For my junior year I decided to sign up for AP Calc BC. Little did I know this class would actually be a struggle.
We took our first test last Friday regarding limits. I thought I did well, only to find out I did very poorly when I got my test backing saying 102/140 (a 73%). At the same time, we have started our unit on derivatives and we have our first quiz this Friday. I am very confused and I have no idea what is going on in the class. I feel lost. Has anyone here been in this type of situation? I need some help. Preferably fast. If anybody could give me some advice, I would really appreciate it. Thanks
I don’t know who to go to for extra help. Whenever I ask my dad for help, he usually makes the problem more complicated then it actually is. I don’t have anyone else I can ask. As for my teacher, I have asked him question but I always feeling like I am a burden everytime I ask for help.
As for the homework, sometimes I find it really easy and some days I struggle quite a bit. If I don’t know how to do a problem, I check the solution key or ask a friend. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn’t.
His test questions were weird. Maybe I haven’t seen such types of math questions before because I haven’t taken an AP math before. There were a good portion of problems I thought I knew how to do right but I ended getting them wrong.
Hi, I know most of AB calc topics although I will be taking BC like you when I start too.
BC adds onto the topics from AB (limits, derivatives, integrals, etc.) and goes at a much faster pace than AB, so I understand that you are struggling.
When asking for help, especially from teachers, don’t feel like you are a burden. Teachers are hired and paid to help students, be it when they are in the classroom or outside the classroom. Unless he has a personal vendetta against you, then keep asking. When talking to friends, I wouldn’t usually trust them because they either understand it well (but their methods won’t make sense to you) or they found the answer on the Internet. Also, I wouldn’t try to ask parents as they try to overcomplicate things (as I’ve experienced myself) so go to your teacher or any tutoring session.
When it comes to learning concepts, homework is the basic that you should know heading into a test. My pre-Calc H teacher (who will be my BC teacher) will take the most complex homework questions and modify them. Don’t expect tests to be like the homework. If you’re stuck with homework, then you should always try to resolve the wrong problems, and if that doesn’t help, ask your teacher or tutor (if you go to/have one).
And the most important advice is to just practice. Just get scratch paper and practice homework questions for an hour or two to get the concepts down. Even if you get a topic, don’t skip it because there’s a good chance that you can make a silly mistake (like me on most of my tests).
I hope this helped and didn’t come off as harsh. If you need help with specific questions, you can PM me. But I only know up to exponential/logarithmic differentiation/integration.
@JaeHwanLoL Thanks a lot! That really helped. I mostly have to just persevere. The only one problem is I can’t meet my teacher for help until after our first quiz on derivatives! I’m going to have to find someone else to help me. Thanks for the ideas though
Go to any teacher in the department. It doesn’t have to be your Calc teacher. (Though I will warn you: lots of teachers will be rusty. You may have to shop around a little before you can find the right person.)
But try your teacher first. I’m guessing that you’re misreading his reaction. As a math teacher-- as ANY teacher-- extra help is part of my job description. It simply comes with the territory.
@bjkmom I really don’t any of the other teachers in the math department. Most of them aren’t really helpful. I have scheduled a meeting with my teacher tomorrow after school. Hopefully that helps
@bjkmom Well I’m only a junior. I took geometry in freshman year and my teacher was horrible. Then I tested out of Alg. 2 and for pre calc, I had a pretty good teacher. I suppose I could ask her. Thanks.
I also found out today that my teacher has the same lunch period as I do and I can ask for help them. That’ll be helpful for tomorrow’s quiz