Musicmom Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Has anyone had their dc self-study for and take the AP Calculus AB exam? If so, how did you prepare and how did it go for your dc? What resources did you use? My 11th grade dd is doing Thinkwell’s AP Calculus AB course this year and we’re supplementing with a calculus text we already own (Anton, Bivens and Davis--which is on the College Board’s list) for extra practice. I’m wrestling with whether to have Dd try going for the AP Calculus test or not. She’s probably headed for life sciences, and probably going to be looking at selective colleges. She will take the AP Chemistry test, but she’s doing an online course which should prepare her well for that. It seems like a high score on the Calculus test would be nice for college admissions (??maybe? I'm not sure if/how AP scores are looked at during admissions) and might be useful for general math credit in college—if she goes into something that doesn’t require calculus. (If she does need calc in college, I’d want her to retake it there.) But is it realistic to be able to get a high score on this test by self-studying?? Would it be worth the effort? We’ve done SAT 2’s, but never tried any AP tests before, so this is new territory for us. If anyone has advice or input, it would be much appreciated! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Has anyone had their dc self-study for and take the AP Calculus AB exam? If so, how did you prepare and how did it go for your dc? What resources did you use? My 11th grade dd is doing Thinkwell’s AP Calculus AB course this year and we’re supplementing with a calculus text we already own (Anton, Bivens and Davis--which is on the College Board’s list) for extra practice. I’m wrestling with whether to have Dd try going for the AP Calculus test or not. She’s probably headed for life sciences, and probably going to be looking at selective colleges. She will take the AP Chemistry test, but she’s doing an online course which should prepare her well for that. It seems like a high score on the Calculus test would be nice for college admissions (??maybe? I'm not sure if/how AP scores are looked at during admissions) and might be useful for general math credit in college—if she goes into something that doesn’t require calculus. (If she does need calc in college, I’d want her to retake it there.) But is it realistic to be able to get a high score on this test by self-studying?? Would it be worth the effort? We’ve done SAT 2’s, but never tried any AP tests before, so this is new territory for us. If anyone has advice or input, it would be much appreciated! :001_smile: My ds self-studied for the AP Calculus BC exam with Thinkwell and got a 5. We didn't use it for admissions, but it would have helped, I think, if he had been needing that. It did get him out of Calculus 1 & 2 at university, and he's doing well now as a freshman in Linear Algebra. Having the credits has enabled him to take a double minor. You might find this thread useful. I and others explain what we did for AP Calc (both AB and BC). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicmom Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Thank you so much, Luann! :001_smile: This is very helpful. I must have missed that thread when we were on vacation; otherwise I'm sure I would have filed it away for reference. :D If anyone else has more info/experience to share, I would love to hear it. :bigear: Thanks! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belacqua Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I'll just echo Luann's experience with Thinkwell calculus. We found it an excellent preparation for the BC exam. I agree also with the suggestion to allocate some time to use test prep books, in order to acquaint the student with the format of the test, timing, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsintheGarden Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Our two oldest studied for Calculus APs using the Chalkdust program, which uses the Calculus of a Single Variable Larson book. This book covers the material on the AB (Chapters 1-5) and BC (Chapters 6-9) exams. They used the Princeton Review prep book for review. Generally the AB exam corresponds to Calc I and BC corresponds to Calc II. Each received a 5 on the exam. Ds didn't get done with Precalc until January of his senior year. He studied for and prepped for the AB exam from Jan.-May. He studied the prep book along with the Larson book (1st half), doing each prep chapter just after each Larson chapter. He did the prep book practice exams in the two weeks before the AP. He took the credit his university gave him for Calc I and has gotten A's in all of his math classes at college (he's a math major). Ds got done with Precalc in September of her senior year. She studied the entire Larson Calc book between September and the end of February, then the prep book March-May. She also saved the practice exams in the two weeks before the AP. She took credit for Calc I & II. She's only had to take one math class for her biochem major - stats with calc - and took her handmade Calculus study sheets to school with her to refresh her memory since it's been over a year since she studied it. She's decided to at least minor in math, so she will be taking Calc III next semester. If you have the time and do the Larson book, I feel it's worth trying to get done with the entire thing. Calculus really clicked with ds and dd after the grueling Larson Precalc book. HTH, GardenMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.