lisabees Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 I recall discussion about AoPS students needing exposure to some things before taking the AP exam. Would anyone like to share the concepts not covered in AoPS that our kids will need to know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 The AP calc exam contains problems that can only be solved using a graphing calculator. Since AoPS teaches math, not using a calculator, the student would definitely need to prepare for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Thanks Regentrude! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 You should probably purchase or borrow one of the Calculus AP help books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Hi Lisa! Using AoPS for calculus will give your son all the concepts he needs. What most kids will also need before the AP exam is some dedicated practice in building speed with the different techniques. A good AP review book will provide this practice. We like using Barrons for Multiple Choice practice, this text for targeted FRQ practice (it has very detailed solutions showing exactly what the AP graders are looking for; it's an older book that's still relevant today), and a released exam (purchased from the College Board) taken just before the real test in May. There are lots of FRQs & grading rubrics on the CB website, too, for additional practice. He must learn how to use a graphing calculator for the exam; AoPS won't cover that part. Have you seen the College Board AP calculus course description booklet? He only needs to be familiar with the 4 procedures listed on p.14 of that pdf. Those shouldn't take most kids more than an hour to master. On the AP exams, one section of the multiple choice and one section of the free response questions will allow calculator usage. Not all of the questions in those sections will require a calculator, but there WILL be some questions that cannot be solved any other way. They won't be easy examples that can be done by hand, but instead will be messy integrals, functions that cannot be quickly graphed by hand, etc. You can see examples of calculator based MC problems on pp 23 - 27 of the same pdf linked above (#15, 19, 23, 24) and typical calculator FRQs on pp 48-49 (#1, 2). hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Fabulous! As always, thank you! Kathy - I appreciate the details and links. So very helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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