AP Calc AB or BC?

[Anonymous]

Colleague at work says the BC exam is easier for some students, for a weird reason. Exam time length is the same (Ab, BC) for the College Board exam at end of the school year. Because AB covers less material overall, there is more exam time to put in word problems. Because BC covers more material, there is less exam time for word problems. So students who can keep up might find the end of year BC exam easier.

I am not sure if that is correct, but he claims a CB grader as the source for this….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a college Freshman at VT who took BC calc in 10th, MVC in 11th and was tapped out of what the school could offer. He declined to take LA or DEQ at nova his senior year. The problem is since he took calculus 2 soooo long ago he has to spend a lot of time reviewing and absolutely had to retake MVC this year as. a freshman because the AP classes do not even compare at all to college rigors. At least not at VT.

with my 2nd kid i absolutely would not let him take calc 2 so early. it really hinders them in college since the material is so old by the time they get there. I would do AB in 10th BC in 11th and MVC in 12th and then retake MVC freshman in college since they will have a very strong and much more fresh calculus background and use that as a GPA booster in college.

BTW my son is a math major and in the honors college and got 780 on his SATs and still had to retake MVC in college due to the lack of rigor that AP offers. If he could do it again i probably would have seen if he could have done all of his calculus HS classes at George Mason. If that had been the case a huge chunk of his college major would already be retired and he probably could have very very easily slipped in a 2nd major.

MVC is not an AP class. It is a high school class or a dual enrollment class at a college.

yes i am aware, he took it in high school via NoVA and it was very very watered down. He got an A extremely easily. He said his AP and DE classes were noting close to the rigors at university. For starters all of his homework needs to be turned in using LaTeX, which he was given exactly 2 days to learn at the start of the semester.

That's not mathematical rigor, that's hazing.

+1

This is not a good example of how much more rigor your kid’s college classes have. It has nothing to do with rigor. It’s just some weird professor quirk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. The thing is, DS doesn't know what he wants to do in college, or for a career. That's why I want to keep all options open. He's a great writer too, draws as a hobby and plays an instrument. I am very grateful to have such an academically successful kid, BTW. But I am concerned with balancing his mental health with his desire to always be the top student.

Your son should take BC. Anyone with an A in honors precalc as a freshman should take BC.

AB is for people who want calculus before college but don't have any interest in math careers (get the math requirement checked off and never take math again), or who need a little extra time to process the math and want to split it across multiple courses. At my (highly regarded public) school, it's for kids who have never taken honors math before, or who had Cs and Ds in honors precalc, or honors kids who want that 4th math but are applying to RISD or Juliard to do something artsy with 0 math. Anyone who is successful in honors precalc and has sights set on STEM or unknown pathways does BC.

This is not true. Lots of kids take AB and then BC.

[Anonymous]

Calc BC is really hard for even top students. I’d take a better grade in AB unless your child is an exceptionally strong math student with sights set on an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colleague at work says the BC exam is easier for some students, for a weird reason. Exam time length is the same (Ab, BC) for the College Board exam at end of the school year. Because AB covers less material overall, there is more exam time to put in word problems. Because BC covers more material, there is less exam time for word problems. So students who can keep up might find the end of year BC exam easier.

I am not sure if that is correct, but he claims a CB grader as the source for this….

That's not true. The BC questions are just spread over a wider range of material.
The exam descriptions are essentially identical.

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-calculus-bc/exam

Section I: Multiple Choice
45 Questions | 1 Hour 45 minutes | 50% of Exam Score

Part A: 30 questions; 60 minutes (calculator not permitted).
Part B: 15 questions; 45 minutes (graphing calculator required).
Questions include algebraic, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and general types of functions.
Questions include analytical, graphical, tabular, and verbal types of representations.

Section II: Free Response
6 Questions | 1 Hour 30 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score

Part A: 2 questions; 30 minutes (graphing calculator required).
Part B: 4 questions; 60 minutes (calculator not permitted).
Questions include various types of functions and function representations and a roughly equal mix of procedural and conceptual tasks.
Questions include at least two questions that incorporate a real-world context or scenario into the question.


https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-calculus-ab/exam

Section I: Multiple Choice

45 Questions | 1 Hour 45 minutes | 50% of Exam Score

Part A: 30 questions; 60 minutes (calculator not permitted).
Part B: 15 questions; 45 minutes (graphing calculator required).
Questions include algebraic, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and general types of functions.
Questions include analytical, graphical, tabular, and verbal types of representations.

Section II: Free Response

6 Questions | 1 Hour 30 Minutes | 50% of Exam Score

Part A: 2 questions; 30 minutes (graphing calculator required).
Part B: 4 questions; 60 minutes (calculator not permitted).
Questions include various types of functions and function representations and a roughly equal mix of procedural and conceptual tasks.
Questions include at least 2 questions that incorporate a real-world context or scenario into the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming the school is following the AP curriculum and not going rogue, AB will not prepare as well for multivar. Take BC.

This. If he takes AB, he runs out of classes

That's not true. If he takes AB, he can take BC afterward.

That's not a sequence that someone who excels in math (i.e. someone taking calculus as a sophomore) takes

It's a sequence for someone quite advanced at math (taking calculus as a junior!) who over accelerated earlier in their career, or who had fewer interests in middle school but diversified in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming the school is following the AP curriculum and not going rogue, AB will not prepare as well for multivar. Take BC.

This. If he takes AB, he runs out of classes

That's not true. If he takes AB, he can take BC afterward.

That's not a sequence that someone who excels in math (i.e. someone taking calculus as a sophomore) takes

It's a sequence for someone quite advanced at math (taking calculus as a junior!) who over accelerated earlier in their career, or who had fewer interests in middle school but diversified in high school.

Some schools allow for algebra in 6th so cal bc is normal sophomore or jr year. My kid has tons of interests but was offered the track and took it bits been fine but we had to get a tutor some years depending on the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Since your child is male, I would recommend BC. He'd probably be bored to tears in AB, not to mention he'd be one of the only boys, if not the only boy, in a Calculus AB class, which might make him feel lonely and isolated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since your child is male, I would recommend BC. He'd probably be bored to tears in AB, not to mention he'd be one of the only boys, if not the only boy, in a Calculus AB class, which might make him feel lonely and isolated.

? There are plenty of boys in AB calculus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since your child is male, I would recommend BC. He'd probably be bored to tears in AB, not to mention he'd be one of the only boys, if not the only boy, in a Calculus AB class, which might make him feel lonely and isolated.

This is hopefully a joke because this is a ridiculously sexist statement. Lots of kids of both genders in BC and AB.

[Anonymous]

OP, does your school offer the option of starting in BC and then moving down to AB if needed? It would be great if AB and BC were offered in the same period. Then a kid struggling in BC could switch to AB without having to change around other classes.

[Anonymous]

My kid thought Honors PreCalc (Montgomery county public) was really easy and aced it. Was struggling w/ BC and we had to get a tutor.