<p>Hello everyone, I have been nervous about calc 1 for a little while now. I got a 97-98% (A) in Precalc II my last semester of HS in May & just finished a summer course in post civil war US history at Lansing Community College. I'm majoring in physics, going to LCC for 2 years & then transferring to MSU.</p>
<p>The reason I am nervous is because I haven't really done any of the math since may because I had to focus on my US history course, however I have all my notes & tests from my pre-calc class last year. </p>
<p>Do you usually have some short algebra or precalc review before you get into the limits & so forth? I've heard many people say precalc is usually harder than actual calculus, is this actually true?</p>
<p>I would say that calc 1 is generally easier than pre-cal, especially if your pre-cal course had a heavy focus on trig.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’ll do fine! It’s mostly computation and taking derivatives anyway. Get a headstart using Pauls Online Math Notes if you’d like - it’s REALLY HELPFUL!</p>
<p>Pray you don’t get a professor who emphasizes proofs and theorems. If you don’t, it shouldn’t be too bad. Any moron with enough practice can do chain rule/u-subs/all that other boring crap.</p>
<p>Personally, I thought calc was harder than pre-calc, but I’m pretty sure it was the professor… one of the damned kind who actually wanted you to learn stuff…</p>
<p>Calc. 1 is seriously the easiest math class I’ve ever taken–don’t worry–if you did well in Precal (which IMO had very little to do with actually Calc.) you should be fine.</p>
<p>It all comes down to the professor and whether they’re the
“teach you something very carefully once then watch you do it and pat you on the back” type
-or-
“mumble my way through the lecture then assign you 7 hours of homework which i’ll then grade like an exam” type.</p>
<p>arithmetic is the hardest math. Nothing sucks more than really carefully going through 500 steps in an upper division math class then realizing that 3 steps in you told yourself 4*8=56 without thinking and everything after that point is garbage. Thank God for calculators as the antidote to human attention/memory lapses.</p>
<p>Calc 1 is really easy compared Calc 2. That’s because Calc 1 is mostly differentiation and differentiation is really simple - you can do it even if you don’t understand the underlying principle. Now, once you get into integration, that’s an art. You only get into integration by substitution in Calc 1 so it’s not that bad.</p>
<p>Calculus I should be mind-numbingly easy. Don’t worry about it. Even if you don’t try at all, barely pay attention, skip class and barely do homework, you should still get at least a C.</p>
<p>Listen to sschoe2. Both my Calc 1 and 2 professors said that most students have no problem understanding the calculus, but that they struggle with the algebra. I struggled with both though.</p>
<p>I am a grad student who’s been TAing for Calc 1, and I do agree with sschoe2 and jeremmed77 that the main reason students struggle with Calc 1 is because of Algebra. Not even trig or pre-calc, just algebra. I spend more time talking my students through the algebra steps (“and here’s how I factored this expression”) than actually doing calculus. If you have a solid algebra background, you are ahead of the curve!</p>
<p>You’ll need trig for Calc 2 though, so don’t erase it from your mind just yet.</p>
<p>The difficulty in precalc comes from all the jumping around. Each chapter is completely different than the last and it doesn’t really flow. In calc 1, in contrast, everything goes nicely together. In my opinion, the hardest part about calc 1 is getting into a more abstract mindset. And proofs, if and when they come up.</p>
<p>Anyway, make sure you get a good professor, as that can make all the difference. I had a hard time learning from my calc 1 professor and barely pulled an A (and I have no idea how I managed to do that) but with my calc 2 professor I breezed through with a ~99% and found that to be one of the easiest classes I’ve ever taken.</p>
<p>Clac 1 is easy. The on you have to look out for is calc 2. I got an A in clac 1 but a B in calc 2, with the same professor, and I’m an A student most of the time. You should be fine just make sure you get a professor who allows you to use a calculator. Trust me, when people say that you don’t need a calculator for clac…they’re lying.</p>