I'm currently doing my student teaching right now. Since I'm getting certified to teach both math and science, I have a mixture of courses.
I teach at what is considered an inner city school, but it's still a high performing school considering the makeup of the students. I have a section of AP Calculus BC and I'm also teaching AP Chemistry. I really don't like biology (I tend to not agree with dissections.) but I help out the AP biology teacher with the labs.
Calculus is one of those courses in which you either know it or you don't. Consequently, the entire class is passing and a good portion have As. But in chemistry it's a bit trickier. I feel like one year of chemistry really is not significant preparation for AP chem.
The problem with AP is that it's not taught the same way at every school around the world (AP is offered in American schools overseas). At one school, what might be AP chemistry is just honor level chemistry at another. Some teachers teach AP courses without having attended one of the College Board's AP workshops. This is why some schools do not give credit for AP exams like the used to. For example, Harvard stopped giving credit about 5 years ago. They say that students benefit from four full years of college. However, what Harvard does do is give students advanced standing. In order to get advanced standing student have to have scored 5 (or 4 depending on the exam) or four AP exams or have earned the IB diploma.
I earned the IB diploma and my college actually gave credit for certain courses. This allowed me to actually take more courses in college and graduate a year early. But another reason I had an easy time in college is because to get a diploma in Alabama, one has to take 4 years of each core class. A lot of colleges actually recommend that, also.
If I had to give any of you any kind of advice, I would have to say that taking some sort of advanced math in high school really helps your child out when they get to college. I find it amazing that in China kids learn Calculus <I>before</I> the 9th grade.
Aliinc, I noticed that the track your DD on has her taking calc in the 11th grade. if she takes Calc AB in the 11th grade she would be repeating the same thing when she takes Calc BC in the 12th. Of course it's years away, but if she is capable, she would be better off taking BC in the 11th. However, do not be surprised if she cannot handle higher level math when she gets to high school. Calculus BC is one of the hardest courses in pretty much any high school. The only courses that are harder are the AP foreign language courses.