{"id":10515,"date":"2017-06-29t12:58:28","date_gmt":"2017-06-29t19:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=10515"},"modified":"2018-10-26t06:26:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26t13:26:51","slug":"ap-calculus-bc-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/ap\/ap-calculus-bc-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"10 most common ap calculus bc mistakes (and how to avoid them!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

so if you’re planning to take the ap calculus bc exam, then you probably know your stuff. nevertheless, you’ll want to watch out for these ten common ap calculus bc exam mistakes.<\/p>\n

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can you get past all of the obstacles on the ap calculus bc exam?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

top 10 ap calculus bc exam mistakes<\/h2>\n

in my experience, students who sign up for the bc exam are generally tops in their class. they are probably going to pursue a stem major at a prestigious college or university.<\/p>\n

with that being said, though, certain errors can creep up on the best of us.<\/p>\n

so here are some of the most common calculus bc exam mistakes.<\/p>\n

1. not showing enough work<\/h3>\n

you should be aware that the ap calculus bc exam has two sections, multiple choice (mc) and free response (fr). <\/p>\n

you must show your work<\/strong> on every fr question. otherwise, the graders will not give you full credit even if your answer is correct.<\/p>\n

if you use a major calculator function (like numerical integration<\/em>), write down the integral itself, the result, and a sentence explaining that you used your calculator to compute it.<\/p>\n

in addition, you might want to check out these helpful tips to conquering ap calculus free response questions<\/a><\/p>\n

2. rounding partial answers<\/h3>\n

when using a calculator, be sure to keep all of the digits in your work until the very last step. and even then, don’t round too much.<\/p>\n

as a silly example, suppose the question asks for the value of 22\/7 – π.<\/p>\n

both 22\/7 and π are roughly equal to 3.14, so is the answer 0?<\/p>\n

let’s take a closer look: 22\/7 ≈ 3.1428571, while π ≈ 3.1415926. <\/p>\n

therefore 22\/7 – π is about 0.0012645. that’s a tiny number, but not equal to 0.<\/p>\n

3. sequences are not series<\/h3>\n

a sequence<\/strong> is just a list of numbers.<\/p>\n

a series<\/strong> is the sum<\/em> of a list of numbers.<\/p>\n

they are not the same concepts.<\/p>\n

however, some of the same terminology is used with sequences as with series, and this is where confusion may arise.<\/p>\n

we say a sequence (an<\/sub><\/em>) converges<\/strong> if the limit exists as n<\/em> → ∞.<\/p>\n

but a series converges<\/strong> only if its partial sums<\/em> approach a definite value.<\/p>\n

for example, the harmonic sequence, 1, 1\/2, 1\/3, 1\/4, 1\/5, …, converges to 0. but the harmonic series, 1 + 1\/2 + 1\/3 + 1\/4 + 1\/5 + …., diverges.<\/p>\n

4. powers versus derivatives<\/h3>\n

keep in mind that the n<\/em>th derivative of a function is often written with a superscript (n<\/em>) if n<\/em> > 3. some students mistake these higher-order derivatives for powers of the function.<\/p>\n

\"higher-order<\/p>\n

5. derivatives, velocity, and speed<\/h3>\n

you should know this in your sleep: the derivative of position is equal to velocity<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

sometimes, however, students forget how to find the speed<\/em> of an object. <\/p>\n