I wasn't sure what forum to post this in, but I was wondering what math skills is important for Calc 1. The reason I ask is because I am in my third day of Calc 1 and im struggling in grasping the concept we are learning. I took Pre-cal in high school and I am considering dropping Calc 1 and taking pre-cal this semester. My bro insist that I just grind through the semester and it will get better as I go along. Math is my worst subject, what do you guys think? should I drop calc?
What math is essential to calculus?
- Thread starter yayaya
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trig and algebra are probably the two most important things for calc.
Math builds on itself and if you can't do what your doing at the start of the class, I really doubt you're going to perform better at the end of the class.
Does your school have a free tutoring service? You could try that. And do lots of practice problems.
Math builds on itself and if you can't do what your doing at the start of the class, I really doubt you're going to perform better at the end of the class.
Does your school have a free tutoring service? You could try that. And do lots of practice problems.
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pre calculus...which should cover trig and algebra to a bit higher level....but anyways....calculus is not that hard, mostly new concepts. Just know your Cartesian plane. How to find slopes, distance etc...
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College algebra and trigonometry will be fine.
We are learning limits right now and I am pretty lost right now. Seems like everyone else in my class has at least a slight idea of what their doing because they were exposed to it in their calc classes in highschool. man I wish i actually had the professor that I signed up for. bad professor+ suck at math = very very bad combination
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Drop it before it hurts your GPA.
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Limits are actually pretty simple (and this is coming from me, I HATE math), have you tried going after school for one-on-one help? Calculus starts hard, but the actual things that ARE hard about calculus, is not the calculus itself. Calculus is just a lot of manipulation and plugging things in, the hard part is getting your trigonometry and algebra correct so it doesn't screw everything up.
Go for extra help after school, and DONT drop the class. Even if you pass with a C it'll still look better than it would if you dropped it for a lower math class. My calc teacher told us that only about 15% of student NATION wide take calculus in HS, so to pass the class at all is a feat that most students don't even attempt.
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Don't start freaking out just yet. If you took precalc in high school then you've got the base you need for calculus. Calc is the big scary subject that most people freak out about but really its not as bad as you think.
My advice would be to get the calc textbook and get the solution guide for it. Use it to go through ALL the problems you can. The more problems you do, the more comfortable you will become with the material.
Calc is difficult, not impossible. Don't fear it simply because its the scary class that only math nerds can understand. The rest of the people in your class are probably in the same boat. If your school has a math tutoring/extra help service consider going to that too. Get together with a few people maybe and make sure you can get through the underlying concepts.
My advice would be to get the calc textbook and get the solution guide for it. Use it to go through ALL the problems you can. The more problems you do, the more comfortable you will become with the material.
Calc is difficult, not impossible. Don't fear it simply because its the scary class that only math nerds can understand. The rest of the people in your class are probably in the same boat. If your school has a math tutoring/extra help service consider going to that too. Get together with a few people maybe and make sure you can get through the underlying concepts.
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Yes, but don't worry so much! Go for extra help right off the bat, sit down with the teacher and have them give you some practice problems to do right there until you get the concepts. I freaked out my first day in calculus too, and I'm not the best math-person in the world, but I ended up with a B first semester and an A- second semester.
The stuff seems overwhelming at first, but eventually it all clicks and things start to fit together. Some things can actually be sort of fun to figure out, like derivatives and things. It feels good to get the correct answer to a problem that requires many different steps and calculations.
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I've been helping someone with Calc here lately (I took it myself ~2-3 years ago) and what I would say is be comfortable with trig and algebra. Take pre-calc in college if you are worried about it. As said above calc is really intimidating and requires a LOT of time for many students to do well in it. Work problems and find a tutor or study group.
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Yeah, in my experience the ideas of calc themselves weren't particularly difficult for the most part, just kind of each is a new little hurdle to get over using things you'd already learned.
I could teach you the power rule and most of it's followup in about 15 minutes - but the algebra you need to actually finish is the hardest part, it can get really tricky. And yeah, you'll also use a few chapters from trig.
I could teach you the power rule and most of it's followup in about 15 minutes - but the algebra you need to actually finish is the hardest part, it can get really tricky. And yeah, you'll also use a few chapters from trig.
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The most important thing is to know your algebra really really well. If this pre-cal is more rigorous than the one you already took, take it. If you're so lost on the 3rd day only, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the semester.
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Wait, are you in college? If so, the advice not to drop it is the worst advice I have ever seen. It is not only completely wrong but potentially very harmful.
No medical school is going to delve into the detail on your college transcript so closely as to notice a W in one class and a lower class next to it. Even if they did, they would understand. You were in the wrong class. Big whoop. When did med schools care how good you were at math anyways? They want you to go through Calc I. So what if it took you two semesters to get there instead of one. This is a NON-ISSUE. I don't know where SDNers get this nonsense from sometimes. Nobody cares about a couple Ws on your transcript. Nobody squints at your transcript so closely as to really notice or care about course selection. When you have 100 applications on your desk, all from different schools, how can you even pretend to have the time or know how to compare all the course titles from all the different schools?!
On the other hand, if you fail this course, you will have a black eye. It will be a blow to your GPA and your confidence. Remember, aim to get As every semester. The #1 biggest factor for you to get into med school and the biggest piece of advice I can give to anyone is: get straight As or as close to it as possible. Do whatever you need to do to get straight As. Don't stack hard classes. Take a light schedule (as light as you can to remain full-time and graduate on time). Don't go to ultra-competitive schools. Don't take the super difficult majors. When it comes down to it: nobody will notice. Nobody will care. They will see a 4.0 GPA, hopefully compared with that high MCAT score you get from studying really hard for the MCAT, and swoon over you.
