Cal 1 concerns

I’m am a sophomore EE student and am taking Cal 1 this upcoming Spring semester and the professor just uploaded the course schedule and syllabus. My class has 3 tests each of which covers roughly 16 sections and that sounds like an awful lot of information to try and retain per test, so I am just wondering if that the norm?

I don’t know if that’s the norm, for Calc, but most engineering courses are very tough. At my daughter’s school she had a course where there was only one test for the entire course. It made or broke your GPA. Lots of students had to retake the course.

That seems normal. Many college classes in general, including math courses, only have 2-3 tests (one to two midterms+final). Calc has a lot of material it covers, so there will be a lot of material on each test. I’m a math major and the majority of my math classes have followed the 3 test format.

Given that none of know what constitutes a section, I’m not sure how we can answer. Otherwise, 3 exams is normal.

Thank so much! Was pretty terrified when I read the syllabus, do you have any tips on how to better study for the tests or anything ?

The only advise I would give is to stay up on the material. With only 3 test (which is typical for a Calc 1 class), there is a tendency to try and cram in 5 or 6 weeks of materials into 2 or 3 days of studying before the test. If you keep current, it’s easier to learn the materials, and if you run into something you don’t understand, you have time to work it out.

My advise to any engineering student is always to do all the homework / problem sets. Often they are not collected/graded, but you still need to do them to learn.

My question for you though is why no calc til now? Usually engineers start it first thing freshman year since other classes build upon it. If it was because you needed some pre-req classes at the college, then you likely will do ok if you work hard because you have the recommended prep.