Taking AP Calculus BC without having taken Precalc?

elf4EVA
Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:33:50 +0000

Hi. I am a rising sophomore planning on taking BC Calc. Freshman year I took Honors Algebra 2 and Honors Geometry and got over 100 in both. I am self-studying precalc this summer (using Barron’s EZ Precalc, Cliffsnotes, and a textbook) and hope to test into BC calc next year. Is this a good idea? How much of precalc/trig is actually needed in calculus? I’ve read some responses in other threads saying that precalc is a total waste of time and that the only topic you really need to know is trig; others say that skipping precalc meant that they struggled in calculus and other higher level math. Also, if you took BC Calc, could you recommend a prep book? Our school uses Amsco’s, but I’ve heard Arco and Barron’s are also pretty good. Thanks :)