I got way too bored and ended up taking Calc II at a community college last year.

I have heard that many colleges look down upon DE classes, and consider them to be less rigorous than AP classes. Because of that, I was advised to take the AP Calc BC test next year. I think it would be pretty easy to get a 5, but I feel like it would be a waste of time and $100.

Would the AP test add anything meaningful to my application? I appreciate any thoughts!

2

Not really. But the credit from a 5 might help, since the DE credit is unlikely to transfer if you ultimately attend somewhere other than your in-state public

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3

It seems to me if you are already taking higher level classes at college - that level of rigor will be seen - so you’ll be in Calc 3 as a Senior?

What would the AP test tell them they don’t already know from your current record?

4

I plan to take Calc III and LA next year as a junior, and self study proofs (maybe with NT or Graph Theory?). Then, as a senior, take DiffEq and try to beg a professor to let me sit in on Real Analysis. I don’t know how realistic that is.

5

If you will have higher level math on your transcript, you don’t need to worry about the AP Calc test.

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6

I wouldn’t rush that much (do not try to self study proofs or take Real Analysis, for instance) but do take LA, Discrete Math or intro to data science, and Calc based Stats to show your ability to handle various fields of math at a high level. At that point a calc BC score wouldn’t mean anything.

7

Check out the book “Mathematical Proofs: A Transition to Advanced Mathematics” by Chartrand and Zhang. It has a chapter on proofs in Number Theory, among other topics. Or for something more beginner friendly and free: https://richardhammack.github.io/BookOfProof/Main.pdf

If there is a four year university near you, why not take an intro to proofs course from there in addition to or instead of either of your junior year classes? Calc 3 and LA are easier to self study than proofs.

A short, beginner friendly book on number theory is introduction to number theory by Art of Problem Solving. However it only has problems, not proofs.

Here is a fairly challenging, free calc 3 book: https://web.evanchen.cc/textbooks/lamv.pdf - it also includes some linear algebra.

8

Thank you for the book suggestions. I actually already found the Hammack and Chen books, but the other seems interesting as well.

I thought about taking a proofs class, but the universities around be don’t seem to offer them at reasonable times; my guess is that they are exclusive to math majors, so all the classes are at like 10 AM.