Should I retake Calc 1?

[amanda33756]

Hey everyone,

I’m new here, so forgive me if I’m posting this in the wrong place- but I am an incoming college freshman this fall and am confused about what math class to take. I took AP Calc AB during my senior year of HS and got a 5 on the AP exam, which would give me the chance to receive credit for Calculus 1 and go straight to Calc 2 in college. However, I’m unsure if using this credit would be the best decision as I’ve seen online that for med school, only one semester of calculus is required and that a lot of successful applicants only took Calculus 1. If I take Calc 1, I will probably do much better than in calc 2 and receive a higher grade, but I wouldn’t want to miss out on calc 2 and therefore be at a disadvantage in my med school applications? Does anyone have any advice on whether taking calc 2 is worth the more difficult class & probably getting a lower grade? Or should I just retake calc 1 and hope it doesn’t impact my med school application?

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[Catalystik]

Hey everyone,

I’m new here, so forgive me if I’m posting this in the wrong place- but I am an incoming college freshman this fall and am confused about what math class to take. I took AP Calc AB during my senior year of HS and got a 5 on the AP exam, which would give me the chance to receive credit for Calculus 1 and go straight to Calc 2 in college. However, I’m unsure if using this credit would be the best decision as I’ve seen online that for med school, only one semester of calculus is required and that a lot of successful applicants only took Calculus 1. If I take Calc 1, I will probably do much better than in calc 2 and receive a higher grade, but I wouldn’t want to miss out on calc 2 and therefore be at a disadvantage in my med school applications? Does anyone have any advice on whether taking calc 2 is worth the more difficult class & probably getting a lower grade? Or should I just retake calc 1 and hope it doesn’t impact my med school application?

How many med schools do you think require Calc II? Very few. How many don't accept AP credit for prerequisites? A lot more. You'd be better off taking Calc I and Statistics for your year of college math.

Edit: I didn't think Calc II was harder, but why take a risk for so little reward?

 

[JeSuisUnDoc]

Are you sure you can get credit for Calc I? My school didn’t let students take calc I if they tested out.
Anyway, Calc II is fine and I think it’s worth learning more than spending money for a revision. But that’s your decision! Btw take stats it’s so helpful in the future.


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[Obnoxious Dad]

OP, first, find out what your own state's medical school requires. If it doesn't require standard calculus, you can take calculus for nitwits and then take an algebra based statistics course later. You should be good to go. Don't listen to some troll telling you to take differential equations, P Chem and all that other nonsense.

 

[deleted938090]

How strong is your math background? Calc II is a different beast from Calc I - you can't really "intuit" your way through questions anymore. Plus AB calc does not cover second part of Calc I - Taylor expansion, Convergence/Divergence, Polar Integration, Parametrics. Unless you self study calculus BC and know it well, don't skip to calc II.

Calc II is vector operations, field, div grad curl, surface/3d integration, partial derivatives, Lagrange Multipliers, Green's theorem, Stokes Theorem, Line integrals, Maxwell eq's
Unless you're taking calculus based E&M, don't take this immediately.

EDIT: Was informed that Calc I/II depends on where you go; check out their syllabus

 

[DarkKnight835]

for probable better grade and not risking GPA for medical school admissions, retake Calc I, especially since many medical schools will not take AP credits
for learning for learning and not paying for the same course twice, take Calc II

Or you can take what is behind door number 3

Hi Gonnif, I have a question similar to the OP, but regarding Intro Psych. I took AP Psych in high school and got a 4, which my undergrad gave me credits for. However, now that I’m going into my Junior year, I’m debating whether or not I should take this class at college level. I have yet to take any Psych class in college, so it would be a refresher and give me an easier semester to study for MCAT. But the con would be that it would show up as a “retake” on my application, which might make med schools think I’m taking an easy way out. What do you think I should do?