AP Calculus
Two exams, one course framework. Pick the one you are taking. Everything you do counts toward both, so if you switch from AB to BC, or take AB now and BC next year, none of your progress is lost.
Most students
AP Calculus AB
Limits, derivatives, and integrals, with their contextual and analytical applications. Roughly one semester of college calculus.
8 units · 81 topicsStart ›
The superset
AP Calculus BC
Everything in AB, plus parametric, polar, and vector-valued functions and infinite sequences and series. Roughly two semesters.
10 units · 111 topicsStart ›
What actually differs
BC is a strict superset of AB. It is not a harder version of the same material; it is the same material plus more of it, at the same depth.
- Units 1 through 8 are identical. Same topics, same treatment, same exam skills.
- BC adds two whole units: parametric equations, polar coordinates, and vector-valued functions, and infinite sequences and series.
- BC adds six topics inside the shared units: integration by parts, linear partial fractions, improper integrals, Euler's method, logistic models, and arc length. Every one of those is badged on the page it appears on.
- The exams are the same shape. Both are 42 multiple-choice questions, 30 of them without a calculator, plus 6 free-response questions. Three of the six free-response questions are common to both exams.
A BC score also reports an AB subscore, calculated from the AB-content portion of the BC exam.