AP Calculus BC Reviews

Fantastic Calculus class -- felt easier than AB and prepared me well

Did you feel the course prepared you for the AP exam?

Definitely -- it's hard to say anything for certain until July XD, but I felt as prepared going into this exam as I have any other (I felt able to answer every FRQ, and there was only one MCQ where the answer I got wasn't listed as an option).  In addition, my practice exams were all in the 5 range with multiple points to spare, so I'm extremely optimistic about having gotten a 5.

How many hours of work per day or per week did you generally put into the course?

It really depended; it felt like the challenge in this class was not in crunching a lot of work, but in understanding the concepts well.  So, the amount of time I spent on it varied, but it wasn't ever terrible (as I said in the subject line, I think that if you have a really solid understanding of AB you won't find this class overwhelming), and it probably ranged from >2 hours a week during the AB review and the study of parametric equations to maybe 5-6 hours during polar graphs, series, and exam prep.

Are there any particularly favorite assignments that you found especially valuable?

I found all of the assignments helpful, but I probably enjoyed the Deltamath quizzes the most (first because they give you instant feedback so you can make sure you're understanding it and course correct as you go along, and second because you didn't have to show any work).  As for what was most helpful, I'd say the practice exams were probably the most helpful, as Ms. Henderson gave personalized feedback so I always knew where I stood relative to getting a 5 and what concepts I should work on.  In addition to these, two other things I did on my own that I found very helpful were creating "review sheets" for various topics like Taylor series, which I used for practice problems until I had the equations all memorized, and grading my own FRQs -- while Ms. Henderson's FRQ grading was super helpful, it's also helpful grading your own work so you really see how much of your lost points are from misunderstood concepts, and how many are from dumb mistakes like arithmetic with infinity without limit notation.

Did the course enhance your interest in the subject?

Yes -- I hope to major in engineering/physics in college and enjoyed this course a lot in many ways (as a side note, if you take Dr. Kernion's full year mechanics class at the same time as this course, then you literally learn about using Taylor series to observe the approximate SHM of pendulums the same week, which was super awesome!).  I particularly enjoyed unit 1 of this class, since I've always found integration the most interesting part of calculus and the integration by parts and integration by partial fractions was quite cool.

What sort of student would do well in this course? Would you recommend this course to other students (if they are willing to work hard!)?

Obviously, it's important to have a really solid base of Calc AB before doing this course; while there is a review of AB that extends into October, the level of master that Mr. Lanctot's class gave me over the AB material helped me so much over the whole year.  Apart from math, students who are comfortable with very independent learning would probably find this course easier than those who prefer having a live teacher.  The learning is done through reading and watching videos, which I found quite instructive and helpful, but if this didn't align with one's learning style and/or one found it difficult to keep with learning the material and doing [self-graded and not for credit] practice problems, it would be hard to do as well in the class.  Granted, Ms. Henderson is really good about holding office hours every week or more, and because I felt like everything was making sense, I only went to them once, so I'm not really qualified to speak about this aspect of the class.  If you do learn better this way, then maybe you'd just want to attend the office hours more often to get live feedback from Ms. Henderson and perhaps have her re-explain some concepts.  Nevertheless, definitely don't not take the class because of this: in many ways this was a huge upside of the course, the fact that I could work on it whenever I had time because of my AP classes, and it was just a different experience, but not at all a bad one, doing most of the work on my own (if you've done Mr. Lanctot's class it's quite similar to that, or like what Dr. Kernion's classes would be like without the live sessions).

Thank you again so much Ms. Henderson, I really enjoyed the class and learned a lot!

Harriet Henderson (no relation to Ms. Henderson) Review of Calc BC

Did you feel this class prepared you for the AP exam?

I have not taken the real test yet, but I've gotten 5s on all the practice tests. So, definitely!

How many hours of work per day or per week did you generally put into this class?

I came into the class with a very poor AP Calc AB base (not recommended, btw). I had to do a lot of review and catching up, but I absolutely loved Ms. Henderson's teaching style. By far, the majority of the questions I get wrong are on AB concepts, because Ms. Henderson prepped me so well for all the BC content. Over the course of the year, the amount of time greatly varied, depending on how much external studying I was doing. I spent anywhere from 4 hours a week to 14 hours a week. :)

Are there any particularly favorite assignments that you found especially valuable?

I appreciated the large amount of resources for AP prep that Ms. Henderson provided near the end of the year.

Did this class enhance your interest in the subject?

Definitely! I never have loved math, but I definitely love Calculus now!

Did you find your communications with other students to be interesting or valuable?

There was no communication with the other students, the class was very asynchronous.

What sort of student would do well in this class? Would you recommend this class to other students (if they are willing to work hard!)?

Any student who has good time management skills. There are only assignments every week or so, but they are hefty, so you have to budget time. Yes, I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who is motivated and willing to put in the time.

AP Calculus BC (Shreya C)

1. Did you feel this class prepared you for the AP exam?

Yes, this class really prepared me for the AP exam! Throughout the year, Ms. Henderson gave me really detailed feedback on my coursework, which helped me solidify my understanding of the concepts we were learning. As we approached exam day, Ms. Henderson was so responsive to my questions about the test and provided us with many resources to practice.

2. Are there any particularly favorite assignments that you found especially valuable?

I found the full-length AP Calculus BC practice tests really helpful—I learned how to pace myself given the time constraints for exam day. This constant practice made me feel really confident when I took the real test! 

3. Did this class enhance your interest in the subject?

This class definitely enhanced my interest in the engineering applications of calculus—and I can’t wait to pursue it in college!

~Shreya C

Rock Your Exam! by Jacob Chardos

AP Calculus BC is presented beautifully in this course. I'd never done an online course where I felt so in control of my studies, as I had tutoring sessions offered to me twice a week, plentiful helpful resources for each topic, and an extremely organized schedule. The course content was spread out nicely throughout the syllabus, allowing me to work for fifty minutes a day at most. 

The course made my appreciation for math grow. Calculus BC brings math's beauty to a new level, and this course helps you be able to experience it! I found it really neat that Calculus BC included everything I'd ever learned as well as interesting real-life applications, such as finding how many liters of gasoline have been used by a car by the time it reaches a certain speed.

I found Unit 1, Advanced Methods of Integration, particularly insightful, as I had not been able to conceive a way to solve certain problems before discovering the methods described in the unit. This class fully prepared me for the AP exam. I had over a month to review, and review again, everything in Calculus. The review schedule provided took away the burden of not knowing how and what to study. 

Every student can thrive in this class, as long as they put some work into it, knowing that they will be  greatly rewarded! Ms. Henderson is very personable and is willing to help you as much as you need. She went above and beyond to answer questions and always responded to emails in a timely manner.

Calculus BC Review

• Did you feel this class prepared you for the AP exam?
  Yes, I would say the class did a good job preparing me for the AP exam, the course does a good job reviewing and doing practice tests at the end of the year and Ms. Henderson was especially helpful and knowledgeable about the AP exam grading and FRQs which was nice.
• How many hours of work per day or per week did you generally put into this class?
  Like most classes, it varies week by week, for example, for some topics like vector-valued functions, I already had a decent grasp of the main ideas from taking physics, so I only spent around 2-3 hours a week on the subject. But on weeks where we were covering harder topics (to me at least), I would say I spent somewhere between 4-6 hours a week including reading the textbook and doing assignments.
• Did this class enhance your interest in the subject?
  I already really liked Calculus AB so it's hard to say my interest has grown a ton, but the class was very interesting and I liked the new topics covered so I would say my interest grew a bit yeah. 
• Did you find your communications with other students to be interesting or valuable?
  I didn't really interact with other students much, I don't really mind that though. 
• What sort of student would do well in this class? Would you recommend this class to other students (if they are willing to work hard!)?
  If you liked AB you will most likely enjoy taking this class. I would easily recommend the class to anyone who has taken AB and still has time to take BC. 

Well-Organized Class and Amazing Teacher!

Mrs. Henderson is one of the best teachers I've had—she is very understanding, quick to respond to emails, and caring to her students. The office hours sessions she offered were super helpful—I left every session satisfied that I finally understood what I had been confused about. She's very willing to help out as you need, and she is clearly very knowledgeable of the subject. 

The class itself was very organized, and the work load wasn't too heavy. A week's work usually looked like a 5 page lesson, some videos, and a quiz or a problem set. You'll get out of this class as much as you put it—looking back, I feel that it would've helped a lot more if I had worked on more of the extra practice problems Mrs. Henderson offered to go along with every lesson, so I recommend that to future students. The written lessons and the videos were easy to go through and very clear in their explanations, though actual practice is crucial as a supplement, and Mrs. Henderson does offer plenty of practice opportunities beyond the required assignments that are worth taking advantage of. 

Disclaimer: I took this class without taking a formal AP Calc AB course (I self-studied over the summer), and while it went okay, I think it would be best to make sure you're fully knowledgeable about the Calc AB content before taking this class because the class does review the Calc AB content, but the Calc AB review is very fast-paced, and the course in general requires a firm understanding of Calc AB concepts. 

Well-Planned, Clear, Thorough...Simply Excellent

This course is stellar. If you want to be well-prepared for your AP exam in May without ever feeling swamped with work between August and April, this is the class for you!

Mrs. Henderson's extensive knowledge of Calculus and expertise as an instructor are on full display.