Sunday, January 8, 2012
Do I take AB or BC Calculus AP as a senior?
I am a senior now in high school, and this year, I am taking AP Chem, AP Stats, and AP Calc, whether BC or AB, I don't know. I play volleyball, at a high level club and for the school, which takes up a good deal of time, and I have some occasional extracurriculars. I am also applying to colleges and universities within a month or two, so that will also take a portion of my time. My dilemma is whether or not I should take AB or BC Calculus. I want to go into Pre-Med, and also be prepared for the MCAT. I, in freshman and sopre year, was never too strong in math, placing B-B+ in Geometry Honors and Algebra II/Trig, but last year, I actually started trying and got a relatively easy A in Precalculus. With all this being said, I don't know which level of calculus to take as a senior. For those of you who don't know the difference, BC is the harder one, which gives you two semesters of college credit, as opposed to the one semester given for taking AB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP_Calculus). At my school, AB is extremely easy, the teacher is very laid back and the pace is very slow compared to BC. BC on the other hand is very fast paced, the teacher takes it very seriously, and the kids in the cl are (no exaggeration) the smartest on campus. I have talked to my school counselor and my college counselor about what to do. My college counselor said that private schools (those to which I'm applying) don't even really see a difference between AB and BC because they don't offer you the AP credit either way, while public schools do offer the credit. He said it seems like a good drop, as there is really no need to take BC. But I still keep thinking...I want to be ready for college calculus and the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test). So, the ultimate question, do I take BC and fight through the pain and work for something that might not much of a difference, or take AB and hope that I'll do well on that second semester material in college. I feel that this issue may determine whether I get into the schools of my dreams. Any input would be great.
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