{"id":10159,"date":"2017-06-01T09:37:49","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T16:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/?p=10159"},"modified":"2018-08-29T20:52:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T03:52:00","slug":"best-ap-calculus-textbooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/ap\/best-ap-calculus-textbooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Best AP Calculus Textbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What is the best AP Calculus textbook?  What about supplementary materials like a study guide for the exam?  In this short article, I&#8217;ll review a few of the textbook and study guides currently out there.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/files\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_73397635.jpg\" alt=\"best AP Calculus Textbooks options\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/files\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_73397635.jpg 500w, https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/files\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_73397635-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Popular AP Calculus Textbook Choices<\/h2>\n<p>There is no single best AP calculus textbook.  In fact the College Board maintains a list of recommended textbooks here: <a href=\"https:\/\/apcentral.collegeboard.org\/courses\/ap-calculus-ab\/course-audit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AP Calculus: Example Textbook List<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, almost any college-level calculus textbook can help you to learn the material for both the AB and BC exam.<\/p>\n<p>However, some calculus textbooks have a greater focus on AP material.  Some of the most effective books I&#8217;ve come across include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Finney et al, <em>Calculus: Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic (AP Edition)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Larson and Edwards, <em>Calculus: AP Edition<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Rogawski. <em>Calculus for AP<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What Are the Required Topics?<\/h3>\n<p>If you have a choice as to which textbook to use (and let&#8217;s admit it, you probably don&#8217;t if you&#8217;re a student), then at least make sure that all of the topics on the AB and BC exam show up in the text.<\/p>\n<p>Take a look at the table of contents and index.  Hopefully your textbook covers all of the topics mentioned in the following guides.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/ap\/topics-ap-calculus-ab-exam\/\">What Topics are on the AP Calculus AB Exam?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/ap\/topics-ap-calculus-bc-exam\/\">What Topics are on the AP Calculus BC Exam?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Good Study Guides<\/h2>\n<p>Most likely, as a student you&#8217;re going to be more interested in (and have more say in) the study guide options.<\/p>\n<p>A good study guide will review the material in a concise way, often with practice problems for each topic.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re not looking for flashy graphics or outrageous claims (like <em>Read This and Score a 5, Guaranteed!<\/em>).  However some supplements may be useful, such as flashcards for memorizing formulas.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7227\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7227\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/files\/2016\/06\/homer-studying.gif\" alt=\"Homer Simpson studying -Magoosh\" width=\"500\" height=\"278\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7227\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7227\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Study those formulas, theorems, and properties!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The most important thing that a study guide should have is <em>plenty of practice exams<\/em>.  I recommend at least three exams.  After all, the best way to prepare for an AP Calculus exam is to take AP Calculus exams, right?<\/p>\n<p>If you run out of practice in one study guide, go ahead and pick up another one from a different publisher.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the better guides out there include Barron&#8217;s <em>AP Calculus<\/em> and The Princeton Review&#8217;s <em>Cracking the AP Calculus AB (or BC) Exam<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2>Building a Study Plan<\/h2>\n<p>Now that we&#8217;ve talked about textbooks and study guides, let&#8217;s discuss your study plan.  <\/p>\n<p>Get started early!  Here is an effective <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/ap\/3-month-ap-calculus-exam-study-guide\/\">3-Month AP Calculus Exam Study Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But if you&#8217;re short on time, check out this <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/ap\/1-month-ap-calculus-exam-study-guide\/\">1-Month AP Calculus Exam Study Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the best AP Calculus textbook or study guide? Check out this article for review a few of the textbook and study guides currently out there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240],"tags":[241],"ppma_author":[24932],"class_list":["post-10159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ap","tag-ap-calculus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Best AP Calculus Textbooks - Magoosh Blog | High School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the best AP Calculus textbook or study guide? 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Shaun has taught and tutored students in mathematics for about a decade, and hopes his experience can help you to succeed!","sameAs":["http:\/\/valdosta.academia.edu\/ShaunAult","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShaunAultMath"],"url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/author\/shaunault\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24932,"user_id":223,"is_guest":0,"slug":"shaunault","display_name":"Shaun Ault","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f10cdb687137bc0ad4e885404588101b7cd4aa01ae2be48abda61f14fa3715e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"http:\/\/valdosta.academia.edu\/ShaunAult","last_name":"Ault","first_name":"Shaun","description":"Shaun earned his Ph. D. in mathematics from The Ohio State University in 2008 (Go Bucks!!). He received his BA in Mathematics with a minor in computer science from Oberlin College in 2002. In addition, Shaun earned a B. Mus. from the Oberlin Conservatory in the same year, with a major in music composition.  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Shaun has taught and tutored students in mathematics for about a decade, and hopes his experience can help you to succeed!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10159\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10159"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=10159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}