AP Calculus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Advanced Placement Calculus is the name of two distinct Advanced Placement courses and examinations offered by the College Board, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC. This course usually is recommended for those students who are thinking about a math-related degree once in college.
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[edit] AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus AB is an advanced placement calculus exam taken by some United States high school students. It comes after Precalculus, which is known as Introduction to Analysis in some places, and is the first calculus course offered at most schools. An AP Calculus AB course is typically equivalent to one semester of college calculus. The material includes limits, differentiation, integration, and other topics covered in standard college calculus courses.
[edit] AP Calculus BC
AP Calculus BC includes all of the topics in AP Calculus AB, as well as convergence tests for series, Taylor and/or Maclaurin series, parametric, vector, and polar functions. In addition, L'Hôpital's rule, improper integrals, and partial fractions are commonly taught in this course. Students in AP Calculus BC generally receive two semesters of Advanced Placement in mathematics.
[edit] AP Calculus Exam
Although there are two AP Calculus tests (AB and BC), the format for both is exactly the same. The AP Calculus Exam is three hours and fifteen minutes long, consisting of an hour and forty-five minutes of multiple choice questions and an hour and a half of free response questions. There are a total of 45 multiple choice questions, including 17 questions where a student is allowed the aid of a graphing calculator. The free response section is also divided a calculator and non-calculator part, each consisting of three questions. The three questions during which a student may use a calculator are given first. If a student completes his or her last three questions with time remaining, he or she may return to the first group of free response questions, though the student will not be allowed the use of a graphing calculator for any further work.
The AP test is scored out of a total of 108 points, of which only about 66-70 are required to earn a score of 5, with the exact amount varying from year to year. Multiple choice questions are totalled by adding one point for each correct answer and subtracting a quarter point for each wrong answer. This score is then multiplied by 1.2 and added to the free response score to find the student's total score. In the free response section, each question is worth a total of 9 points, and is hand-graded in June by educators from around the United States. The passing rate for Calculus BC is higher than AB, although far more students take the AB exam.
[edit] Grade Distributions for AP Calculus AB
In the 2005 administration 185,992 students took the exam from 11,183 schools. The mean score was a 2.94.
The grade distribution for 2005 was:
| Score | Percent |
|---|---|
| 5 | 20.7% |
| 4 | 19.5% |
| 3 | 17.7% |
| 2 | 16.7% |
| 1 | 25.2% |
[edit] Grade Distributions for AP Calculus BC
In the 2005 administration 54,415 students took the exam from 4,191 schools. The mean score was a 3.73.
The grade distribution for 2005 was:
| Score | Percent |
|---|---|
| 5 | 43.9% |
| 4 | 17.0% |
| 3 | 20.1% |
| 2 | 6.8% |
| 1 | 12.3% |
[edit] AP Calculus in culture
The AP Calculus exam was prominently featured in the film Stand and Deliver.
