Reply to Bad for students, who apply for CS or engineering, to take AP Calc AB and then BC?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You can just look up the course description from a college board.

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-calculus-ab-and-bc-course-and-exam-description.pdf

In the prerequisites section, it’s clear they aren’t supposed to be taken in sequence. The only additional prerequisite is that students are familiar with basic series and sequences, usually covered in precalculus if not algebra 2.

It’s fine if students want to take AB+BC, just as it is fine to repeat Algebra if the foundation is not there. Obviously very strong students don’t typically repeat material because they can handle it in one pass well enough. Making AB a prerequisite goes against the College Board course description and recommendation.[/quote]

And yet many high schools make AB a prerequisite to BC, and have done so for many years, and the College Board goes on certifying their courses as official AP courses.[/quote]

College board audits courses, not certifies them. Why wouldn’t they, it’s about the course contents, covered material and standards. If the schools wants to have a third of the class take AP calculus then it makes sense to herd them through the AB and BC in sequence, but honestly I think the top 5-10% of the class could just go straight to BC. It’s a disservice to them to do make AB mandatory.

So far the only argument for taking AB+BC is that somebody’s kid did this and ended up a a good school. Good for them, I don’t think it’s a red flag for admissions, it’s just that repeating material to get a better “foundation” is not optimal.[/quote]

For the numerous high schools that separate the AP calculus into two separate years, AB and BC, and REQUIRE AB then BC, due to the BC course being designed to start mid-curriculum for what College board lists as BC, there is NOchoice for the students. Need it or not, it is taught over two yrs by design by those (usually private) HS. Who cares? No one. Those students are following what they have to do in their HS curriculum. AOs understand that there is not unnecessary “repetition “, rather the pace is just slowed and split into two yrs, on purpose. [/quote]

Maybe some people care how calculus is taught to their kids, I do. You are happy to leave that decision to your high school, great. I also don’t do everything wondering about what an AO might think, it’s enough for me to look through the teaching materials to see it as repetition.

The pace is not slowed down and split into two years on purpose. The BC course doesn’t start mid curriculum as you claim. Just the fact that you are making up these lies clearly shows you have absolutely no clue. Schools can’t just teach whatever they want in an AP class, there’s a list of topics, instruction time down to the weekly progression etc. Check the curriculum and it’s actually repetition. Some kids need it, and that’s fine, but others don’t and they shouldn’t sit through the same class twice. Most schools recognize this which is why in the prerequisite course section they also list “permission/recommendation if teacher”.
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