Any experience with self studying AP calc AB?
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Anonymous
Indeed. I was surprised to learn that (BC overlaps with AB 80%, and there's even an AB subscore in it). The only way they allow AB + BC in one year is if you "double up", meaning you take AB in the Fall and BC in the spring in a form that gives you 2 credits (and takes up 25% of your nominal 8-period day under this block schedule). But they don't allow that for sophomores, either, it's supposedly reserved for seniors who wake up after their junior year and realize they need BC by the time they graduate. This school system does not have the "Precalculus BC" option that is followed directly by "Calculus BC" that some FCPS schools offer. |
Anonymous
OP here. Should clarify. We're planning on taking precalc also freshman year, including the AP Precalc exam. The idea is to take the AP Precalc and Calc AB exam both May 2026 and then continue with Calc BC in the fall. To those who have responded about community college options: (a) these are already dual-enrollment classes; (b) the community college (which is part of Virginia's system) requires an exception if freshmen (< 16 years?) take classes there; (c) they don't administer AP exams. So we don't have the time (or feel the need to) enroll as an external student there for Calc AB. Although I suppose it would be an option to just show up there? But politically as fraught. I understand that this may dismay the school, let's not forget that the teachers are split on this issue as well (and I can see reasonable points on both sides). One half of teachers keeps warning about overacceleration - several have told us they discouraged Algebra in 6th, etc.; the other half is respectful of talented and engaged students and assesses them properly and gives them fair chances. Our child excelled in Algebra I in 6th, Geometry in 7th, and Algebra II in 8th. They've taken Algebra 3 on AoPS and are now 50% through Khan's Calc AB. Interestingly, despite having a successful cohort of kids accelerated through MS, some HS teachers take the side of slowdown and oppose, for instance, direct precalc to BC advancement. This may be in part because they see a (small?) number of overaccelerated students who shouldn't have taken Algebra in 7, struggled with Geometry in 8th, and then aren't engaged with Algebra II in 9th. In any event, YOLO. We don't have the option of doing this twice. I'm confident that stretching the school calc material over 2 years instead of one year, for a child with a background like ours, is not a wise choice. So we'll try. |
Anonymous
| I see how this prerequisite could make sense. It is possible that in your school BC course doesn’t spend any time in AB material and just stretches BC only units - spending more than twice time on them then the recommended by College Board. Many (not all) BC students struggle with those units even if AB material is easy for them, may be that is why your school decided to implement this system. Works well for most BC bound students. I would talk to school - take Calc 1 in community college or take AP Exam for Calc AB and skip AB course offered by school. Go in person, ask for options, don’t demand. If they insist, you have the 3 solutions someone suggested above. |
Anonymous
The highschool might refuse to award credit for a course offered at the high school. That's quite a common policy. |
Anonymous
If it's DE, then do precalc in the fall and calc 1 in the spring. For a real challenge look at AMC 8 or 10 |
Anonymous
| Or take the precalculus CLEP now and start with calc in the fall |
Anonymous
OP is actually objecting to needing to take Calculus AB before BC, which is legitimate. Most schools will allow a kid who has done well in Honors Pre-Calculus to move directly to Calculus BC. |
Anonymous
| OP, which county are you in, or is this a private school? |
Anonymous
A RoVA county. Public school.
Unfortunately, they're moving away from 4+4 block schedules and towards A/B yearlong schedules (with the exception of the catch-up AB/BC for seniors) - so what you're proposing won't work anymore.
Don't worry, DC's school math engagement won't take away from their contest prep.
Thanks for the tip. I hadn't even heard of CLEP before. Will check it out. |
Anonymous
| Maybe look for an Intro Calc course online to provide structure, then sit the Calc AB exam next May. Maybe RSM, Kumon, or Mathnasium would be alternatives that provided structure to the learning. |
Anonymous
So yes - Khan Academy has what appears to be an excellent AP Calculus AB course, with numerous videos by Sal himself (Grant Sanderson of 3b1b fame recorded some additional videos for their multivar calc course), as well as with numerous mastery assessments. They even provide "college board math" assumptions, like assuming that the maximum of a sin/cos function is always 1 when estimating the Lagrange error bound (regardless of actual interval). And they break it down by AB and BC. They also have testimonials by some private school teachers who have adopted that course at their schools. It's really well done and if you try it yourself, you soon get addicted to their little success jingles and confetti. Now it doesn't have a human in the loop, and there are no writing assignments, which is of course a drawback. |
Anonymous
Many schools with yearlong schedules can accommodate two DE courses in different semesters. |
Anonymous
| The base school can (and do) refuse to allow self-study students to sit for the exam. This is a question for your school’s AP coordinator. |
Anonymous
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There is no value to taking AP Pre-Calc, OP, if your kid is moving on to better things in math. College admissions officers know it's just an exam for those who max out at that level. One less thing to do off your list.
Your kid needs a tutor for AP Calc BC, and a center who can allow them to test. So get going on those two things. After AP Calc BC, does your kid have a plan? He needs to show he can take post-AP math courses every year after that, otherwise all this acceleration comes to naught. |
Anonymous
^ I said he, but maybe it's a she, of course. I have a DD taking AP Calc BC in 10th. 
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