Hello all. So my planned major is Mechanical Engineering. Im pretty behind in math (Intermediate Algebra), so I have to take more math courses in order to catch up. I was recommended by the staff at my community college to take multiple math courses in order to catch up. This is my current schedule for the fall, Intro to Eng Sci, English 101, History 011, and that is all at the moment. I need at least 12 units to have my tuition covered by the state, so I need around one more course, but I wish to catch up too. I was thinking of taking Math 192 (Graphing Calculator), Math 241 (Trig with Vectors), and Math 260 (Pre Calc). Thats 10 credits, for a total of 18. What is bad is that I cannot drive, so I can only go to the campus on specific days, and those math courses are all on Monday and Wednesday, but Math 260 is also on Tues and Thurs. My only problem here is that if I take Math 260 on Mon and Wed ill have a bad professsor, with a poor track record, based on what others have said about her, but if I take it on tues and thurs Ill have a better professor which would mean I would have a better chance in passing. But in doing so I would have to go to class every single day, and since I cant drive its difficult, using an uber would be expensive, and my friends dont have similar class times as me. So what should I even do?
As a Mech. Eng. major, you will be taking quite a few math courses and will need to be comfortable with everything you come across. In light of this, unless you feel very comfortable with taking the three math courses and three other courses, I would recommend dropping one of the math. On one hand, being exposed to so much math at once and being made to think mathematically to that level will help shape your thought processes for taking future math courses, with the number of courses you’re taking, you run the risk of not quite “getting” a lot of the information that will become essential later in your academic career. So again, I recommend dropping one math course, or if you feel like you need to take all of them this fall, then drop one of the other three courses depending on which consists of the largest workload.
With pre-Calculus level math, the key is fluency; every topic that you don’t become intimately familiar with will be another difficulty when you are attempting to develop fluency in calculus or (even moreso) differential equations.
Take this with a grain of salt, and certainly wait until some more experienced individuals offer their opinions before making any decision. In any case, I wish you the best of luck in your mathematical pursuits.
Like above said and its true for every major requirement out there. You have to step up and take Math 260, because if you don’t take it because of this excuse (bad professor) then it will take you longer to graduate. How do you know he’s a bad professor?
Math is sequential. Whoever told you to take several math classes at the same time gave you poor advice unless their classes are not in a sequence. Graphing calculator may be ok with either trig or precalculus but I assume you need trig before precalculus. (Afine taking Russian 1 and 2 at re same time: you’d have no clue what’s going on in Russian 2).
In addition, if you’re behind in math, taking three math classes at once may capsize your plans by resulting in an overload.
Slow and steady wins the race.
I agree. I would not take the three math courses in the same semester. i would only take one each semester. Even if a course is not a prerequisite for the other math course it is still possible for stuff from one of the other math courses to build up on one of the other. Trigonometry builds up on college algebra even though it isn’t a prerequisite for it at my school.
So then I should say bye to my chances of transferring out in three years? Alright. Good thing that im starting in the summer, and just got my ap scores back. So more credit for me ^.^
Curious why you haven’t taken much math in high school - do you struggle with math or were you homeschooled or what? If math is a challenge for you, then definitely don’t take multiple classes of math. I’m also concerned that transportation issues will cause you to miss class, which is bad if you want to pass all your classes.
What did you get credit for?
Are you a graduated senior r rising senior?
See if you can take the trig+ graphing calculator classes this Fall, then precalculus in winter session if it’s offered?
I didnt take alot of math in highschool because they didnt offer alot. And if so only a select few got chosen, so if I wanted a class I couldnt get it. They only offered Alg 1, 2 and Geometry. And the other courses which I couldnt select were, Statistics and College Algebra. Math wasnt hard I just didnt do my work, so I barley passed. And my schedule is going to changed, I cant take the courses because some were removed due to students not applying. And I got credit for English, Psychology, Spanish, Government, and Health, so my gen ed. Probably more credits if I can get my transcripts from a private college. I already graduated from hs. And yeah I was thinking of winter and summer session courses, so I’m not that nervous anymore. Thanks all. Im going to clarify everything with my college counselor next Monday in hopes to get things sorted out.
Wow, that’s really very little math for your school to offer. I went to a rural school in the middle of nowhere with one math teacher for the whole high school and we still had four full years of math in the college prep curriculum. If they didn’t offer it on site they should be offering it online for the students that want it. Sorry, that didn’t answer your question, though.
So I sorted things out. My counselor said that I can take a stem cohort. So my schedule will be like this for the fall and spring, but ill take some course(s) during the winter. Intermediate Algebra, Plane Geometry, Intro Physics, English 103 (Fall), Trig with Vectors, Pre Calc, Physics 017 (Not even a class for my major so I will see if I can change it), and I think a counseling or communications course. Ill just have to see how things turn out, but I doubt I can transfer out in two years.
Physics is needed for engineering…maybe this is HS level physics to get you exposed to the topic? You may not be able to transfer in 2 years because you have to catch up in your math…if you started in Calc 1 in college you would have 4 semesters of calculus to take
just remember to take one step at a time, work at your own pace, and don’t compare yourself to anyone else or worry what anyone else thinks about what you are doing. i tested into the lowest level math course when i started community college and then got placed a course higher with the test prep & accuplacer into Intermediate algebra and took that but had to retake it due to getting sick the first time, then took both college algebra & Trigonometry at the same time the following semester, did well in college algebra but had to withdrawal from Trig because of getting behind from loosing my grandma (and because Trig builds day after day. it’s not like algebra where you can miss or not understand quadratics or polynomials and still understand systems of equations at the very end of the semester), and just retook trig over the summer. i am gonna be taking Calculus I this fall and am gonna see how i do before i give up on engineering or other majors in STEM that interest me.
i will not be graduating in 4 years due to taking an extra year to make up the math i didn’t take in high school too and that really shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
my reason for not taking any high level math in high school (i didn’t even take algebra II) is because i left school as a Junior and went back to receive not even a full diploma so i didn’t need more math for that and it was my mothers decision since she was in charge then since i was still a minor and it was like her making the decision for herself because she always thought she could never do math.
keep moving forward! Good luck!
Thanks, everyone for the words. Looking back on my posts I was just incredibly worried about a school that I was blind to the fact that my questions weren’t really concise.
So far everything is going great, I’m doing fine and I will have to continue to work towards my goal to succeed.
what are your current and future classes?
Spring 2019 - I will be done with Trig, Pre Cal and C++ this semester.
Summer 2019 - Then possibly cal 1 for the summer (I won’t work, and Ill be very dedicated to it)
So my next semesters should look like this
Fall 2020 - Cal 2 , Physics 101, English 103
Winter 2021 - Biology 3
Spring 2021 - Discrete Math, Physics 102, and a gen ed
(I finished most of my gen eds before enrolling here which is why I don’t have many remaining).
If I do stay a 3rd year I am unsure of what classes to take.
I just really want to go to Cal State Long Beach, that has been my dream school ever since I was in high school.
Are those physics classes algebra or calc based?
Are you taking the year 2019-2020 off?
Have you checked http://www.assist.org to see what courses you can take to fulfill requirements for your major at CSULB?
Those physics classes are calc based.
No, I am not taking 2019-2020 off.
Yes, I have checked to see what courses I need for CSULB.