MATH - Calc AB or BC

[Anonymous]

Our son just started 9th grade and while he's a capable kid, his favourite subject is not math. He was always in the advanced track but has requested that he take the track one step down which might get him to AP Calc AB by senior year. His interests are in language arts and writing and I can see him piling up on those classes instead. I don't want him spending all his time studying math when he can pursue his other interests.

Would this disadvantage him if he wants to aim for top tier colleges? I finished AP Calc BC bc it was the natural track that I was on, but the tracks these days are a lot more complicated.

My feeling is that it won't disadvantage him, but wondering if it would not be considered as "rigorous" as if he had taking AP Calc BC.

Is AP Calc BC necessary for admissions to top schools?

Are there any parents out there with kids who made it to top tier colleges with just AP Calc AB?

(Don't mean to sound obsessed with top tier colleges... all colleges are hard to get into these days. I just thinkt he might be interested in applying to some of those schools come senior year.)

[Anonymous]

IMO (and based on college office guidance), AB Calc is fine for non-math major, particularly if he will get a better grade and AP score.

[Anonymous]

I think AP Calc AB is fine, as long as he's taking challenging math each year. He can also take AB junior year and then Stats senior year. Not every kid has to take top level in every subject to be competitive.

I would start researching what top tier means and what the odds are of getting in these days to set realistic expectations.

[Anonymous]

AB is fine if not interested in STEM.

[Anonymous]

Agree with all the posters above.

[Anonymous]

There are many many reasons kids can't get into top tier schools but AB vs BC is not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Totally fine. I wish we'd had DD do that, she ended up in AB junior year but hated it and really struggled. There was no need for her to be on that pace with math. She's taking AP Stats in 12th instead of Calc AB. My DS loves math and he did AB in 11th, BC in 12th + AP Stats in 12th.

[Anonymous]

Also perfectly acceptable option to do AB junior year and BC senior year (this is from multiple sources).

[Anonymous]

It's what our kid did and he did not seem to be penalized for it in college admissions. We were regularly told you want to have some AP Calc--beyond that is gravy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also perfectly acceptable option to do AB junior year and BC senior year (this is from multiple sources).

Lol the kid doesn’t want to do BC. And who are these “multiple sources” and why should we care what they think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also perfectly acceptable option to do AB junior year and BC senior year (this is from multiple sources).

My kid took AB as a junior and BC as a senior. Because much of the material is the same/similar, he thought he got a good foundation doing it that way. He is currently a Math/CS double major at William and Mary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO (and based on college office guidance), AB Calc is fine for non-math major, particularly if he will get a better grade and AP score.

I agree, and regret our older (a social sciences oriented kid) having taken BC in 11th- he got a B and a 4 on the exam and I think that affected his college chances much more than if he had taken AB and gotten and A and a 5 on the exam (his BC subscore for AB was a 5).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also perfectly acceptable option to do AB junior year and BC senior year (this is from multiple sources).

My kid took AB as a junior and BC as a senior. Because much of the material is the same/similar, he thought he got a good foundation doing it that way. He is currently a Math/CS double major at William and Mary.

I have a PhD in a STEM area and this is what I recommend to kids interested in STEM who ask me. (I also recommend they consider taking Intro Calc again at the college level too rather than skipping it). But for a kid not planning to major in STEM, AB Calc is fine. I would add in AP Stats their senior year if they take it their junior year though because some schools want 4 years of math in HS and it's better to just be sure. Plus stats is useful and not too onerous and if they are a social science major or business major they will need it. And if they are a humanities/arts major they maybe be able to use the AP exam score to get out of a gen ed math credit (and it's often easier to score higher on the AP Stats than the AP Calc for non-STEM folks).

[Anonymous]

OP you might find this recent thread helpful. Some HS Math teachers gave very detailed and well informed answers to similar questions

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1073820.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think AP Calc AB is fine, as long as he's taking challenging math each year. He can also take AB junior year and then Stats senior year. Not every kid has to take top level in every subject to be competitive.

I would start researching what top tier means and what the odds are of getting in these days to set realistic expectations.

Yes! Taking AB and Stats is a much better route for someone who is not headed into engineering or a major that requires beyond calc 1. Statistics is MUCH more useful for so many majors, including non-stem liberal arts/humanities.

personally, I would not put a kid who isn't top notch in math onto a path towards BC Calc. That's the whole first year of college calculus. I'd let the humanities focused kid do just that, and focus on AP courses that interest him.