AP Calc AB vs, BC

[Anonymous]

What are the differences? Should a student take both?

[Anonymous]

AB is less intense than BC. Most people take one or the other, you can only take one of the exams in a given year, not both

[Anonymous]

AB is the equivalent of one college semester of calculus spread over the entire high school year. BC is two semesters covered in one year, so just as it would be in college. BC covers the same material as AB in the first semester and then goes further in the second semester.

[Anonymous]

Is the student a 700+ math sat student? or close to it, take BC if they have a genuine interest in STEM.

If instead they are hard working, conscientious but, otherwise, not particularly STEM oriented, I'd suggest AB

Unless, you know who teaches and there is clearly a better teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AB is the equivalent of one college semester of calculus spread over the entire high school year. BC is two semesters covered in one year, so just as it would be in college. BC covers the same material as AB in the first semester and then goes further in the second semester.

This is correct. BC covers topics not covered in AB and goes (much) faster than AB. For AP test, if you take BC then you also get AB sub-score but the test itself is still considered as one AP test.

[Anonymous]

Okay thanks. We're not in the DC area anymore, but his high school has Calc AB as a prerequisite to Calc BC which seemed odd to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay thanks. We're not in the DC area anymore, but his high school has Calc AB as a prerequisite to Calc BC which seemed odd to me.

You don't want to do that. Don't need to spend two years on Calc. If he is forced to take AB before BC, I'd go with AB then AP Stat.

[Anonymous]

Calc AB is first semester college Calc spread out into a year for HS students. Calc BC is second semester calc. AB usually is just univariate calculus, but in BC you get into multivariate calculus. So, yes you need AB before BC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay thanks. We're not in the DC area anymore, but his high school has Calc AB as a prerequisite to Calc BC which seemed odd to me.

You don't want to do that. Don't need to spend two years on Calc. If he is forced to take AB before BC, I'd go with AB then AP Stat.

Thanks for the advice. He's a sophomore and just registering for next year's classes. He's not sure what he wants to do in the future though, so not sure if math sequence is super important.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm sorry but a lot of the info above is incorrect. I'd hate for you to make decisions based on this. Please talk to the guidance counselor at your son's school and refer to the College Board's course descriptions, which clearly outline what the two courses offer: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/descriptions/index.html

Calculus is important for many technical fields, so I wouldn't just toss it out of the running without thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm sorry but a lot of the info above is incorrect. I'd hate for you to make decisions based on this. Please talk to the guidance counselor at your son's school and refer to the College Board's course descriptions, which clearly outline what the two courses offer: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/descriptions/index.html

Calculus is important for many technical fields, so I wouldn't just toss it out of the running without thinking about it.

Which part is incorrect?

This is from the link you provided

AP Calculus AB is roughly equivalent to a first semester college calculus course devoted to topics in differential and integral calculus.

AP Calculus BC is roughly equivalent to both first and second semester college calculus courses and extends the content learned in AB to different types of equations and introduces the topic of sequences and series.

The reason you don't need both is big part of BC covers AB materials as stated.

In MoCo, kids go either AB or BC after pre-Calc. In some school districts (and sounds like OP is living in one of those districts), kids are required to take AB before BC. My kids went to BC after pre-Calc and did fine. I personally don't think it's a good idea to spend two years of Calc in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay thanks. We're not in the DC area anymore, but his high school has Calc AB as a prerequisite to Calc BC which seemed odd to me.

This is unusual in the DC area, but pretty common in some other parts of the country.

[Anonymous]

We are in California. DC does not want to be a STEM major, and does not consider herself particularly mathematical. She wants to be an English Literature major in college.

That said, this "English major" took the SAT Math II subject test in 10th grade and earned an 800. She took the SAT in March of 11th grade and earned a 790 Math.

She took AP Calculus AB in 11th grade and earned an A (highest grade in the school's grading system), and is taking AP Calculus BC this year, and currently has an A also.

The point is that AP Calculus AB is a pre-requirement for AP Calculus BC in many schools around the country, and not a substitute for less-mathematically inclined students. And even non-STEM majors should consider taking both courses.

[Anonymous]

In FCPS, if you take the Honors math route, you get the A part in Honors Precalc. So, you are not skipping it.