Taking Calc 1......Twice

[orthomyxo]

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This is kind of an odd situation. Let me start by saying that I transferred from a private college to a large, public university last semester. I brought about 30 something credits with me, three being from a Calc 1 course in which I received an A. For some reason, the professor got side tracked quite a bit so we didn't get to some of the more difficult material that is built upon in Calc 2.

I enrolled in Calc 2 last semester (which is required by my major), only to withdraw when I figured out that I was pretty much lost. However, my school offers Calc 1 broken into two semesters for students who feel the need to go at a slower pace. My adviser recommended that I take Calc 1B, or the second half of this course just to make up for the slight disconnect. This is kind of strange to begin with, but I was all for it. However, the online enrollment system that my school uses wouldn't allow me to hold a seat in the class since I had already taken Calc 1. I emailed the professor and told her my situation, and she then emailed the department chair. Long story short, he thinks I should retake Calc 1 in its entirety. Personally I think this is an awful idea, but I need some more opinions.

tl;dr - just read it you lazy bum

 

[omgyou8myrice]

I agree, sounds like you don't need to retake the entire thing.. but that's between you and the Dept. Chair, not us.

 

[orthomyxo]

I agree, sounds like you don't need to retake the entire thing.. but that's between you and the Dept. Chair, not us.

Well I assume most would agree with that, I guess I should've been more clear. What I'm getting at is would this hurt me in the long run? It's not often that someone retakes an A, so this would probably look very strange to adcoms. I mean obviously if I tanked the course it would look terrible, but honestly I feel like it would be one big review with a tiny bit of new stuff...sounds like a GPA booster to me.

 

[sonia1177]

Well I assume most would agree with that, I guess I should've been more clear. What I'm getting at is would this hurt me in the long run? It's not often that someone retakes an A, so this would probably look very strange to adcoms. I mean obviously if I tanked the course it would look terrible, but honestly I feel like it would be one big review with a tiny bit of new stuff...sounds like a GPA booster to me.

I really don't think you should retake the calc-- it's just a waste of your time. Can't you just take the calc II at your old university over the summer or at another university where it's not so intense?

 

[orthomyxo]

I really don't think you should retake the calc-- it's just a waste of your time. Can't you just take the calc II at your old university over the summer or at another university where it's not so intense?

No because I can't afford/don't want to pay for it out of pocket.

 

[PreMedder]

what part of calc 2 did you find yourself lost in? mainly integration techniques? if so, repeating the entire calc 1 class is, at best, a complete waste of time. just take the 2nd half.

 

[goldenwest]

Buy a book and read it.

 

[orthomyxo]

what part of calc 2 did you find yourself lost in? mainly integration techniques? if so, repeating the entire calc 1 class is, at best, a complete waste of time. just take the 2nd half.

Something like that. I bailed when the trig hit the fan.

 

[PreMedder]

Something like that. I bailed when the trig hit the fan.

haha yeah trig substitution can get really ugly as an integration technique. however i'm not sure how much the latter half of calc I would better prep you for this :x well good luck!

 

[TheMagician17]

By the sounds of it, you're only lost on a small portion of calculus I. How much of the course does that consist of? Less than 5%? 25%? I think if it's a relatively low portion, you should try self-studying. From my experiences with calc, it's all about teaching yourself and just doing practice problems till you get in the hang of it. I think you'd be fully capable of catching up on the material. Beginning of calc 2 isn't too bad at all. It could get slightly tricky for you as the course progresses further but you can definitely catch up in time.

 

[Political]

tl;dr - just read it you lazy bum

>.> got me there

Best thing to do is to talk to the dept. head again and try and get into calc 1b class, taking the entire class again is pretty much superfluous but on the bright side, if you do have to take the class again you'll get an easy A

 

[nabeel76]

However, my school offers Calc 1 broken into two semesters for students who feel the need to go at a slower pace.

This sounds as if there is another Calc 1 course for students that don't need to go the slower pace, could you possibly take that version if one does exist?

P.S. If trig happens to be your problem when it comes to calc 2 then I don't think its due to a deficiency of Calc I but more likely to be a deficiency of precalc w/ trig. I don't remember learning anything special about trig when I took calc 1, I am pretty sure that the trig background that got me through Calc II came from my precalc course.

 

[gettheleadout]

Well I assume most would agree with that, I guess I should've been more clear. What I'm getting at is would this hurt me in the long run? It's not often that someone retakes an A, so this would probably look very strange to adcoms. I mean obviously if I tanked the course it would look terrible, but honestly I feel like it would be one big review with a tiny bit of new stuff...sounds like a GPA booster to me.

At least to adcoms, if they think it looks weird at all they'll bring it up at some point and you'll explain and they'll understand, because its pretty simple. If they don't bring it up, which they might not because they might notice it, then its a non-issue. In either case, it won't be seen as a GPA padding retake, since the two Cal I grades will be averaged (and A + A / 2A = A lol.)

That said, I agree it would be a waste of your time to retake all of Cal I. Definitely try to only retake Cal IB if at all possible.

 

[Danlee07]

Well some of the big research schools like Calc II. I'd do it. But, before you think, just continually work on trig problems. Make sure you know your identities very well. Although you can be given a chart, knowing them lets you think faster and allows you to be creative. Like simplify sin θ + cos θ tan θ or sin θ + θ = ? Stuff like that. Oh, and doing lots of logarithmic practice along with e is really good.

Honestly, you just sound like you need to hone up basics. That takes just grinding out; you'll be good.