So basically I signed up for Statistics but my school is really strict on schedule changes and towards the end of Junior year I realized if I want to do biology I need to take Calculus. I asked my counselor (who’s useless) about when I can make changes. She said the first Wednesday of the first week of school but she said I’d only be able to make it if there was room in the class. So I was intending to get a head start and maybe review the course a bit over the summer, but what if I can’t even get the class? Then all that prep would be basically a huge waste of time. What should I do?
There’s all kinds of AP online classes and video help available. Community college is also a possibility - you would probably need to take a placement test.
That does not mean your counselor is useless. That’s a public school policy. Students who have already taken the prerequisites and have already signed up for a course are prioritized over students who self-study. It would be extremely unfair for someone who’s taken all the classes to be kicked out, because another student took a class over the summer and took their place. You can study over the summer at your own risk, but I find it kind of useless to do so. If you want to learn biology soooo bad, then why don’t you self-study that over the summer instead of calculus? That seems pretty pragmatic to me.
Exactly how much prep work would you do? If you’ve met the prereqs, which is probably pre-calc with a certain grade, then prep really is not necessary unless the class has summer assignments.
Cross that bridge when you get to it. If the class has historically not been full, then there will probably not be an issue in the Fall. If is usually full, well you now now that in advance, and can plan to do less review over the summer.
However, as @ab2002 correctly pointed out, you should not expect that they will bounce a student out of the class to make room for you.
Well aware, my counselor is not useless because she won’t give me the class, I understand that. She tends to just not be very helpful when making college decisions etc. I DONT expect her to kick someone else out of the class for me, not at all! And I do intend to self study for Biology over the summer anyway. I’m just worried that it is going to be a waste of time if I’m unable to get the class. @skieurope and @ab2002
But also no point in worrying about it at the beginning of summer so I might as well drop it. Thanks for the tips. I’ll just stick to reviewing BIO E/M and math 2 @skieurope @ab2002
why do you need Calculus before you can take Biology in HS? Or you mean do Biology major in College you need to take Calculus? Either way, I don’t see Cal is necessary to take in hs when you want to do biology. You can always take in first year of college.
You may cram the test but may not learn the concept in short time