Nikolai

I've been studying my butt off (the reason for the few posts lately) for my AP Calculus I (AB) exam Even though I will get another chance at it next year (when you take Calc 2 AP you get a Calc one score that you can keep) there is so much damn pressure from my parents and teachers... Plus I don't wana feel like a spent 80 dollars/ a year of math for nothing. Sorry if this is a bit ramling, my brain is so fried from doing every single previous exam since the dawn of mankind. And I still have a week of this So is anyone else taking any?

RufusAtticus

Take all the AP exams you can. I took eight when I was in highschool, they allowed me to skip nearly two years of college as well as giving me the status as an AP National Scholar. Because of them I was able to get two unrelated degrees in 3.5 years, with a bunch of extra credit in various other fields.

[BRAG]
European History - 5
American History - 5
Chemistry - 5
Latin (Vergil) - 5
Biology - 5
Latin (Ovid/Catullus) - 5
Calculus AB - 5
English Literature - 4
[/BRAG]

philechat

Don't worry too much if you were a Junior. If you passed BC I believe you would automatically be granted an AB score. And also, I am not as optimistic about colleges granting AP credits--only about half of my AP credits are recognized by my college, and my English AP score is virtually useless in the fullest sense (it does not satisfy the writing or the minor requirement).

Monkeybot

I wouldn't worry too terribly much. I BARELY managed not to fail AP calc, but I still managed to get a 3 on the actual test (which is Qualified, and got me out of a math course in university).

I only took two AP tests, but I thought both were a total joke.

Chicken Girl

I took Computer Science AB(5), Calc BC(5), Physics C (Electromagnetism(5) and mechanics(4)), and U.S. government(4).

I say don't worry at all about your Calc AB grade, since you're taking BC next year. Consider this a practice test. If you do well, so far so good. Even if you don't, the experience will help you do better next time around.

LianaLi

What everyone else said. I took the Cal 2/Cal BC AP. I studied my ass off to get the first C I'd ever gotten in a class as a junior in high school. It was worth it though, since I got a 4 on the AP score, and got what equalled to an A and a B of college credit.

KoopaFanatic

Offhand I can't remember the exact exams I took or scores, but I think there were about five or six and I did well on all of them. Problem is, like philechat my exams were totally useless. The calc AB just required me to take another math class, one that I was nowhere near qualified to be in, the physics exam satisfied one requirement that I already had satisfied three times over in another field, and my program didn't give me anything for English (either one), government or history, since they required super-special-elitist-aren't-we-cool-waste-of-time classes that superceded the AP material anyway

I'd have been pissed if I'd had to pay for them, but fortunately my high school covered that.

Nikolai

Technicaly I could take it three times. This year the AB, the BC next year, and then the BC again as a senior, but I doubt I will want to put that much effort into it to study for it even when I'm not taking the class.

notMichaelJackson

The only AP course I took was the only AP course my high school offered at the time- AP English (it was a very small school, and since I graduated last year they added AP Calculus, AP United States History, and possibly AP Art).

My teacher was a first year AP Instructor, and only a few people in the class bothered attempting the exam. He wasn't very fond of it, claiming that the tests are very difficult to pass, and that they do not accurately represent college-level courses. Oddly enough, he listed every possible problem he saw with the AP system, then made the test mandatory for the entire class (although he dropped the requirement shortly after everyone started complaining about the $80 fee).

Shadowy Man

I took AP Calculus BC in high school. And those were my grades the two semesters: B and C. Then I bombed the AP test. I took one other AP test and bombed that too.

Now I work as an astrophysicist.

I wouldn't worry too much about the impact of AP tests on your future. They may give you a head start if you do well, but they won't put you behind if you don't.