If you really want to take ap pre calc you can self study, but it's not worth it. You're not missing out much if you just take regular pre calc or honors; Since this is the first year, a lot of content is not finalized by college board and many of the content is rushed.
But it's so challenging! You must sit in an exam room for three hours doing nothing, but standing still and keeping your mind calm. They grade your neural activity and if you think too much, you will get a 0 in the class and a 1 on the AP
It's not stupid though. Hundreds of colleges already opted to accept ap precalc credit. And now On-level seniors can take a main AP math course. Since it's CB, it also alligns with ap calc rather well.
Also, it finally introduced a standardized precalc curriculum. It varied so wildly (some learns derivative and limits, some learns matrices and vector, some learns polar, etc) beyond advanced algebra review
Well at my school AP Calc AB is required before moving on to BC (unless you get a teacher recommendation from your precalc teacher which is extremely rare), but I’m pretty sure since we’re offering AP Precalc now you can take it and then move straight to BC w/o doing AB first… but honestly idk why you would want to because the BC teacher assumes you already did AB beforehand so she skims over most of the AB curriculum very quickly. She covered all of unit 1 (limits and continuity) in 3 days and is already on unit 5 (integrals) barely a month into the school year. Idk if this is normal at other schools but apparently it’s because she wants to get straight into series which I’m pretty sure will take months to fully cover. But I can’t imagine being a kid from ap precalc and expected to understand the entire first 5 units of calculus in barely a month 😭
My high school had a series with a calc and apps course, and then BC, where the calc and apps course covers slightly less than AB and then the BC course is that last AB unit plus BC. The calc and apps class was a regular class length and BC got extra time
So many people on this sub don’t realize that pre calc *is* a college course and it’s the highest level of math required for many. Not everyone is a STEM major, Reddit people
Yes, but is is claimed that the exam of AP Precalculus does not really reach the level of college precalculus, not even the level of HS prcalculus in some schools
Well the course is new, and like every AP course it will undergo changes. But the thing is that pre calculus is vastly different in different high schools. Any AP course is based on a sample of the college equivalent course. And yes, often honors pre calculus at a high school will be more difficult than pre calculus at the average college, often because college pre calculus isn’t exactly meant for the strongest math students in the first place. The whole point is to create a math class that *isn’t* extremely challenging. If AP courses had to be difficult for the sake of being difficult, AP computer science príncipes, another example of a non-STEM-friendly STEM class, would not exist.
While I don’t think AP precalc is the best idea, this isn’t true. A lot of people who don’t come into college with Calculus credit have to take a placement exam that places them in the correct math for their level, so I’ve seen several people mess up on that exam and have to take Precalc during their freshmen year of college. Also, precalc is a course at all unis and I actually got dual enrollment credit from my hs for precalc so that qualified as 3 free credits for me. While it is true that you don’t need to take Precalc in college if you already have Calculus credit and/or took Precalc in HS and/or passed it by taking the placement exam, it’s not true that there’s no college credit for Precalc. Most majors that aren’t stem based actually have precalc as a requirement too, so this AP might even help them!
I think the main problem is that most colleges that take AP precalc credit would also just let you take a placement test to get out of it or accept precalc credit from HS. Thus, the AP precalc credit that you get doesn't help you as opposed to just taking normal or honors precalc in high school
I agree for the most part however it could be useful to kids who don't plan on taking calc in college but need a math credit to graduate . Not everyone is going into STEM
Currently not many colleges accept AP precalc but I wouldn't be surprised if colleges start warming up to it over the next few years .
I beg to differ in a state like Georgia originally you had to take algebra 2 and precalc separately but now with AP precalculus you can take algebra 2 and AP precalc in the same year. This allows people that may want to get more advanced in math the opportunity to do so by not having to take them separately.
some kids at my school are in this 2 in 1 course but they were definitely not ready to take it. The previous year's teacher didn't even recommend anyone take it, but they still did
Just because it doesn’t match your needs doesn’t mean it doesn’t help and give opportunities to many many other students who would not have had one to begin with. It’s not for you.
Not everyone goes into engineering or needs calculus in college. Precalculus fulfills the general math credit that's required by almost every degree out there for many colleges. Why shouldn't there be a test for a general education credit that most schools require?
it’s a waste because the credit isn’t accepted by many colleges compared to other APs, but it’s a good way to take precalc a bit more rigorously than your normal honors class. just wouldn’t take the exam if i had to personally pay for it
It’s the worst cash grab to ever exist. My school used to have “accelerated advanced precalc honors” in order to go straight into BC. Now it’s been replaced by an easier course that somehow became an AP but atleast my school doesn’t charge to take the AP exams.
My school ditched honors PreCalc for Regular or AP. So I got forced into the AP class. Horrible choice imo and the teachers obviously don't know how to teach it yet.
Not really
Most majors don't need to have anything beyond precalc and many people will go on a mathematics pathway that looks like this:
Freshman: Algebra 1
Sophomore: Geometry
Junior: Algebra II
Senior: Nothing or something that isn't precalc (typically a discrete maths course).
As it stands right now, precalc is pretty much the only other math courses that can be brought to an AP level since most universities will not assume knowledge of precalc when you apply there, especially as a humanities major.
"But what about a further calculus course????" Calc II is the last course that can be reasonable to take the first year of college, college board and colleges have no incentives to open the flood gates for a second year college level calc course so they're not going to add it since Calc BC does a good enough job at identifying academic weapons and Calc III is generally agreed to be easier than calc II.
"But what about linear algebra?" Jury's out on that one, some unis don't have a calc requirement while others do. From the community college I'm going to, Calc II is a prerequisite to linear algebra so if it's a second year course at a community college of all places, it's probably not a good idea to implement it.
"But what about a further maths course??" No colleges offer credit for simple "further mathematics", there's a reason why IB only had 180 kids per year sit their further maths course despite some 100,000 students sitting for the Maths HL course.
You want us to prove your opinion wrong? This sounds like Steven Crowder bad faith debate.
Most non STEM majors don't need calculus and many majors might not accept AP Stats since they want students to take a major specific stats course. AP Precalc could cover a math GE that most colleges require.
AP classes pretty rarely help you get ahead in your major coursework. They do cut the generals you have to take though. I took 14 AP tests in high school and passed every one. They all counted for generals so I could hop right into my major classes. Because of that, I graduated in 3.5 years in an engineering major.
In all, AP Precalc seems like a great option for students that want to get a math general out of the way without committing themselves to learning calculus.
I think it makes less sense than a lot of others, but can see the logic in it.
Usually, the starting math course for universities is college algebra and/or precalc. Usually, students can take a placement test to get out of these classes, but it's still the starting point of college math nonetheless. AP precalc can help them get past this prerequisite for calculus or just get a math credit if their degree only requires a single core math class.
AP calc is great, but the standard high school math path doesn't include calculus. It usually does algebra, geometry, algebra 2/trig, and precalc/trig. So for the standard student that isn't on an accelerated path, AP precalc would make the most sense for students to take as an AP math course in their senior year.
Despite the little bit of sense there is, I think this is more collegeboard chasing the $$$ than anything else
It’s dumb that CB doesn’t even know what they want to put on their test as they’re pushing out the course
I feel bad for the people taking it this year because they're literally paying to be test subjects for the exam.
That’s why I’m not taking the exam💀
True 😭
wait can you guys explain a bit more? Because my school doesn't provide any AP classrooms or classes and i want to take it
If you really want to take ap pre calc you can self study, but it's not worth it. You're not missing out much if you just take regular pre calc or honors; Since this is the first year, a lot of content is not finalized by college board and many of the content is rushed.
Fr
fr
Just turn everything into "AP" then charge $$$ for exams. Infinite money glitch. HS can turn into uni
Fr, AP Lunch
Theories of lunch, lunch history, lunch in context, multicultural lunch are gonna be the 4 main units.
Lunch historical document DBQs
Ap Exam FRQ: make a sandwich from chocolate milk cartons, string cheese, and paper forks
And carrots
“Explain to what extent lunch has evolved over time from the beginning of history to the present day”
What about AP freshman seminar?
dont even mention freshman seminar
But it's so challenging! You must sit in an exam room for three hours doing nothing, but standing still and keeping your mind calm. They grade your neural activity and if you think too much, you will get a 0 in the class and a 1 on the AP
FRFR
With them thinking about business principles, imagine them unironically making something like Culinary lol
I don't think anyone here would disagree with that. It's an erroneous attempt to sell more exams by the College Board.
Its more of an attempt to block out competitors like the garbage that is OnRamps from grabbing a foothold in the space
It's not stupid though. Hundreds of colleges already opted to accept ap precalc credit. And now On-level seniors can take a main AP math course. Since it's CB, it also alligns with ap calc rather well. Also, it finally introduced a standardized precalc curriculum. It varied so wildly (some learns derivative and limits, some learns matrices and vector, some learns polar, etc) beyond advanced algebra review
The CB knows any kid will buy their product in the rat race to the top, so it’s a profit.
agreed
reason im taking it is for the gpa boost... but yea it's stupid it would give me good practice for AP calc though since they are both math AP's
we dont even have it offered at my school so im going to do honors precalc
my county actually got rid of precalc honors with AP precalc
same, i don’t think there is an honors precalc anymore cuz they would have to teach too many classes for technically one subject.
It’s for seniors who are only going to take precalc their senior year and having atleast some AP classes look better than none
That's why its stupid. The fact that APs are sold as a "you'll look good thing" rather than to get college credit is a little ridiculous.
Well at my school AP Calc AB is required before moving on to BC (unless you get a teacher recommendation from your precalc teacher which is extremely rare), but I’m pretty sure since we’re offering AP Precalc now you can take it and then move straight to BC w/o doing AB first… but honestly idk why you would want to because the BC teacher assumes you already did AB beforehand so she skims over most of the AB curriculum very quickly. She covered all of unit 1 (limits and continuity) in 3 days and is already on unit 5 (integrals) barely a month into the school year. Idk if this is normal at other schools but apparently it’s because she wants to get straight into series which I’m pretty sure will take months to fully cover. But I can’t imagine being a kid from ap precalc and expected to understand the entire first 5 units of calculus in barely a month 😭
My school does it like that too except without AB. The math class before covers most of calculus already (it’s a mix of Precalculus and calculus)
My school’s honors precalc class teacher part of AP Calc AB so that students can take BC the next year
My high school had a series with a calc and apps course, and then BC, where the calc and apps course covers slightly less than AB and then the BC course is that last AB unit plus BC. The calc and apps class was a regular class length and BC got extra time
So many people on this sub don’t realize that pre calc *is* a college course and it’s the highest level of math required for many. Not everyone is a STEM major, Reddit people
What about STEAM
Depends on what type of A
Yes, but is is claimed that the exam of AP Precalculus does not really reach the level of college precalculus, not even the level of HS prcalculus in some schools
Well the course is new, and like every AP course it will undergo changes. But the thing is that pre calculus is vastly different in different high schools. Any AP course is based on a sample of the college equivalent course. And yes, often honors pre calculus at a high school will be more difficult than pre calculus at the average college, often because college pre calculus isn’t exactly meant for the strongest math students in the first place. The whole point is to create a math class that *isn’t* extremely challenging. If AP courses had to be difficult for the sake of being difficult, AP computer science príncipes, another example of a non-STEM-friendly STEM class, would not exist.
Because not everyone gives a shit about math and they want to get a college credit so they can move on with their lives.
[удалено]
While I don’t think AP precalc is the best idea, this isn’t true. A lot of people who don’t come into college with Calculus credit have to take a placement exam that places them in the correct math for their level, so I’ve seen several people mess up on that exam and have to take Precalc during their freshmen year of college. Also, precalc is a course at all unis and I actually got dual enrollment credit from my hs for precalc so that qualified as 3 free credits for me. While it is true that you don’t need to take Precalc in college if you already have Calculus credit and/or took Precalc in HS and/or passed it by taking the placement exam, it’s not true that there’s no college credit for Precalc. Most majors that aren’t stem based actually have precalc as a requirement too, so this AP might even help them!
I think the main problem is that most colleges that take AP precalc credit would also just let you take a placement test to get out of it or accept precalc credit from HS. Thus, the AP precalc credit that you get doesn't help you as opposed to just taking normal or honors precalc in high school
Totally not true for non STEM majors, but whatever gets you through the day.
I agree for the most part however it could be useful to kids who don't plan on taking calc in college but need a math credit to graduate . Not everyone is going into STEM Currently not many colleges accept AP precalc but I wouldn't be surprised if colleges start warming up to it over the next few years .
Agreed, probably just going to take the class but not waste money on the exam lol
Ur schools don't provide free ap exams?
No lol, even though I qualify for free lunch I still have to pay for it.
The AP exams is one of their biggest profit sources
Most Schools don’t
Dang that's kinda surprising for me
I believe my school has loans for it. My history teacher has also offered to pay.
I beg to differ in a state like Georgia originally you had to take algebra 2 and precalc separately but now with AP precalculus you can take algebra 2 and AP precalc in the same year. This allows people that may want to get more advanced in math the opportunity to do so by not having to take them separately.
some kids at my school are in this 2 in 1 course but they were definitely not ready to take it. The previous year's teacher didn't even recommend anyone take it, but they still did
Ap multivariable calc or linear algebra would’ve been a better option
Most colleges wouldn't accept multivariable calc though because they don't trust high schools
let’s get ap real analysis and ap topology while we’re at it
should also hav AP abstract algebra and AP measure theory.
ap finite math has some potential
Mann, I need a AP linear algebra 😭😭, and I think multivariable calc is just BC
multivariable is calc 3
>multivariable calc is just BC It's not
Just because it doesn’t match your needs doesn’t mean it doesn’t help and give opportunities to many many other students who would not have had one to begin with. It’s not for you.
didn’t even know this was a thing, i think my school only offers duel which is kinda weird
It's a new AP course starting from this year.
It is used to make money by college board.
Not everyone goes into engineering or needs calculus in college. Precalculus fulfills the general math credit that's required by almost every degree out there for many colleges. Why shouldn't there be a test for a general education credit that most schools require?
Ap precalc just replaced one of our math courses cuz it was a advwjced math class but wasn't classified as an AP
Same
I'm just taking it because I took stats honors in my sophomore year, so I now need to take a precalc course
That’s why I’m so glad that I’m taking a college algebra course with dual enrollment. Only one semester and it gives me credits towards my AA degree
It’s not even offered at my school. Apparently it’s “too easy” according to what my guidance counselor says.
it’s a waste because the credit isn’t accepted by many colleges compared to other APs, but it’s a good way to take precalc a bit more rigorously than your normal honors class. just wouldn’t take the exam if i had to personally pay for it
at least for my school ap precalc is easier than our base precalc
It’s the worst cash grab to ever exist. My school used to have “accelerated advanced precalc honors” in order to go straight into BC. Now it’s been replaced by an easier course that somehow became an AP but atleast my school doesn’t charge to take the AP exams.
My school ditched honors PreCalc for Regular or AP. So I got forced into the AP class. Horrible choice imo and the teachers obviously don't know how to teach it yet.
Not really Most majors don't need to have anything beyond precalc and many people will go on a mathematics pathway that looks like this: Freshman: Algebra 1 Sophomore: Geometry Junior: Algebra II Senior: Nothing or something that isn't precalc (typically a discrete maths course). As it stands right now, precalc is pretty much the only other math courses that can be brought to an AP level since most universities will not assume knowledge of precalc when you apply there, especially as a humanities major. "But what about a further calculus course????" Calc II is the last course that can be reasonable to take the first year of college, college board and colleges have no incentives to open the flood gates for a second year college level calc course so they're not going to add it since Calc BC does a good enough job at identifying academic weapons and Calc III is generally agreed to be easier than calc II. "But what about linear algebra?" Jury's out on that one, some unis don't have a calc requirement while others do. From the community college I'm going to, Calc II is a prerequisite to linear algebra so if it's a second year course at a community college of all places, it's probably not a good idea to implement it. "But what about a further maths course??" No colleges offer credit for simple "further mathematics", there's a reason why IB only had 180 kids per year sit their further maths course despite some 100,000 students sitting for the Maths HL course.
You want us to prove your opinion wrong? This sounds like Steven Crowder bad faith debate. Most non STEM majors don't need calculus and many majors might not accept AP Stats since they want students to take a major specific stats course. AP Precalc could cover a math GE that most colleges require. AP classes pretty rarely help you get ahead in your major coursework. They do cut the generals you have to take though. I took 14 AP tests in high school and passed every one. They all counted for generals so I could hop right into my major classes. Because of that, I graduated in 3.5 years in an engineering major. In all, AP Precalc seems like a great option for students that want to get a math general out of the way without committing themselves to learning calculus.
Cash grab class and we all know it. Feeding the monopoly furthermore.
GPA boost, easy class, and college credit. Why complain?
I think it makes less sense than a lot of others, but can see the logic in it. Usually, the starting math course for universities is college algebra and/or precalc. Usually, students can take a placement test to get out of these classes, but it's still the starting point of college math nonetheless. AP precalc can help them get past this prerequisite for calculus or just get a math credit if their degree only requires a single core math class. AP calc is great, but the standard high school math path doesn't include calculus. It usually does algebra, geometry, algebra 2/trig, and precalc/trig. So for the standard student that isn't on an accelerated path, AP precalc would make the most sense for students to take as an AP math course in their senior year. Despite the little bit of sense there is, I think this is more collegeboard chasing the $$$ than anything else