Help with precalculus.

[dexorbit]

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Hello to all. 🙂

I really need enlightenment right now. I've tried getting it from my pre-health adviser but it did not help.

Ok. About me. Im currently enrolled at CSUN (cal state univ.) right now as a second bachelor student (b.a. biology). This is my very first class here in the U.S. since I had my undergrad in P.I.(philippines). The last time I had my college algebra was way back in 2004 and I did not have any math subjects since then. Well, aside from statistics of course. I am currently taking pre-calculus right now and in all honesty, I'm just dumbfounded. I know its only my second day today but I'm having a hard time remembering all those concepts and formulas, etc. (I know I shouldn't have underestimated the difficulty of precalculus). And my professor does not even discuss all the algebra in detail (which is understandable because it is mainly a review).

I told my adviser about this and she just informed me to take trigonometry instead of the precalculus because it is a lot easier.

I am really hesitant about her advice because I know that I really need to brush up and review on my algebra.

So my question is. Should I just drop the precalculus course and take up college algebra instead?

 

[FrkyBgStok]

when i was struggling in math i had a horrible teacher and i went to youtube to find better methods that made sensed and it helped a lot. maybe check that out.

 

[EHCMD]

Math has always been a difficult subject for me...i won't elaborate but I went through a similar situation last year...took Pre-Calc twice...withdrew once, got a D the second time...

went back in the summer and took college alg and trigonomety back to back...b in alg, A in trig...NOW...I'm in love with math and am serious considering double majoring in science and math...

If your not comfortable after the second day of class, I would strongly suggest you retake both college alg and trig....

there are also some pretty good websites that i've recently learned about that will help you out...i'll post them tomorrow if your interested.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

 

[dexorbit]

Thank you FrkyBgStok and EHCMD for the response.

And EHCMD I am totally not comfortable with pre-calculus at all. Probably not at this time. In all honesty, I just feel lost and well stupid during class. 🙁 Oh, well. Ill be dropping the class and follow your advice...

Thanks again...

 

[dexorbit]

and EHCMD is it ok if you could post the links to the math websites? 😀

Thanks in advance!

 

[lmesina]

Dex!

hey buddy! Yes, I think you should drop it.. and good for you if you already did. If I were you, I'd either take Algebra AND put extra time into reviewing/relearning Trig concepts with a condensed prep book (such as Shaum's outline books), or just NOT take any math class and study the math on my own this semester and take Pre-calc next semester.

The latter can easily be done, especially if you do EVERYthing you can to do well next time, things like GO TO CLASS anyway after you drop, and take notes. Even take the tests with them (if there's 100+ student in a lecture hall)!

Also, if you are planning to take the nmat in Nov. still, we could meet up to study for it, and I could help you out with math a little bit since I was a math tutor for 3+ years (all including Calculus).

PM me and let me know.

 

[lmesina]

when i was struggling in math i had a horrible teacher and i went to youtube to find better methods that made sensed and it helped a lot. maybe check that out.

👍👍

youtube = helps with most concepts from most subjects!

Ultimate study buddy = A laptop in front of you with Google.com and Youtube open

👍
😎

 

[shouldvestudied]

Khanacademy.com

That website is just hands down the best for relearning old concepts you may have forgotten. His teaching style is conversational and easy to follow.

 

[EHCMD]

Khanacademy.com

That website is just hands down the best for relearning old concepts you may have forgotten. His teaching style is conversational and easy to follow.

This is one of the websites I was going to recommend; it is outstanding for self study...just a slight correction..its not dot com, it's dot org.

www.khanacademy.org

Another one I like as a "ultimate study buddy" resource is;

www.purplemath.com

IMHO, purplemath.com is refreshingly simplistic in its approach to 'studying' math. I keep a hard copy of its skills list in my math notebook and quickly skim it over whenever i begin doing anything math related. And I periodically take the math skills exam to see how I'm doing.

And yes, I would suggest that you drop and take the time to relearn your college algebra, and trigonometry by taking the classes and working hard to earn an A. I relive the moment I got an A on both a col.alg and trig test that I took on the same day. THAT was the day I fell in love with MATH! 😍

Good Luck!...and I will post more sites as I come across them.

Oh, and believe me, I know exactly how you feel. But you're not stupid; just lost.

 

[Alphadorian]

All of this sounds like good advice.

I had a similiar issue to yours, so I started from the ground up when I went back to school. I don't know how many semesters you have until you're done with your second degree but it may not hurt to start with the very first algebra class and work your way forward. From what I can tell most med schools require a semester of calculus so you'll want to be well prepared if you want to get that "A".

Whatever you choose to do I'd highly recommend taking a trig class in addition to your pre-calc class (the semester before or after, doesn't matter). I believe the trig class I took was the difference between an "A" in calculus for me and a "B".

Starting over sucks though so perhaps self study is more to your liking. If you do start over you'll be well equipped for your calc class though.

 

[MCAT guy]

All of this sounds like good advice.

I had a similiar issue to yours, so I started from the ground up when I went back to school. I don't know how many semesters you have until you're done with your second degree but it may not hurt to start with the very first algebra class and work your way forward. From what I can tell most med schools require a semester of calculus so you'll want to be well prepared if you want to get that "A".

Whatever you choose to do I'd highly recommend taking a trig class in addition to your pre-calc class (the semester before or after, doesn't matter). I believe the trig class I took was the difference between an "A" in calculus for me and a "B".

Starting over sucks though so perhaps self study is more to your liking. If you do start over you'll be well equipped for your calc class though.

I didn't take trig but got an A.

Yet, a strong trig background and skill set are obviously helpful. I had to work pretty hard because I tested out of trig and came in blind.

 

[dexorbit]

Thank you all for your responses and advice.

www.khanacademy.org 👍👍
visited this site last night. It was awesome. Very easy to understand. Thanks a lot! 🙂🙂

I have yet yo visit purplemath.com though.

 

[dexorbit]

This is one of the websites I was going to recommend; it is outstanding for self study...just a slight correction..its not dot com, it's dot org.

www.khanacademy.org

Another one I like as a "ultimate study buddy" resource is;

www.purplemath.com

IMHO, purplemath.com is refreshingly simplistic in its approach to 'studying' math. I keep a hard copy of its skills list in my math notebook and quickly skim it over whenever i begin doing anything math related. And I periodically take the math skills exam to see how I'm doing.

And yes, I would suggest that you drop and take the time to relearn your college algebra, and trigonometry by taking the classes and working hard to earn an A. I relive the moment I got an A on both a col.alg and trig test that I took on the same day. THAT was the day I fell in love with MATH! 😍

Good Luck!...and I will post more sites as I come across them.

Oh, and believe me, I know exactly how you feel. But you're not stupid; just lost.

Thanks EHCMD. Good luck to you as well! 🙂