Video: Skip (or Not Pass) The AP® Calculus Exam?

Are you thinking about skipping the AP® Calculus exam? Or perhaps you took the AP® Calculus exam AB or BC, but you did not score a high enough grade to earn college credits at your new college or university? Distance Calculus is an excellent option to consider for taking the next set of classes - Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, and/or Probability Theory (Calculus-Based Statistics), and skipping over the AP® Calculus AB (Calculus I) and BC (Calculus II) course structures.

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Video: Distance Calculus - After AP® Calculus

Have you completed the AP® Calculus AB and/or BC course? Many high school students complete these AP Calculus courses during their junior year, leaving their senior year without any math courses. One idea to consider is taking the second-year Distance Calculus courses during your high school senior year, to further your math requirement completions. Many high school seniors take Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, and/or Probability Theory (Calculus-Based Statistics), with some students finishing all of their calculus requirements before they start at their new college/university as freshman!

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What About AP® Calculus?

If you are a high school student, you may be faced with the challenge of the AP - Advanced Placement - Calculus Exam administered by The College Board.

After taking your high school calculus course, you are able to earn college credit by passing the AB Calculus and/or BC Calculus exams.

Distance Calculus is a calculus course, and is roughly equivalent - in terms of the calculus topics covered - to your high school calculus course, much the same way any Calculus I course at any college or university is roughly equivalent to your high school calculus course.

Unlike your high school calculus course, when you complete a Distance Calculus course, you do not have to take an additional examination to receive college credit - you EARN college credit by completing the Distance Calculus course!

So, in this big huge regard, completing a Distance Calculus course is better than completing your high school calculus course, because upon completion, you get real university credits for a real university course rather than having to take an extra (high pressure, high stakes) examination.

Are There Advantages To Taking the AP Exam Over Distance Calculus?

Many high schools reward students for taking AP Calculus and passing the AP Calculus exam via "extra grade points", thus potentially inflating your G.P.A. beyond a "4.0". Your high school may allow for this, others do not. You should check with your high school counselor to see if such "rewards" apply.

Students who are seeking academic-based scholarships are keen to maximize their G.P.A. in all ways possible. If your high school provides for increasing your G.P.A. via taking AP-level courses and passing the AP exams, and you need to maximize your G.P.A. in this way, then it is obvious that you need to follow the AP course and exam path, rather than Distance Calculus.

Will Distance Calculus Prepare Me For the AP Calculus Exam?

In some ways: Yes. In other ways: No.

Distance Calculus will teach you the academic content in Calculus I, II, etc. In this way, Distance Calculus will prepare you for the AP Calculus exam by teaching you the topics in calculus that will be on these exams.

Commonly, AP Calculus courses in high schools have a significant component - usually the last 2 months of the course - where the focus is on exam prep. Distance Calculus does not have an "exam prep" component to aid those students wishing to take the AP Calculus Exam.

There are many great "exam prep" services out there, including HyperLearning, Kaplan, and The Princeton Review. These services can be "pricey", but these companies are experts in coaching students on preparing for these exams.

Distance Calculus does not offer these services. If you need AP Calculus exam prep, we recommend hiring the services of one of these companies.

Of course, if you complete your calculus coursework via Distance Calculus in high school, and you do not need (or are not allowed) to amplify your G.P.A. with AP courses and exams, you do not NEED to take the AP Calculus exam, because you will (upon successful completion of a Distance Calculus course) earn real university credits without the AP exam.