IB Math SL vs AP Calculus AB

[ScienceGeek0802]

This year, I'll be in IB Math SL. Although I would prefer to take HL since I plan on majoring in Physics, my school doesn't offer it (nor do they offer IB Physics, so I'm taking AP Physics along with my IB courses). I plan on applying to several selective universities, none of which grant credit for SL exams; this will make it challenging to enter with enough math credit to follow the desired course sequence relevant to my major. However, they do seem to offer credit for AP Calculus AB. Although my school does offer Calculus AB (but not BC), I don't want to give up on the IB Diploma in order to take it. I don't have room in my schedule to take both, either. This brings me to my question: Does IB Math SL overlap with AP Calculus AB to the extent that I could take the AP exam (and score a 4 or 5) in order to earn college credit? If not, would it give me enough background in calculus to place out of a first-year college level calculus course? 

 

I appreciate any insight, especially if you've had exposure to both classes.

[Andy Sebastian]

This year, I'll be in IB Math SL. Although I would prefer to take HL since I plan on majoring in Physics, my school doesn't offer it (nor do they offer IB Physics, so I'm taking AP Physics along with my IB courses). I plan on applying to several selective universities, none of which grant credit for SL exams; this will make it challenging to enter with enough math credit to follow the desired course sequence relevant to my major. However, they do seem to offer credit for AP Calculus AB. Although my school does offer Calculus AB (but not BC), I don't want to give up on the IB Diploma in order to take it. I don't have room in my schedule to take both, either. This brings me to my question: Does IB Math SL overlap with AP Calculus AB to the extent that I could take the AP exam (and score a 4 or 5) in order to earn college credit? If not, would it give me enough background in calculus to place out of a first-year college level calculus course? 

 

I appreciate any insight, especially if you've had exposure to both classes.

 

 

Could you give us a little more information about your school's math cirriculum?  In my school, the "math SL" is an exam, but it's not necessarily a class - I have forgotten whether or not the equivalent of pre calculus is called "math SL" or "pre-calculus SL".  Either way, for us, the class, if it exists, does not overlap with calculus.  We are actually expected to take AP Calculus, and are allowed to take the math SL that year.  It goes like:

 

[pre-IB] analysis and functioins -> IB pre calculus SL --> AP BC Calculus ------> Multivariable Calculus (not IB) and/or HL math

                                                     IB math studies -----> AP AB Calculus

                                                                                       Calculus with Apps

 

So, here, junior year you could take the math SL or the math studies SL, and senior year you could take either of those or the math HL. 

[entrails]

My school just has IB math SL/HL, no AP classes, but last year we were given the opportunity to take the AP calculus exams and a few classmates and I who had finished the math SL/HL curricula decided to do so.

 

The math teacher recommended the HL math students to take calculus BC, and the SL students to take AB. I am an HL student and got a 2 on my BC exam, and a 4 as my AB subscore. My fellow classmates in HL math got 1s on their BC exam (tbh they hardly tried at all, so don't take that as a discouragement). My friends in SL math got a 1 and a 2 on their AB exam, respectively. I should note that none of us did any additional studying for the AP exams because school was offering them for free.

 

So that's just what happened at my school with my math teacher teaching the syllabus the way he does. It depends on how SL math is taught at your school. There's some stuff that they ask for in the AP exams that IB definitely does not have in their curriculum, such as polar form.

 

But my experience with SL math is that you learn differentiation, basic integration, and their various applications, and that's essentially what they ask for in Calc AB. I think SL math alone isn't enough for you to score a 4 or a 5 on the AP exam, but with just a little bit extra studying (like maybe you could get the Barron's or Princeton Review book for AP calculus), I think it's definitely doable because you learn most of the concepts in IB math.

 

That being said, you could probably find an AP calculus syllabus online somewhere, and compare it to the IB math SL syllabus, and maybe ask your teacher if s/he thinks the AP exam is a feasible option. You probably have awhile before you need to sign up for AP exams anyway.

 

Good luck!

Edited July 7, 2014 by entrails

[Emmi]

I took both, the SL exam after IB1 and then AP Calculus AB the year afterwards after taking the class for it. I got a 5 on the AP exam.

 

There is some overlap, but not a lot. IB will cover several topics, such as calculus, probability and statistics, etc. The AP exam will focus solely on calculus: both differential and integral calculus. There are several calculus techniques you need to know for the AP exam that the IB SL course will not cover or only briefly touches on. These include:

 

• Some differentiation techniques. HL students usually learn these, but SL doesn't. These include taking derivatives of all of the trigonometric functions as well as the inverse of them.
• Integration techniques. You're expected to know the indefinite integrals of those trig functions and inverse trig functions, and to recognize when you can do a trig substitution when normal integration techniques would fail. I believe you also have to know the indefinite integral for the natural log, among a few other things.
• Differential equations. SL math doesn't touch this, only HL does. The only type of differential equation problem you will encounter in AB calculus will be one that involves a simple separation of variables, and you will either be asked to deduce the general equation or to use initial given conditions to determine the unique equation. But you need to know this because there is very often a question on it.

Other things to take note of are optimization problems (there's usually a question on it in the free response sections) solved using calculus, limits and testing for continuity (there's three things that must hold true: the function must be defined at the point, the limit must exist at that point, and the limit at that point is the value of the function at that point). You'll want to know several limit approximation tests (Riemann sums from the left, right, and midpoints), the intermediate value theorem, mean value theorem, and to an extent the extreme value theorem.

 

You can get a copy of what the AP exam covers and see what gaps there are and what you need to cover.

 

Edit after some afterthought: Like the IB, the best way to get a high score on the AP exam is to do lots of practice. Do lots of practice AP exams, including the parts that allow a calculator and the parts that don't. Your school's AP teacher should have a bunch from past years to work with. Go through them, and after doing them, grade yourself and see how you did. You'll notice common things they like to ask. Like IB, there's often a specific way you have to do things, such as with the differential equations or when proving continuity.

 

SL math usually isn't sufficient enough to take a placement test to get into a more advanced math standing or is enough to skip the first semester of math in a college setting. I've taken enough math classes (2 full years of them with still more to come) in college to know this.

 

Most schools will award credit for a 3 or better on the AP exam, but more select schools might require a 4 or 5. Very few schools award credit for IB exams, even if you got a 6 or 7. For a physics degree, aim for the best score you can get because you want a solid foundation for your physics classes, which will use a lot of calculus in deriving the equations and explaining the phenomena you will work with. I am friends with several physics majors and they take a ton of math classes, to the point where they often just double major in mathematics or at the very least do a mathematics minor.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Emmi

[peterwilliam]

This problem always happen with math. Very difficult to find math courses online college credit. I also suffered from it and think it is not at good thing. Although I found few good online sources where I got help for IB math but it was not up to the mark. Hope soon we will have some thing for it.