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Jack
07-05-2004, 21:41
Hey..

Alright. So i know this is like the nerdiest request out there.. but.. lol. I'm going to ask anyways.

First off.. you'll need: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/calculus/ap04_frq_calculus_bc.pdf

Anywho.. what i'm really wondering about are the answers to #'s 5 & 6. To whoever may attempt them.. lol. yes. you'll need to know Calculus.. specifically logistic differential equations and Taylor series.. heh. fun stuff :)

So yea.. if ya know how to do those, and have nothign better to do.. try to solve them and throw an answer up if ya know it :)

~Jack

Cory
07-05-2004, 22:57
Half of those questions were identical to the AB examination.

Myself, and my entire class got owned on the no calculator free response section. Many blank answer booklets were turned in :-D

Cory

miketwalker
07-05-2004, 23:20
Wow... that AMAZES me how half of them are identical to the AB. I took the AB exam myself, I'll agree... there were some tricky parts, but I felt pretty comfortable actually that I did get some partial credit on the really pain-in-the-butt ones.

CyberWolf_22
08-05-2004, 00:04
I took the AB exam as well and there was definitely at least one tricky but my teacher said you should always answer the FR even if it is wrong because you can still get some points.

Stephanie
08-05-2004, 00:18
when i took the ap calculus test, the AB students took the first portion of it, and the BC students took both the first and second portions.

at least, that is what i recall them telling us. that might explain the similarity between the two tests.

Jack
08-05-2004, 00:34
Just to let yall know....

BC is just AB with a few extra things thrown in.. the biggest being Sequence and Series (Which i don't really understand.. lol)

Anywho.. yea. On the BC exam, you get an AB subscore too.. so.. there has to be overlapping questions. And yes. 3 of the 6 on the BC were the same as the AB ones. And funny how, out of the 3 BC only ones, i didn't get 2 of them.. LOL. Eh. i still think i did well on the test. Just the last two free responces threw me for a loop :)

Ryan Dognaux
08-05-2004, 00:47
I thought this year's AP Exam was tough... especially the non-calculator FR questions. I guess I'll just have to wait and see, I'm hoping for a +3 :]

mattf
08-05-2004, 01:26
42

mattf
08-05-2004, 01:41
ok, seriously...

5a) for g(0) you just plug in 0 for x, so you have the integral from -3 to 0 of f(t) which is just the area under the curve on that interval (which is a trapezoid).

for g'(0), you take the derivative of g(x) first which is f(x)(1) - f(-3)(0), or just simply f(x). plug in 0 (look at the graph).

5b) g(x) is the integral of f(t), so f(t) is the derivative of g(x). any time your derivative changes sign from + to -, you have a maximum. look at the graph at x=3.

5c) you start the same way you did with part b, only looking for changes in sign from - to + (x=4). however, since it's checking for an absolute (rather than relative min), you have to check the functional value at whatever point you get as well as at your endpoints. i remember this part took a while.

5d) when the second derivative (f'(t) in this case) has a change in sign (equals 0), you have a point of inflection (x=1). keep in mind that a curve is not differentiable at a cusp (x=-3, for instance).

6a) they give you a differential equation, and remember that a derivative is the slope of a tangent line at a given point. plug in the coordinates for the given points to get the slopes for each point and sketch. for example, at (1,2), the slope would be 1, so you draw a 45 degreeline through (1,2).

6b) this will be easy to do if you can see the slope field.

6c) use separation of variables to integrate and solve for y. then plug in 0 for x and 3 for y to solve for C (constant of integration) and substitute back in.

hope that clears things up for you.

mattf
08-05-2004, 01:42
...and i just did the AB questions. that's what happens at 1:30am. *sigh*

OneAngryDaisy
10-05-2004, 15:18
Half of those questions were identical to the AB examination.

Myself, and my entire class got owned on the no calculator free response section. Many blank answer booklets were turned in :-D

Cory


I know I didn't particularly enjoy this section either, seeing as I was too busy working on the robot to study :P

Terminator6
10-05-2004, 16:41
yea the BC FR no calc was killer....but 1 of 3 with a good try at the others can still get a 3 right.....

the worst part is that my teacher told me that they always put taylor series and logistical diffeqs on there....so i should have studied those closer i guess thats what i get....

but guys remember...if you ever discuss the specific problems and answers to the multiple choice questions the college board is gonna come and restrict you from taking future tests or prosecute you or kill you or something along those lines....so watch your back because the college board is always watching you

miketwalker
10-05-2004, 16:58
What's the deal with the multiple choice questions? It seems really stupid how secure they try to be with the multiple choice... I'd love to see what the heck they were talking about with some of those really awkward multiple choice problems.

Jack
10-05-2004, 17:03
What's the deal with the multiple choice questions? It seems really stupid how secure they try to be with the multiple choice... I'd love to see what the heck they were talking about with some of those really awkward multiple choice problems.

My guess is that they may reuse some of the problems from year to year.. or every couple of years.. They only do that because it's really hard to make good problems. Anywho.. they don't want people going around talking about the mulit-choice, because it would give an unfair advantage to next year's test-takers. - That's the only reason I can think of.

Now, in terms of if they ever release the multi-choice questions, i think the answer is "yes", they do. Our teacher (who's really big into the entier AP thing, and owns like *every* book to review for it), gave us copies of the multi-choices from like the 1997 & 1998 AP tests. SO... they may release the answers questions after 5 years or something. But, either way, until then the AP doesn't want you talking about specific multi-choice problems. And, since i personally don't want my score voided and banned from feature AP tests.. i guess there's nothing i can do.. lol :)

Jack

OneAngryDaisy
10-05-2004, 17:04
I think they reuse them, this one kid in my AP english class said he saw one of the passages in a prep book..

Yan Wang
10-05-2004, 17:55
The multiple choice problems may be reused or VERY similar for 5 years. Then they are released. Thus, this year's multiple choice should be *completely new* since the last released version was in 1998. I just got out of my AP Physics exam and am way too tired... AP Chem tomorrow morning and I'm done!

Collin Fultz
10-05-2004, 18:25
The multiple choice problems may be reused or VERY similar for 5 years. Then they are released. Thus, this year's multiple choice should be *completely new* since the last released version was in 1998. I just got out of my AP Physics exam and am way too tired... AP Chem tomorrow morning and I'm done!

AP Physics was rough rough rough rough rough. Did you take B or C and Mech or E&M or both? I did C MECH. When you get done with a 45 minute FR in 15 min because you have no idea...that's a problem.

abeD
10-05-2004, 18:41
You can talk about free response all you want..its just those Mult. choice

and yes i also thought 5 was rather difficult (a and b mostly)

Cory
10-05-2004, 19:19
AP Physics was rough rough rough rough rough. Did you take B or C and Mech or E&M or both? I did C MECH. When you get done with a 45 minute FR in 15 min because you have no idea...that's a problem.

Hahaha, I did the same thing on the same test :-D

And I hope the AP police aren't watching me, because they'll probably haul me off to collegeboard's jail :-D

Too bad I failed all my tests this year. Voiding my results would be a plus :-D

Cory

abeD
10-05-2004, 19:21
Wow physics c was def the hardest and most involved exam of the year by far (i took mech and e & m) the mechanics isnt the bad part, the e & m is much harder in my opinion and ill probably only get a 3 at most on that one haha. Calc BC didnt compare to phsycis c.

Joe3
10-05-2004, 19:42
Yeah...go AP Physics C.

I took both MEch and E&M. Mechanics wasnt too bad, but my whole class got killed on #2 and 3 on that E&M FR. Yikes. I just put my pencil down with 10 mins left after writing down random equations simply because I didnt know it. At all. Maybe I should have studied more instead of going to PARC...hmm.

Adam Y.
10-05-2004, 20:25
What's the deal with the multiple choice questions? It seems really stupid how secure they try to be with the multiple choice... I'd love to see what the heck they were talking about with some of those really awkward multiple choice problems.
I believe the college board also runs the SAT's. There is a big contraversy in one school district on Long Island because a tutor "accidently" used SAT questions that were not released. It turns out that they were on the same test people took. That is probably the same reason why they do not want anyone discussing any questions.

squide
10-05-2004, 21:17
My entire calc class went over the free response questions today... it made me feel pretty stupid! I don't feel I did too well, hopefully I got some partial credit. Most of the questions were simple, I just approached them the wrong way. My calc teacher said the non-calculator part for the AB test was the easiest he's ever seen :confused:

Cory
10-05-2004, 21:21
You have got to be kidding me. If that's the case, our class must be the dumbest ever.

Cory

Ryan Dognaux
10-05-2004, 21:33
My calc teacher said the non-calculator part for the AB test was the easiest he's ever seen :confused:

I disagree, I thought the calculator portion was much easier than the non-calculator FR questions. The trick to most of those was knowing how to find derivatives and integrals on graphs, at least I think :p

Avarik
10-05-2004, 22:02
As far as AP tests re-using questions, they seem to. I was going over the review questions for my AP European History exam from the Princeton Review...and a few of the questions appeared identically on the multiple choice.

I'm sure it must be even worse with math/science classes, as it's a lot harder to come up with good math/science questions than history ones...

opps12
10-05-2004, 22:41
it's funny they made such a big deal over the multiple choice questions this year, because they are going to be released this year anyway. I think it's just habit on their part. Did anyone accedentaly start answering the survey questions on the multiple choice and the realized it wasn't part of the test? I wasted a little time doing that.

DanL
11-05-2004, 16:48
ugh... silly calc... my class had the option of taking either the BC or the AB (we do part of the BC as part of the regular AP calc ciriculum). Only problem was the rest of the BC is learned at Friday morning review sessions. And lots of robotics competitions were held on Friday mornings. As well as college visits. Long story short, I should have taken the BC, but I wasn't able to go to enough sessions to learn it well enough. So I took the AB (too bad my college next year accepts only the BC...)

The test itself I thought was fine. Then again, our teacher (he's insane, btw) has made us do just about every released question since about 1990 - everyone in the class had seen everything several times already, so we knew exactly what had to be done.

About the question releases, they don't want you discussing the questions because the AP tests are written in blocks of 3 years, give or take a year or two depending on the particular test. Each test block contains similar questions (read: they reuse questions in test blocks), so they don't want those getting out. After the next block of tests are written, the old tests are released with the graditing rubriks as booklets instructors can buy/photocopy for the class (hence the doing-every-single-problem-since-1990).


As for Phys C...

bwahahahahhahahaha

that e&m section was a whoops! if I ever saw one... my friend sent me this link to a website that had a bunch of videos of this stereotypical german physicist giving college e&m lectures. I spent all of this weekend watching them. And I thought I was learning. Nope!

The really annoying thing is coincidentally, these videos were from the e&m class at the same school I'm going to next year... you know, the school that doesn't give phys credit unless you get a 5 on both mechanics and e&m. In other words, the professor I got so aquainted with this entire weekend is going to be my physics professor next year :/

Steve Horn
12-05-2004, 18:34
I took the Calculus AB exam.
The only person to take it this year from my school.
And I thought that test was hard...but from what other people have posted the physics and calc bc were harder.

Specialagentjim
12-05-2004, 23:39
I took AB, and after having a teacher that doesnt know calc whatsoever...


Yeah, it was pretty bad. The multi-choice I thought wasnt too bad. I probobly got a good portion of that right. But those FR questions killed me.

I drew a total blank on how to revolve a base around y=2. soo stupid.

aaronbr28040
12-05-2004, 23:53
I was wondering if there were any other SUPERSLACK seniors out there that took Calculus 1 and 2 this year but didnt take the AP? I can exempt and receieve credit for the class at the college I will be attending with a letter from my current teacher so thats what I plan on doing. I'm in multiple AP classes but decided to be really slack and take no AP's as I have tuition paid by the state for four years. One word of warning to soon to be seniors: dont be slack, especially before build season even starts....it will catch up with you.
-Aaron

suneel112
13-05-2004, 09:59
The bottom line is...
AP SUCKS!!!
It is the most insane test on earth and it is unfair.
It is given, by the way, by the same organization that brought you SATs and GREs

Anyways, in response to your question, I didn't solve #5, but i did solve #6.

of course, P(x) is the Taylor Series for that function. Since it said Taylor centered at x=0, you just use the MacLaurin series, which you usually memorize.
(b) since the maclaurin series is only for odd powers of x, the even terms of x are 0
(c) I don't know what the *************** a LaGrange series is, besides a street in West Lafayette
(d)You write three terms, and integrate them (or just integrate the sum using the sums). Remember, it is still the maclaurin series.

Joe Johnson
13-05-2004, 14:27
In my opinion, you should take every AP class your school offers, but then you should NOT actually test out of any of your college classes.

I am serious. There is no percentage in testing out of anything as far as I can see. The only slight benefit you get is that you have a slightly higher chance of finishing your B.S. in engineering in 4 years, but even that is not really that much of an edge to be worth doing.

Basically, for me it boils down to this: High grades are like money in your pocket. It is sad, but it is true. We can argue with whether it is right or wrong or whether the world wouldn't be better off some other way, but from my experience, undergrad GPA matters a lot.

I cannot tell you how many of my friends tested out of classes only to be put in a class of sophomores & juniors where they got their clocks cleaned. It is hard enough being away from home (probably for the first time in your life), trying to figure out if you've been good all your life because it was a core value or just because mom and dad would have killed you if they found out that you spent the night in a semi-naked, semi-conscious state, having semi-safe sex with that hottie over there behind the bar ;-) Competing with upper classmen who have figured out which teachers to avoid, where the bookstore is, and how to study when they need to while you are working on your core values is just plain bad for business (GPA-wise).


Give your GPA some cushion to absorb some blows while you figure out which way is up and what you are all about: Don't test out of anything if you have a choice.

Joe J.

P.S. FYI, I have an M.S., a PH.D., I am a licensed Professional Engineer, I am a member of Delphi's Inventor's Hall of Fame (I am going to be raised to the Bronze level tomorrow), I have 15 U.S. Patents with my name on it,...

...AND I STILL GET ASKED FOR MY UNDEGRADUATE GPA from time to time! When it comes to interviewing, hiring, firing, promotions, raises, admission to grad school, applications for this or that scholarship or fellowship program, etc. undergrad GPA matters. JJ

ngreen
13-05-2004, 15:12
I agree completely. I would take as hard of classes as you can in high school and then start out new in college.

That GPA thing is definitely money in your pocket. And that adjustment thing is really important and I've watched several classmates GPAs head the wrong direction because of that both this semester and the previous.

I would however reccomend taking both English and Speech for college credit if you plan on going into Engineering. It just seems like to big of a hassle to have to worry about a paper you have to turn in and a Calculus 2 test you have at the same time.

I would reccomend in General to take all you Math and Science classes at college. College teacher can teach way different from high school teachers and it is definitely nice to have a semester to get use to the new style. I would recommend to talk to other students to find out the good teachers and then try to pick the same teacher for consectutive semester in most cases if possible. I've took Chem 1 and Chem 2 from the same teacher and it is good because I am use to her teaching style.

About AP classes I don't know much. I went to a school with only a 4.0 scale where you couldn't get over a 4.0 (believe me I tried) and where there wasn't AP classes.

So good luck where ever you go and learn as much as you can.

Elyse Holguin
13-05-2004, 15:24
I was wondering if there were any other SUPERSLACK seniors out there that took Calculus 1 and 2 this year but didnt take the AP? I can exempt and receieve credit for the class at the college I will be attending with a letter from my current teacher so thats what I plan on doing. I'm in multiple AP classes but decided to be really slack and take no AP's as I have tuition paid by the state for four years. One word of warning to soon to be seniors: dont be slack, especially before build season even starts....it will catch up with you.
-Aaron

I dropped AP Calc for the second semester to devote my time to my AP English Literature, AP World History, AP Government & Politics: Comparative, AP US Government, AP Macroeconomics, and AP German classes. I think that was far more than enough AP for me, especially because I had AP English Language and AP US History already last year. Oh yeah, and I had to fit Robotics in there somewhere too. :rolleyes:

Venkatesh
13-05-2004, 15:53
I took the Calc BC test and I was surprised by the difficulty of the calculator sections when compared to the non-calculator ones. The section which will save me on the Calc BC test was the non-calculator free response, while the calculator free-response and multiple choice hammered me.

I didn't like the Differential equation on the free-response non-calculator, but the taylor part was easy. And I heard from my calc teacher that LaGrange was a surprise to almost everyone, and it hadn't been on the AP in over five years, much like sinh and cosh.

Speaking of LaGrange, I was extremely lucky. A friend of mine was panicking the night before the AP, and he was studying from an old book (pre 1995). He had no idea how to go ahead and find the LaGrange values, and neither did I, so we wandered over to Wiki and found an unusual way of finding the error. We were very, very lucky for that.

My goal was not to test out of the class, and I am not submitting my AP scores to any colleges that I apply to, because I have been told many times that high school Calc II isn't real college calc.

GregT
14-05-2004, 17:13
In my opinion, you should take every AP class your school offers, but then you should NOT actually test out of any of your college classes.

If you know the material, test out. Taking a course when you already know the material is not a good idea. You will be bored, frustrated, and probably won't end up with as high a grade as you would like. You'll also be making the course harder for people who are learning the material for the first time. College is expensive- there is no need to take courses you already have credit for! It takes time and money. Save those credits for professional electives or graduate early, don't waste them on courses you don't need to take.

That's my opinion anyway.
Greg