Qtr 3 Study Guide - AP Calculus BC 2024

You are required to bring your own TI-84, pencil and eraser. It is a good idea to have a spare set of 4-AAA batteries (or a battery pack with a charger plug) with you in case your calculator needs it during the test.

The test will have one part that does not allow calculators, and another part that does. Within each there will be "free response" questions, and "Multiple Choice" style questions in the style of AP Calculus Exam.

The actual AP exam (pencils down at 8:00 AM May 13, 2024) is 3 hours 15 minutes, so the best we can do for the Qtr 3 Exam is match the pacing:

NO calculator Section (Which must be turned in before Calculators are used):

14 Multiple choice questions (2 minutes a question= 28 min)
1 Free Response question - (15 minutes)

Calculator Section:

Multiple choice (5 questions) - (15 minutes total)
Free Response (2 questions) - (15 minutes each = 30 min )

The questions on the exam do not require difficult calculations, but an understanding of the concepts. There is more thought than brute force necessary to come up with the correct solutions.

The College Board (that administers the AP exams) has this helpful passage about what should be included in a free response question:

Students are expected to show enough of their work for Readers to follow their line of reasoning. To obtain full credit for the solution to a free-response problem, students must communicate their methods and conclusions clearly. Answers should show enough work so that the reasoning process can be followed throughout the solution. This is particularly important for assessing partial credit. Students may also be asked to use complete sentences to explain their methods or the reasonableness of their answers, or to interpret their results.
For results obtained using the calculator capabilities of plotting, finding zeros, finding the numerical derivative or integral, students are required to write the setup (e.g., the equation being solved, or the derivative or definite integral being evaluated) that leads to the solution, along with the result produced by the calculator.
For example, if the student is asked to find the area of a region, the student is expected to show a definite integral (i.e., the setup) and the answer. The student need not compute the antiderivative; the calculator may be used to calculate the value of the definite integral without further explanation.
For solutions obtained using the calculator capabilities, students must also show the mathematical steps that lead to the answer; a calculator result is not sufficient. For example, if the student is asked to find a relative minimum value of a function, the student is expected to use calculus and show the mathematical steps that lead to the answer. It is not sufficient to graph the function or use a built-in minimum folder.
When a student is asked to justify an answer, the justification must include mathematical reasons, not merely calculator results. Functions, graphs, tables, or other objects that are used in a justification should be clearly identified.

Our Qtr 3 Exam is only 90 minutes, so it is difficult to get the proportion of topics perfectly matched, but will include questions from all 8 units of the AP Calculus AB Course and Exam Description (CED). Units 9 and 10 are BC Topics and not included in the Calc AB Course. A single question may include more than one topic.

Here is a check list of the topics:

Logistic and Exponential Modeling
Partial Fractions
Arc Length
Area of a Surface of Revolution
Basic Integration Rules (page 522)
Integration by Parts (Ultra-Violet Voodu)
Trigonometric Integrals (odd and even powers of sine and cosine)
Integration Using Partial Fractions
Indeterminate Forms and L’Hôpital’s Rule
Improper Integrals
Sequences
Properties of limits
Squeeze them for limits
Absolute value theorem
Bounded monotonic serum
Geometric series and convergence
Properties of infinite series
Limit and term of the convergent series there're him
And term test for divergence only
The integral test NP series test
Alternating series
Alternating series remainder zero
Direct comparison test
Limit comparison test
The ratio test
Taylor polynomials and approximations
Power series
Interval convergence
Radius of convergence
Representing functions by power series
Taylor and Maclaurin series
Plane Curves and Parametric Equations
The Calculus of Parametric Curves
Polar Co-ordinates and Polar Graphs
Area and Arc Length in Polar Coordinates
Area Between Polar Curves, Finding dy/dx from polar curves
Vectors in a plane, Vector Valued Functions
Differentiation and Integration of Vector-Valued Functions
Velocity and Acceleration of Vector Valued Functions

Helpful Links

AP Calculus:When you see the words... Try to fill in what you can, scroll to the bottom to see the answer.
Watch videos at passAPcalc.com
Watch Mathorama Podcast Videos
Watch Mr O'Connor's videos at Video Collection. These are arranged by Topic.
DeltaMath Practice
Complete any unfinished Practice Assignments at DeltaMath.
Mastery of Khan Academy's AP Calculus BC Web site
myAP.collegeboard.org AP Classroom now has short Daily Videos for Units 1-6
Exam Information from the College Board
AP Exam Info
Video Links from the homework page
Notes, Examples, Worksheets, and Video links from the class Topics page.
Syllabus has a grade calculator.

Practice Questions and Solutions

2021 Released FRQ's from the College Board (and the Scoring guidelines). You can find video explanations by searching YouTube for a particular question, like "2021 AB 1"
Sample Questions 2014 from the College Board.
Other Past Exam Questions from the College Board that may require to login with your myAP.collegeboard.ord password
Example Multiple choice and Free response questions are in the AP Course Description (Exam questions begin around page 228)
MC questions from 1969-1998 (Some of these are difficult because the Exam used to include other topics not mentioned in the 2019 Course description)
2008 Multiple choice Questions and answers
Past Exam Answers from Mr Calculus.
Past Exam Answers from Skylit.com.
Videos explaining Solutions of Past AB Questions at KhanAcademy.org

It would be good to go over Past quizzes and Exam's to review questions you had difficulty with.

Qtr 3 Study Guide - AP Calculus BC 2024

Helpful Links

Practice Questions and Solutions

Chapter Check List and Practice Problems from Calculus AB

More Practice Questions and Solutions