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OK experts. I would like to hear your opinions. My son just got his AP scores back. He scored 5 on the Calculus AB exam. He is planning on majoring in economics with a math minor. He will be attending a school where there is a large STEM population.
Although he scored 5 on the exam he got a B- in the class. He consistently scored between 77-82 on the tests during the school year. There was no curve on the class so his B- was really a B- (not a C with a curve). When he took the practice AP exams he scored around 85% on the multiple choice questions.
His school will give him credit for Calculus 1 and he can start in Calculus 2. Should he consider taking Calculus 1 over again? I don't see any reason why he should take it over, but a few of his friends are going to take it again. As a math minor he will have to take the entire Calculus sequence. He likes math.
OK experts. I would like to hear your opinions. My son just got his AP scores back. He scored 5 on the Calculus AB exam. He is planning on majoring in economics with a math minor. He will be attending a school where there is a large STEM population.
Although he scored 5 on the exam he got a B- in the class. He consistently scored between 77-82 on the tests during the school year. There was no curve on the class so his B- was really a B- (not a C with a curve). When he took the practice AP exams he scored around 85% on the multiple choice questions.
His school will give him credit for Calculus 1 and he can start in Calculus 2. Should he consider taking Calculus 1 over again? I don't see any reason why he should take it over, but a few of his friends are going to take it again. As a math minor he will have to take the entire Calculus sequence. He likes math.
Holy crap, he got those scores in the class AND on the exam?
I barely passed Trigonometry in high school with a 67 lol.
He should take Calc 2 since he's such a boss at math. That's a bright kid you have there. Taking a class over again and wasting time is...well, quite pointless. Especially when he got such awesome scores.
I don't care what anyone else says, a B- in a Calc class is awesome.
He should go into calc 2. No point in retaking the class when he passed it. If it was a C, then I would understand a bit but hes doing good. I would have never dreamed of taking a AP Calc class in HS. I would probably fail right out of it if I even made it into the class!
I would have never dreamed of taking a AP Calc class in HS. I would probably fail right out of it if I even made it into the class!
Lol me too! My math and science teachers all agreed to get me through the Regents exams if I promised not to ever take another math or science course again lol.
I took Chemistry in HS which is considered upper level science and didn't even fill out part three of the state exam because I knew literally nothing and somehow managed to pass by one point. The next time I saw my Chem teacher who graded the exam, I started to ask him how it was possible that I passed and he just stood there, grinned, and winked at me.
If I was your son I would contact my academic advisor and ask for a previous syllabus from both Calc 1 and 2, preferably from the prof whose section I would be in. There might be material covered in Calc 1 that was not covered in AP Calc and will be important for Calc 2.
OK experts. I would like to hear your opinions. My son just got his AP scores back. He scored 5 on the Calculus AB exam. He is planning on majoring in economics with a math minor. He will be attending a school where there is a large STEM population.
Although he scored 5 on the exam he got a B- in the class. He consistently scored between 77-82 on the tests during the school year. There was no curve on the class so his B- was really a B- (not a C with a curve). When he took the practice AP exams he scored around 85% on the multiple choice questions.
His school will give him credit for Calculus 1 and he can start in Calculus 2. Should he consider taking Calculus 1 over again? I don't see any reason why he should take it over, but a few of his friends are going to take it again. As a math minor he will have to take the entire Calculus sequence. He likes math.
I think it depends on whether he feels he understands the material and did so so on the class tests or whether he thinks he doesn't understand the material and somehow pulled off an amazing score on the AP test. If he doesn't understand the material then taking Calc 1 again may be helpful, but if he understands the material I would see no point in taking the class again.
I would also suggest looking up what topics are covered in Calc 1 and Calc 2 at his particular school. Depending on how his HS was he could have already covered half of Calc 2.
I would talk to the math department chair at his school and see what he has to say. DS is going into a math field, actuarial science, and is a strong math student in class and on tests, was one of the top scores in our state on the national math exam and they said that they would prefer the not skip the entry level math classes. At a couple schools they said that they will test kids during the first week or so to make sure they are in the right classes. They also said that adjusting to college is hard enough and to struggle in your major (or minor) classes from the get go just adds extra pressure.
I would talk to the math department chair at his school and see what he has to say. DS is going into a math field, actuarial science, and is a strong math student in class and on tests, was one of the top scores in our state on the national math exam and they said that they would prefer the not skip the entry level math classes. At a couple schools they said that they will test kids during the first week or so to make sure they are in the right classes. They also said that adjusting to college is hard enough and to struggle in your major (or minor) classes from the get go just adds extra pressure.
My son called the school and spoke with someone from the economics department (the math classes are required). The person he spoke with told him that they are very careful about giving credit for AP classes and that students should take advantage of the AP credits they earn. She also told him that he would know right away if he was in over his head in Calc 2 and that he could change during the drop/add period with no penalty.
I think that since it is his first semester in college and he will be playing football that he should retake Calc 1 because it should be easy for him. He wants to move ahead to Calc 2 because he says it will be boring to retake a class he already took and passed. Ultimately it will be up to him.
Edited to add: The school does have a math placement exam but since he scored a 5 on the AP exam he does not have to take the math placement exam.
OK experts. I would like to hear your opinions. My son just got his AP scores back. He scored 5 on the Calculus AB exam. He is planning on majoring in economics with a math minor. He will be attending a school where there is a large STEM population.
Although he scored 5 on the exam he got a B- in the class. He consistently scored between 77-82 on the tests during the school year. There was no curve on the class so his B- was really a B- (not a C with a curve). When he took the practice AP exams he scored around 85% on the multiple choice questions.
His school will give him credit for Calculus 1 and he can start in Calculus 2. Should he consider taking Calculus 1 over again? I don't see any reason why he should take it over, but a few of his friends are going to take it again. As a math minor he will have to take the entire Calculus sequence. He likes math.
Ok I guess I am going to be the sole source of dissention here.
My daughter also got a 5 on the AB AP, but will only need to go through Calc 4 for her degree. She took Calc 1 again. Her freshman year schedule was fairly intense (Gen Chem, Gen Bio, Calc, Some English Class, a class in her major and a mandatory symposium). She probably could have gone into Clac 2 but wanted the breathing room Calc 1 would give her. Also, same issue as other posters, she wanted to make sure her basics were perfect before moving up.
you are WAY too involved in your smart son's class decision making. Time to let go.
Are you stressing because he will be moving away for school? Don't worry - he will keep in touch. I can tell.
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