<p>I took pre-Calc in 11th grade but did AP Stats in 12th since I couldn't fit Calc AB into my schedule and didn't want to do BC. Well I'm almost done with freshman year and I didn't take any math classes this year, but I was going to sign up for Calc for next semester. Problem is, I haven't done any of this stuff in like 2 years and I think I forgot it all, and I didn't pay too much attention in 11th grade either. Should I retake pre-Calc over the summer? Is calc hard without doing pre-calc first? Or should I just study a pre-calc book or something and save myself a class?</p>
<p>How strong of a math student were you? If you are fairly decent at math, you could pick up a pre-calculus book (go over your basic/advanced algebra and trigonometry) and do that over the summer. If not, you could more than likely take an eight-week course in pre-calculus at your community college or take a summer session course at NYU.</p>
<p>Calculus I isn’t terribly difficult. But I noticed in my AP Calculus course in high school that most of the students had more trouble with algebraic manipulation and trigonometry than the calculus concepts in and of themselves (limits, derivatives, and integration).</p>
<p>How did you know I go to NYU? haha but anyway I’m a little worried since i haven’t looked at this stuff in a while. I think I’ll just study it from a book over the summer since I’m decent with math. I usually just learn stuff from books anyway since I can never pay attention in class and end up having to teach myself the material anyhow…plus i’m taking 2 summer classes already. and I remember 4th qt of pre-calc we did a bit of Calc and learned limits/derivatives and I remember some. </p>
<p>ok, that was an easy choice. thanks :p</p>
<p>I took Calc 1 a year and a half after Pre-Calc and I was fine.</p>
<p>You should get a tutor to help you review trigonometry before Calc 1, and a tutor to help you review series and conic sections before Calc 2. But you should be fine.</p>
<p>You’ve mentioned it somewhere before on these board, molly. I just have a knack for remembering very odd things. :)</p>
<p>Best of luck with calc though.</p>
<p>The main thing for Calc that you need to remember from preCalc is trig functions. Also, later in the year, vector algebra. Other than that, you just need algebra to learn calc.</p>
<p>In my experience.</p>
<p>My advice is to buy an old College Algebra book and an older edition Trigonometry book. I know, you’re going to be thinking you don’t need to study your algebra. You’re thinking solving for x is no big deal, it’s so easy to do. You said you haven’t done any of this stuff for two years so you definitely need to refresh yourself with it.</p>
<p>If you say you teach yourself out of the book anyway you might want to look into just doing a clep for this course.</p>