Anonymous wrote:If your kid is applying to t40+ (like BC/BC level or higher) I do think max rigor can make a difference.

Sorry BC/BU

If your kid is applying to t40+ (like BC/BC level or higher) I do think max rigor can make a difference.

Anonymous wrote:FCPS DS is taking AP Precalc BC (prepares kids for AP Calc BC) in 11th grade. He has an A-, could turn into an A by the end of the year but could also be a B+.

He likes math and is potentially interested in a math field. However, he wants to take Calc AB in 12th grade because he thinks BC will be too much effort as a senior when he wants to relax. He also said the teacher recommended all seniors take only Calc AB, regardless of their grade. He wasn't that clear on why.

I can see a scenario where he gets into college in December and then even keeping a C in BC could be really hard. I don't want to worry about that in the spring.
On the other hand, if he's trying for a math-oriented major, won't it look bad that he did well enough in Precalc BC and then decided to move "down" to AB?

What do you all think? Do you think it matters?

It sounds like taking AB is your DC's best option. It is an easier intro to calc basics than BC, which moves faster and has a few extra topics. These extras can be a PITA for a kid who isn't 100% motivated. Your school probably recommends that seniors start with AB because a group of seniors that hasn't taken calculus prior to that point will include many weaker students. Our school is like this: most kids take AB, then BC. Those that place directly into BC without AB tend to do so in 10th or 11th grade. My DC is taking BC now, and reports that it is the senior kids in the class having the most difficulty. That said, BC is entirely doable if your DC is willing to commit.

As far as a "math-oriented" major, it would depend on what you mean. AB is sufficient for many STEM disciplines requiring math, but kids asking to be admitted as math, physics or engineering majors are often beyond calculus by senior year. If your DC wants to apply as one of those, I would tell them to take BC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS DS is taking AP Precalc BC (prepares kids for AP Calc BC) in 11th grade. He has an A-, could turn into an A by the end of the year but could also be a B+.

He likes math and is potentially interested in a math field. However, he wants to take Calc AB in 12th grade because he thinks BC will be too much effort as a senior when he wants to relax. He also said the teacher recommended all seniors take only Calc AB, regardless of their grade. He wasn't that clear on why.

I can see a scenario where he gets into college in December and then even keeping a C in BC could be really hard. I don't want to worry about that in the spring.
On the other hand, if he's trying for a math-oriented major, won't it look bad that he did well enough in Precalc BC and then decided to move "down" to AB?

What do you all think? Do you think it matters?

If he wants to relax as a senior then I assume he's not going for competitive schools?

OP. Lol, you would think that, right? No, he wants competitive schools. He will have 4 APs senior year (plus a post-AP CS class), none of the "easy" ones. But he sees switching from BC->AB as a way to reduce his workload. Personally, I struggled in math, and for advanced math, I feel like it's possible to get completely lost if he's not invested in staying focused later in the school year. (I understand that it's a concern that he's already thinking about slacking off, but I guess these kids work hard and so I get the burnout a bit.)

Switching from BC to AB to balance schedule is completely reasonable, demonstrates a mature understanding of his limits and will still prepare him for his course of study (he can always retake as calc 1 in college if he needs to. It’s not a sprint)

+1 and I agree with PP that rushing math is usually a bad idea. You want to be solid on the fundamentals.

FWIW, my son did Calc AB and then Calc BC in HS (that's what the math teachers recommended). He studied data science at VT and even with 5s on both of those, they only gave credit for Calc 1. All students had to do Calc 2 on campus. (also, in response to PP who said their UVA data science student only needed Calc 1, I find that shocking! VT's program has a lot more math than that)

If he has space in his schedule and hasn't taken statistics, adding AP Stats could be helpful. My DS's senior year schedule included AP Calc BC, AP Stats, IB Economics.

With an interest in data science and economics, he should check out VT's Computational Modeling & Data Analytics major with the Economics option.
https://data.science.vt.edu/programs/cmda/future-students.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS DS is taking AP Precalc BC (prepares kids for AP Calc BC) in 11th grade. He has an A-, could turn into an A by the end of the year but could also be a B+.

He likes math and is potentially interested in a math field. However, he wants to take Calc AB in 12th grade because he thinks BC will be too much effort as a senior when he wants to relax. He also said the teacher recommended all seniors take only Calc AB, regardless of their grade. He wasn't that clear on why.

I can see a scenario where he gets into college in December and then even keeping a C in BC could be really hard. I don't want to worry about that in the spring.
On the other hand, if he's trying for a math-oriented major, won't it look bad that he did well enough in Precalc BC and then decided to move "down" to AB?

What do you all think? Do you think it matters?

If he wants to relax as a senior then I assume he's not going for competitive schools?

OP. Lol, you would think that, right? No, he wants competitive schools. He will have 4 APs senior year (plus a post-AP CS class), none of the "easy" ones. But he sees switching from BC->AB as a way to reduce his workload. Personally, I struggled in math, and for advanced math, I feel like it's possible to get completely lost if he's not invested in staying focused later in the school year. (I understand that it's a concern that he's already thinking about slacking off, but I guess these kids work hard and so I get the burnout a bit.)

Switching from BC to AB to balance schedule is completely reasonable, demonstrates a mature understanding of his limits and will still prepare him for his course of study (he can always retake as calc 1 in college if he needs to. It’s not a sprint)

Not all college majors need calculus! 72% don’t require calculus at all.

FCPS should stop offering it altogether.

I don’t see the value in rushing math. Calc 1/AB for an Econ major is fine and will allow them to have time to be solid in the fundamentals.

If they are considering PhD programs, they will need significantly more math but that is not onerous if they generally enjoy the subject & have strong fundamentals. Both of which are accomplished by not rushing.

—signed, attended T10 Econ PhD from regional public & got 4 on AP Calc AB exam

Anonymous wrote:AB is fine for Econ, but it really depends on how selective the schools are. By the way, schools will only see the 1st semester grades if he’s applying RD or gets deferred.

ED and EA schools typically won’t see those grades. My kid took BC in 12th, got a B, and got admitted into most schools they applied to. I think AB would have been fine too!

AB should be fine accross the board. Universities don’t pay attention to the difference b/t AB and BC.

It’s wise to take BC in high school bc they go slower and more in depth than a college class. He will have an easier time in math once in college with more Calc 2 understanding. He’s foolish to waste an opportunity in HS. Math is the language of the sciences— don’t get lazy and short change that in 12 th grade.

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Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks, PP. He’s trying for state flagships, including UMD and UVA. He has a GPA and SATs that aligns with these but of course, they are very hard to get into now.

My kid was admitted last year to UVA. Michigan and UNC with AP Calc AB junior year and AP Stats senior year from a school that offers math up to multivariable and linear algebra. Did have very top grades.
Is currently hoping to study Data Science at UVA (kids apply end of freshman year). The only math that is required for the degree is Calculus 1.
McIntire (the business school) doesn't even require Calc 1... you can take a "survey of calculus" class for a Bachelor's in Commerce.

Only on DCUM does everyone insist that you need to be in multivariable calculus by 10th grade to have a chance at anything in life.

So this constant gospel by dean jesus about MAX rigor is not accurate after all?

I can only tell you what classes my kid took and what was available. I agree that it's really confusing.

It’s not confusing to me though. I never believed that gospel to begin with, plus another about 4 years of foreign language!

NP. +1. What people think is max and what is actually max may be two different things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks, PP. He’s trying for state flagships, including UMD and UVA. He has a GPA and SATs that aligns with these but of course, they are very hard to get into now.

My kid was admitted last year to UVA. Michigan and UNC with AP Calc AB junior year and AP Stats senior year from a school that offers math up to multivariable and linear algebra. Did have very top grades.
Is currently hoping to study Data Science at UVA (kids apply end of freshman year). The only math that is required for the degree is Calculus 1.
McIntire (the business school) doesn't even require Calc 1... you can take a "survey of calculus" class for a Bachelor's in Commerce.

Only on DCUM does everyone insist that you need to be in multivariable calculus by 10th grade to have a chance at anything in life.

So this constant gospel by dean jesus about MAX rigor is not accurate after all?

I can only tell you what classes my kid took and what was available. I agree that it's really confusing.

It’s not confusing to me though. I never believed that gospel to begin with, plus another about 4 years of foreign language!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS DS is taking AP Precalc BC (prepares kids for AP Calc BC) in 11th grade. He has an A-, could turn into an A by the end of the year but could also be a B+.

He likes math and is potentially interested in a math field. However, he wants to take Calc AB in 12th grade because he thinks BC will be too much effort as a senior when he wants to relax. He also said the teacher recommended all seniors take only Calc AB, regardless of their grade. He wasn't that clear on why.

I can see a scenario where he gets into college in December and then even keeping a C in BC could be really hard. I don't want to worry about that in the spring.
On the other hand, if he's trying for a math-oriented major, won't it look bad that he did well enough in Precalc BC and then decided to move "down" to AB?

What do you all think? Do you think it matters?

If he wants to relax as a senior then I assume he's not going for competitive schools?

OP. Lol, you would think that, right? No, he wants competitive schools. He will have 4 APs senior year (plus a post-AP CS class), none of the "easy" ones. But he sees switching from BC->AB as a way to reduce his workload. Personally, I struggled in math, and for advanced math, I feel like it's possible to get completely lost if he's not invested in staying focused later in the school year. (I understand that it's a concern that he's already thinking about slacking off, but I guess these kids work hard and so I get the burnout a bit.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks, PP. He’s trying for state flagships, including UMD and UVA. He has a GPA and SATs that aligns with these but of course, they are very hard to get into now.

My kid was admitted last year to UVA. Michigan and UNC with AP Calc AB junior year and AP Stats senior year from a school that offers math up to multivariable and linear algebra. Did have very top grades.
Is currently hoping to study Data Science at UVA (kids apply end of freshman year). The only math that is required for the degree is Calculus 1.
McIntire (the business school) doesn't even require Calc 1... you can take a "survey of calculus" class for a Bachelor's in Commerce.

Only on DCUM does everyone insist that you need to be in multivariable calculus by 10th grade to have a chance at anything in life.

So this constant gospel by dean jesus about MAX rigor is not accurate after all?

I can only tell you what classes my kid took and what was available. I agree that it's really confusing.

Anonymous wrote:FCPS DS is taking AP Precalc BC (prepares kids for AP Calc BC) in 11th grade. He has an A-, could turn into an A by the end of the year but could also be a B+.

He likes math and is potentially interested in a math field. However, he wants to take Calc AB in 12th grade because he thinks BC will be too much effort as a senior when he wants to relax. He also said the teacher recommended all seniors take only Calc AB, regardless of their grade. He wasn't that clear on why.

I can see a scenario where he gets into college in December and then even keeping a C in BC could be really hard. I don't want to worry about that in the spring.
On the other hand, if he's trying for a math-oriented major, won't it look bad that he did well enough in Precalc BC and then decided to move "down" to AB?

What do you all think? Do you think it matters?

If he wants to relax as a senior then I assume he's not going for competitive schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks, PP. He’s trying for state flagships, including UMD and UVA. He has a GPA and SATs that aligns with these but of course, they are very hard to get into now.

My kid was admitted last year to UVA. Michigan and UNC with AP Calc AB junior year and AP Stats senior year from a school that offers math up to multivariable and linear algebra. Did have very top grades.
Is currently hoping to study Data Science at UVA (kids apply end of freshman year). The only math that is required for the degree is Calculus 1.
McIntire (the business school) doesn't even require Calc 1... you can take a "survey of calculus" class for a Bachelor's in Commerce.

Only on DCUM does everyone insist that you need to be in multivariable calculus by 10th grade to have a chance at anything in life.

So this constant gospel by dean jesus about MAX rigor is not accurate after all?

My guess is they consider AB max rigor, unless you are a stem student

A PP stated kid was just accepted UVA EA with Calc AB as senior and applied as Chemistry major from a top FCPS. So I guess MAX rigor is not an absolute requirement.