We are in a very competitive public school district in California. One of my friends' daughters just got into MIT. She is a real math whiz. She skipped pre-calculus and took two years of AP Calculus (AB and BC) at our high school, then took an advanced calculus class at our state university her senior year.
Several of her friends skipped AB Calculus and took BC Calculus. They said that was "really hard." (hard to skip AB and go into BC).
If 4 years of math aren't required to graduate, my son still plans to take 4 years since he wants a math/science career.
I still think it's odd to have Calculus broken into two years. This wasn't the way it was done when I was in HS and it's not the way it done at the local one.
It's all in how you break up the material though... We have a years of Pre-Calc. Regular pre-calc leads to AB, H. Pre Calc leads to BC. The H. Pre-Calc includes some beginning Calculus topics to get a jump start on the next year. Kids who go right into BC, don't skip AB. I agree it would be difficult if it's broken up that way.
Why it's strange is because of how the AP tests are given & colleges give credit. One university DS is looking at gives credit for 2 'quarters' of Calc for the AB Calc Test, and 3 for BC Calc. IF you take both tests on different years, you only get credit for the later test. It's also odd since the letter ABC are meant to be break the material into 3. So if you take Calc AB one year, the next year of Cal BC would just be the C part and be slower? Or do they add extra material?
Edited to add: I've figured it out the reason schools turn Calculus into a "2-year" course is so students have more AP classes on their transcript. This looks "better" on their GPA & makes it easier for kids to get AP awards. And makes your school sound better because it offers more AP classes.
