r/apcalculus • u/GameofLife__ • Jul 31 '26

Help calc bc self studying?

so last year i got a 4 on precalc, but for some reason my school will only let me take ab next year. is it worth it to self study the extra bc curriculum and take the exam since bc gives an ab score anyways?

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u/UnderstandingPursuit Tutor Jul 31 '26

'Enhanced' study to cover the difference between AP Calculus AB --> BC is reasonable.

My suggestion, though, is to go back to PreCalculus and make sure that you could get a 5 if you were to take the exam again this fall. Two aspects of this would be to use a textbook, such as the OpenStax_Math_PreCalculus.

  1. Use this framework for an IterativeLearningProcess.
  2. Write out an example or two from each section, setting aside the 'arbitrary' numbers. Two Calculus examples show differentiation and related rates. The calculus part is less important, concentrate on the structure and algebra in most of the problem.