Calculus at cc or AP?

[SS in MD]

Help! I need some advice. My dd will be a junior this fall and wants to go into a STEM major (Biology w/genetic research) and would like to try to get into a selective college. She wants to take 4 APs next year (she took 3 this year) along with Chem 101 & 102 at cc, Spanish 2 & 3 at cc (fall/spring semesters), and she'll continue with Mandarin Chinese lessons with local tutor. This fall, dd has signed up for AP Eng Lit, AP US Hist, AP Econ with PA homeschoolers. Though math is not her fav subject and she is not a mathy kid, she wants to take AP Calc AB, because she wants to be competitive for trying to get into a selective college. But, I wonder which would look better on a transcript? - AP Calc AB (either PAH or Derek Owens or Potters school) or Calc I & II at cc (fall/spring)?? The advantage of doing it at cc is she would have a live teacher, but the course will go very fast (something she is worried about). Another option, she could take cc courses then study for AP Calc AB on her own, but she is concerned prof may not cover all AP material (that's what happened this year with Bio at cc, prof didn't cover 1/3 of the text, and dd had to independently study it all and prep for AP. She was very disappointed with lazyness of prof. Prof didn't even complete syllabus). Also, with math being her least favorite subject I fear she will leave it for the last thing to study for if she were to study AP Calc on her own (if she did calc at cc). She desires to take AP Calc to show mastery of content. (cc curriculums vary so much)

 

Has anyone any advice on this??? Would it "look" better to selective colleges to have AP Calc AB designation or Calc I & II at cc? Has anyone take Calc at cc and then taken Calc AP exam?

 

Any help would be great!!! I'm really confused! :tongue_smilie:

[Dana]

She desires to take AP Calc to show mastery of content. (cc curriculums vary so much)

 

I'll at least give you a bump :)

 

Due to the discrepancies between calc courses, you would want to hang on to the course description published in the course catalog. This shows the topics that should have been covered in the class. A semester long calculus class would roughly correspond to AB calc and two semesters would be BC in my understanding (which is likely out of date at this point).

 

If you can get good information on who would be a good instructor at the cc, taking calculus with an instructor could be better for learning the material. For college acceptance, I'd prefer taking the AP exam - or take the cc course for familiarity and then plan on retaking it at the university.

 

Good luck.

[Teachin'Mine]

While I'm not at all familiar with any of your online options, my advice would be to go with one of those - covering calculus AB. The reason is the same as you mentioned - the cc course will move more quickly and cover the AB material in one semester instead of a year. If your student needs it take it slower, it's not possible with a cc course, so I would recommend one of the full year, online courses. Then in her senior year, she should be able to move onto cc calculus courses - whether repeating calculus I, moving onto calculus II, or doing both.

Edited June 3, 2012 by Teachin'Mine

CC's are all over the place in terms of rigor. Some are great, but most are terrible, and really teach at a remedial high school level, even the "college level" classes like Calculus. Isn't it telling that the Chemistry class at your CC taught one third of the AP curriculum? Unless the college in question is familiar with the particular CC in question (because of locality), I would strongly recommend the AP class ASSUMING THE AP CLASS HAS A GOOD RECORD WITH THE AP TEST. (sorry for the yelling). There are many non-rigorous so-called "AP" classes taught at the high school level, whose students can't get more than a "2" on the AP tests, or worse, who don't even bother taking the test because they know they will do poorly. Taking a class labelled "AP" without the AP test, or a bad grade on the AP test doesn't help competitive college entrance at all.

[SS in MD]

Thank you all for posting! After reading the comments, I am definately leaning towards dd taking AP Calc AB (not Calc at cc), especially what she went through this year with Bio at cc.

 

Do you all have any good recommendations for AP Calc AB (online)? I'll also post this question as a new thread...

 

Thank you all very much!