<p>I'm a sophomore at a community college looking to transfer to a university (in California) in the Fall of 2011. So, one more year here. By the time I transfer, I must complete Calc1-3 and Differential Equations/Linear Algebra (one class). So 4 math classes total. I've declared myself a math major.</p>
<p>I'm taking Calculus 2 right now in the summer and the course is moving very very fast! I understand that this is the nature of summer classes but I'm starting to believe that math in the summer is a very bad idea. The course outline consists of 3 hour lectures monday through thursday and then a TEST the next monday! It's the second day of the course and we already have a test on monday.</p>
<p>The material is NOT difficult for me, I just don't feel like I'm truly letting the concepts soak in as we are expected to learn a section a day, sometimes two sections. Our teacher recommends FIVE HOURS of at home study/homework time, which to me is comically absurd. I DO ENJOY MATH but not to this extent. In addition, I have another class (internet class); Psychology that is failrly easy although it requires me be on the internet for almost 3 hours 3 times a week. I do NOT have a job but I am trying to get back into sprinting shape for track season. I NEED AN "A" IN MATH in order for me to get accepted into a good university! The teacher isn't a very good teacher, he's sort of sloppy and goes very fast. </p>
<p>I'm going through this dilemma of dropping the course. The last day to drop without a "W" is July 1st so if I'm going to drop I'd like to do so before then. Otherwise I could drop with WITH a "W" on July 26th. The "W" won't really hurt me considering I only have one from last year and I don't think colleges care. However, the consequences of dropping this course would consist of a shift in my 2010-2011 schedule. Meaning that I'd have to take Calc2 in the Fall, and Calc3 in the spring along with Differentials/Linear in the sping also! Is it worth it to drop it?</p>
<p>Calc 3 is about the same as calc 2 so…yeah Calc 3+LA+DE should be fine during a regular semester.</p>
<p>Calc 2 itself is hard. It’s the hardest lower division math class according to most people, although not as hard as each upper division math class.</p>
<p>Calc 2 and 3 are pretty involved. So yes, generally it is a bad idea to take them during the summer unless it is just some requirement you need to finish. If you can do well I would stay in it. I had a terrible Calc 3 teacher, but I would hate myself if I was taking another math class at the same time as that one.</p>
<p>Yes I’ve heard everywhere that Calc2 is the hardest class on any community college campus. If this is true then why is it offered in the summer? What it is this designed for super-students or students with no lives?</p>
<p>I was in a similar situation with Calc 2 over the summer. And you think you have it bad? We were expected to study 20 hours a week, we have a daily quiz, and a test every Thursday. The teacher from the start said that it would be enjoyable if you were committed and if not, to take it in the fall when there was more time to learn. The facts are that this is a summer class and things are going to be moving fast and not conducive to how you want them to be. If you can’t tough it out, don’t. Take it in the fall and stay on another semester or you can hunker down and pass the class. I’m also a math major. I never took it before, got an A in it, and all I basically did was all the homework and really knew where all the derivations, formulas, and methods and how to get what I wanted. Study, study, study. </p>
<p>And what is the point of being a math major if you can’t even work at it five hours a day? I hope you know what goes on at graduate school.</p>
<p>Also, Calc 2 isn’t the hardest class at a community college. I’m pretty sure it’s Organic Chemistry.</p>
<p>calc II was my very first course in CC and i took it during the summer. got like 98% but probably because i took calc ab in HS. Calc III kicked my butt and i got a B</p>
<p>Calc III is the easiest of the series. Or maybe my Calc I & II teachers were just hard.</p>
<p>Either way, I’m taking Math 115A right now and it’s a lot harder than CCC. I’m doing well so far but proofs are very time consuming. It took me 8 hours to do 2 nights of homework correctly. Like I said, wasn’t hard, just time consuming because my professor assigned a lot of HW.</p>
<p>^ And in general, summer classes @ UCLA are easier than UCLA classes during the year. This is especially true for upper-div math classes. (Though it also depends on the teachers)</p>
<p>If you were a History major having trouble keeping up in Calculus II would be understandable and not a problem. However, for a Math major, even at the fast pace Summer classes are taught, this should not be a terribly difficult class for you. Unless you really learn the techniques for solving integrals well, which is the heart of Calculus II, you are really going to struggle in differential equations. Lower division courses in your major should not be inordinately difficult for you.</p>
<p>^ My AP Calculus AB class did not use a ton of trig, but you still had to be comfortable with it. My Calculus II class has thus far been very heavy in trig.</p>
<p>Trig properties are indeed useful when it comes to Calc2. Most trig related stuff (derivatives, integrals) needed for Calc2 aren’t taught in trig.</p>
<p>^
The series thing was easy at first, but when it came to estimation…the questions were just confusing. The process isn’t hard, but it’s how the question is written that confuses me.</p>
<p>My Calc2 prof said that the series thing isn’t really calculus. Well I remember doing an integral with the Taylor series (for approximation) but that was it. Series + Sequences are a different type of beast.</p>
<p>^ yeah thats the problem I had. I memorized all of the formulas but the questions confused the hell out of me. You don’t use any of that stuff in calc3, and I never used it in my linear algebra/differential equations class I took. However, there are some Linear algebra / drifferential equations classes where there is a part that you do use some inf series stuff</p>