AP classes

[LadyAberlin]

Okay this is probably a dumb question, but I was wondering do you have to take a highschool Calculus course before taking an AP calculus course or do you just dive right in to the AP course? I have the same question for all AP subjects.

 

Thanks!

[Jane in NC]

A note first on content: there are two different AP Calculus exams, AB and BC. AP Calc AB is the equivalent of a single semester of college Calculus, i.e. Differential Calculus, the Fundamental Theorem of the Integral Calculus and an introduction to the integral. AP Calc BC is the equivalent of two semesters of college calculus, that is, all of the above, plus more integration techniques, as well as sequences and series.

 

High school students who study Calculus typically transition from Precalculus to either one of these courses depending on their mathematical strengths. A solid high school mathematics background is needed for either of these courses. Admittedly AP Calc BC is more than many high school students can master.

 

Math and the foreign language AP courses have years of introductory background material which have laid foundations. Students who are prepared can move directly into them.

 

But what about AP Biology, Chemistry or Physics on the first go around? Some students can do this, but it is the equivalent of jumping into a college course without the high school background. Some sink, some swim.

 

It seems very common for a typical high school student to take AP US History as a first AP course. This is done without a prior high school American history course, but again students usually walk into this with some foundation. APUSH covers a great deal of material so a considerable amount of reading is necessary. Again, many high school students handle this well. Some do not.

 

Hope this helps,

Jane

[MomsintheGarden]

If your student has completed a rigorous precalculus course, he is ready to move right into calculus. Calculus, by nature, is "AP" because it is still considered college-level math. Deciding which AP Calculus exam your student takes depends on how much calculus he is able to study before the exam by the end of his senior year.

 

My two oldest have done/are doing AP calculus. We use Chalkdust; others have been successful with different curriculum. Here are their two scenarios to give you an idea:

 

Student 1, Ds:

Finished Chalkdust Precalc in January of his senior year of high school. Studied the first half of the Chalkdust Calc book + the AB sections of the Princeton Review study guide by May, took and passed the Calculus AB AP exam.

 

Student 2, Dd:

Finished Chalkdust Precalc in September of her senior year of high school. She will be done with the entire Chalkdust Calculus book + the entire Princeton Review study guide by May and plans to take the Calculus BC AP exam.

 

Colleges usually award credit for Calc 1 with a certain score on the BC exam (often a 3) and both Calc 1 & 2 with a higher BC exam score (usually a 4 or 5). I believe the best strategy is to take the BC exam no matter how much calculus your student studies.

 

You should ALWAYS check with your student's intended college(s) first to get their AP policy before any AP planning.

 

HTH,

GardenMom

[danielle]

Dd has done her 2 APs with no specific background except the solid foundation WTM provided up until 8th grade. She did AP Human Geo in 8th grade, AP US Gov in 9th (no intro but watching the news and family discussions; we'd never done civics) and this year is doing AP Comp Gov and AP Macroeconomics.

 

Just be prepared that these are A LOT of reading. I think the student has to be able to handle that more than actually knowing the subject. Which is interesting, because the kids I've talked to in college tours all say the biggest surprise about college was the amount of reading. So maybe AP IS a good prep!

Danielle

[Kareni]

My daughter's experiences as regards AP classes and tests ~

 

Her first AP was US History. She took an out of the home class in 10th grade. Her background at that point was a WTM three year sweep through history at the logic stage. (She started homeschooling in 7th grade.) The class was intense as far as the volume of reading. Her class used the American Pageant and she read it from cover to cover (all 1000 plus pages of it). She scored well receiving a 4.

 

Her second and third AP classes were taken in 11th grade. She took an AP Comparative Politics and Government class. This class had less reading than the AP US History class she had taken the previous year. My daughter had little innate interest in this subject, so came to it with little background. She also had a full slate of other obligations so this class was given short shrift. We were pleased when she received a 4 on the exam. She acknowledged that she could have done better had she given more time to the class.

 

She also took AP Latin in 11th grade. This was her fourth year of Latin with an out of the home instructor. She was very well prepared for this class and loved it. She scored a 5 on the exam.

 

In 12th grade, she took AP Statistics through an online class with Carole Matheny and Pennsylvania Homeschoolers. Prior to this year she had completed math through College Algebra and Trigonometry; she had had no Statistics. She was very well prepared by the class (I recommend it) and scored a 5 on the exam.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[GeekyMom]

Okay this is probably a dumb question, but I was wondering do you have to take a highschool Calculus course before taking an AP calculus course or do you just dive right in to the AP course? I have the same question for all AP subjects.

 

Thanks!

 

Speaking only for AP Computer Science, my daughter took Algebra I and some basic "how to build a website" type courses before going into APCS.

 

She took it online and did pretty well. The instructor was really responsive and emailed back within hours of her questions. I'm sure it would have been more difficult if she had not taken some kind of computer class. But the APCS course assumes you've never coded before. She took this class, but there are quite a few if you google them.

[angela in ohio]

Dd has done her 2 APs with no specific background except the solid foundation WTM provided up until 8th grade. She did AP Human Geo in 8th grade, AP US Gov in 9th (no intro but watching the news and family discussions; we'd never done civics) and this year is doing AP Comp Gov and AP Macroeconomics.

 

Just be prepared that these are A LOT of reading. I think the student has to be able to handle that more than actually knowing the subject. Which is interesting, because the kids I've talked to in college tours all say the biggest surprise about college was the amount of reading. So maybe AP IS a good prep!

Danielle

 

Hi Danielle,

 

You've probably said this before (sorry,) but did your dd do AP prep through a class or independently?

[Denise in Florida]

My oldest dd went from High School Geometry to College Algebra at the community college. She then did pre-calc, calc 1 and calc 2 at community college. She did not do high school algebra 2 or calc.

 

I did not have her take any AP classes but she did complete 36 credit hours at our local community college before she graduated high school. Some college counselors said they liked to see a mix of AP and Dual Enrollment, but all the colleges she applied to accepted her.

 

Side note: She was given credit for the cc credits at New College (same state system and they recognize each other's credits), where they do not offer any credits for AP or IB classes. They were the ones who said they liked to see AP on the transcript. :001_huh:

 

ETA: I realize this thread wasn't about AP vs. Dual Enrollment (sorry). I was trying to share our experience placing high school and college work into a sequence.

[danielle]

Angela (and anyone else):

It's been different for each class. AP Human Geo she read the De Blij book and watched some of the videos available on line at www.learner.org, then used a review book. Don't do what I did and buy Rubenstein or the projects book. Too much--De Blij is enough and the most engaging. Dd loved this class, and wouldn't give up the book. Scored a 5.

 

AP US Gov she worked through the Edwards book Government in America and the Wohl book of readings, following the syllabus and watching the videos at NROC www.courserepository.org. Scored a 5

 

This year, for AP comparative government she is just reading two books from the College Board sample syllabi, Intro to Contemp Politics, O'Neill et al, and the Kesselman book of readings, plus a review book. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Next semester she is going to tackle Macroeconomics. So far I plan to use Thinkwell, and bought a subscription via Homeschool Buyers coop. If this isn't enough, there's more at www.learner.org, and we have an ancient copy of Samuelson around. I might have her read a couple of pop works, too, like Freakonomics. And, zzzzz, a review book.

 

HTH

Danielle