AP Stats AND Calculus with Applications vs. AP Calc AB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just take what you want. Have seen so many kids try to game the system, take courses they do not want to take, and then they don’t get into their reaches anyway. What’s the takeaway? That life is about making choices that matter to you, or that life is all about trying to get into certain colleges? Which group do you think deals better with rejection and setbacks?

I don’t know about you, but I want my kid to be prepared for college. Course selection does impact that.

A kid who is described as non-STEM and planning a social studies major is highly unlikely to need to take calculus in college. Maybe some courses to fulfill a quantitative requirement but there are usually lots of ways to do this that don't involve calculus. AP stats would be more relevant and more interesting.

+1. My kids took Cal AP and BC (only scored a 3 on the AB test) specifically so her non-STEM self would never need to take calculus again. And it worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the thing to keep in mind, especially for parents remembering their HS days, is the HS math curriculum has been completely rewritten to get college bound kids through Calc during HS. This is now expected, and it should be, because it's the culmination of the teaching in the earlier classes. E.g. in MCPS, there are topics that once would have been part of Algebra 1 which are now not introduced until pre-calc. This is as much renaming as anything, students are hitting the concepts at roughly the same age, but calculus is now a core HS class, just like AP English is a core HS class--for anyone applying to college.

I do wonder how much of this is purely renaming things. Between grade inflation and test optional, it’s hard to tell if a student who takes the now fairly standard path from algebra 1 in 8th to Calc AB as a senior will be able to pass the AP exam, or even the ALEKS placement exam every college seems to require to register for Calc I. And if the kid decides to skip the AP exam and take a non-calculus route in college, no one will ever know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just take what you want. Have seen so many kids try to game the system, take courses they do not want to take, and then they don’t get into their reaches anyway. What’s the takeaway? That life is about making choices that matter to you, or that life is all about trying to get into certain colleges? Which group do you think deals better with rejection and setbacks?

I don’t know about you, but I want my kid to be prepared for college. Course selection does impact that.

A kid who is described as non-STEM and planning a social studies major is highly unlikely to need to take calculus in college. Maybe some courses to fulfill a quantitative requirement but there are usually lots of ways to do this that don't involve calculus. AP stats would be more relevant and more interesting.

+1. My kids took Cal AP and BC (only scored a 3 on the AB test) specifically so her non-STEM self would never need to take calculus again. And it worked.

However, if your college has only a "math"requirement for Humanity/social science majors, Calculus is probably not Required. Or if it is for say Biology students, then it will be Calc Lite (not the same calc 1 that engineers take). In fact, AP stats and a 3+ would likely also get your kid the credit they need to pass out of college math.
Also, at most universities, a 3 on the AP test does NOT get you credit. You typically only get it for Calc BC as they are giving credit for the AB portion. So your kid could have taken AP Calc AB, gotten a 4 or 5 and learned even more fully and not been as stressed