Hello, I'm a sophomore in Math 4/Math 5 this year and I'm confused as to how to decide whether to take BC or AB calc junior year. I have a 91.9 in math 4 right now (vectors test oof), and I haven't had any problems in other TJ math courses. Would self-studying a bunch over the summer be helpful?
Congrats on your performance in Math 4 so far. Yeah, the vectors test was hard for me too when I took math 4, but hey we both got through it. As for deciding between BC and AB, I would personally say take BC if you’re comfortable in your math abilities and want a good challenge. BC takes on a faster pace than AB, since BC covers the equivalent of an entire Calculus course at college and AB covers around half of that much. AB on the other hand is best for people who like to learn slowly and carefully. To give you some reference, I personally felt the pacing of BC felt more or less similar to that of Math 4 / Math 5.
The summer before I took BC as a junior, I took Math 6 as part of the TJ summer school program. I’m not sure if they still offer that, but if they still do, I would say that would be the most helpful way to prepare yourself for BC. The course centers around the visualization and conceptualization of Calculus concepts rather than computation-focused (for example, you don’t learn how to compute derivatives for different functions, you would learn instead the significance / meaning of the first derivative and second derivatives for any given function. I think it therefore properly introduces to you what exactly a derivative is in that sense), so that really helped as I started taking BC. Math 6 is also a semester course (so 2.5 weeks during the summer), so you’ll still get a lot of free time in the summer if you’re wondering about that. Do only Math 6 though if you’re planning on BC.
