Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Agree. You will want to think through what schools are on the table for consideration. Taking AB when BC is an option very well may be limiting as it can be perceived as not stretching to take advantage of what is offered - particularly if classmates are doing so. It appears Econ is really popular these days as the alternative to business programs and thus can be pretty competitive. While DC wants to take it 'easy', the reality is the competition is not. If not going for a particularly selective school, then it won't matter. Most students don't have BC walking into college.

I don't know about this. Sara Harberson (maybe I have the name incorrectly spelled) just posted about this. She said the #1 AP class that almost every kid walks into college with having taken in high school is Calculus BC. She just posted this a few days a ago. I'm assuming she's getting this data from either College Board or a similar place, so I'm guessing taking Calculus AB can be seen as a lesser math course and would render your kid on the not fully competitive side.

Incorrect. She says almost every kid getting into a selective college has taken AP Calc AB. It is posted right on her instagram page a few days ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Agree. You will want to think through what schools are on the table for consideration. Taking AB when BC is an option very well may be limiting as it can be perceived as not stretching to take advantage of what is offered - particularly if classmates are doing so. It appears Econ is really popular these days as the alternative to business programs and thus can be pretty competitive. While DC wants to take it 'easy', the reality is the competition is not. If not going for a particularly selective school, then it won't matter. Most students don't have BC walking into college.

I don't know about this. Sara Harberson (maybe I have the name incorrectly spelled) just posted about this. She said the #1 AP class that almost every kid walks into college with having taken in high school is Calculus BC. She just posted this a few days a ago. I'm assuming she's getting this data from either College Board or a similar place, so I'm guessing taking Calculus AB can be seen as a lesser math course and would render your kid on the not fully competitive side.

Harberson is wrong (as often seems to be the case)

In 2025, 285k students took the calc AB exam vs 160k took the BC exam.
https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/about-ap-scores/score-distributions/ap-calculus-ab
https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/about-ap-scores/score-distributions/ap-calculus-bc

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Agree. You will want to think through what schools are on the table for consideration. Taking AB when BC is an option very well may be limiting as it can be perceived as not stretching to take advantage of what is offered - particularly if classmates are doing so. It appears Econ is really popular these days as the alternative to business programs and thus can be pretty competitive. While DC wants to take it 'easy', the reality is the competition is not. If not going for a particularly selective school, then it won't matter. Most students don't have BC walking into college.

I don't know about this. Sara Harberson (maybe I have the name incorrectly spelled) just posted about this. She said the #1 AP class that almost every kid walks into college with having taken in high school is Calculus BC. She just posted this a few days a ago. I'm assuming she's getting this data from either College Board or a similar place, so I'm guessing taking Calculus AB can be seen as a lesser math course and would render your kid on the not fully competitive side.

How many kids in his school will take Calc BC? Those are who he will be compares to for admissions. If he is not motivated to do BC I prob would not push. At our school it is a lot more work than AB.

Take BC hands down. At this point, think of it as prep for college math. Those Calc 2/Calc 3 college math classes have a lot of students who already took it in HS so in our experience, the classes move along quickly and the curve can be tough if you’re taking a class for the first time when many others have already taken it.

Anonymous wrote:If most strong students at your school take BC, you need to take BC.

This.

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.)

The people he is competing with when it comes to admissions are his own classmates, so he should see what they are doing.

If most strong students at your school take BC, you need to take BC.

My DC was just admitted to UVA with AP Calculus AB senior year. Took AP PreCalc and AP Stats (elective) junior year. Interested in Econ/business.

I say, protect the gpa! Last year, my kid was worried about ab vs bc. They took ab (worried about managing apps, workload and q1 grades which many schools request). Now a freshman at an ivy and accepted to several flagships. Applied for econ/ir. I think its the whole package,and not 1 course in isolation. Also, when looking at flagships, gpa seemed most important. And be aware that each school recalculates differently. For ex, at umichigan a b-/b/b+ is all same value. So much better to get the a- vs b+.

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)