<p>I am taking Pre-calculus my senior year in high school and am not doing well in that class, but I'm passing. Anyway I was thinking of doing Calculus in summer school at Houston community college then transferring the credit to Lonestar community college. I think because of my low grade in Pre-calculus during my highschool year they will make me retake it during my freshman year, but I was thinking if I got my calculus credit over the summer I might be able to avoid that. Is it possible? </p>
<p>Anyway after wasting my time and grades irresponsibly in highschool (2.2 GPA) I finally decided I want to be a mechanical engineer. I plan on attending Lonestar then transferring to University of Texas. I really don't want to retake Pre-calculus again (or worse, get a class like pre-Algebra) because I would feel as if I am behind and won't be able to finish college in 4 years.</p>
<p>If you’re not doing well in pre-calculus, be very, very careful about doing something like calculus over the summer. Summer courses move very, very quickly, and will require a huge level of dedication, time, and concentration. Most schools will place you based on a placement test or a SAT score… HCC won’t?</p>
<p>@kylegenger</p>
<p>I posted a thread just now, (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/community-colleges/1501536-calculus-i-hcc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/community-colleges/1501536-calculus-i-hcc.html</a>). Are you registering for the “Distance Education” program, and do you know whether they make you take any “prerequisites” before?</p>
<p>Calculus in CC can be harder or easier than your high school. It all depends on the HS your in. But Calc in the summer if its a short term will be pretty difficult if you don’t understand precalc well. Also, just a side note engineers will have to take a lot of calculus and maybe more math or physics based calc. You really need to grasp concepts within calculus to do well as an engineer. As for me, I’m taking Calculus now. I tried taking it at one CC and it was really hard. The one I’m taking now at a different school is much easier! So pick the right class and teacher if u can!</p>
<p>A) engineering is not a four year degree (if you’re starting at the bottom).
B) if you don’t like pre-calc now, you’ll be hating the rest of college. </p>
<p>I would assume you would have to take a placement test at the CC to see your level of math. That will determine which class you get into, whether you want to or not.</p>
<p>I do not suggest you take calculus over the summer, they move very fast. Most of the time it is for students who need a review or didn’t do well in that class first time around.
If you do intend to take calc over the summer I would suggest to review precalculus before your classes start.</p>
<p>Don’t do it! Mechanical engineering requires a strong foundation of calculus and physics. The only way I can recommend taking it over the summer would be if you are willing to study it on your own as well. Even if you do pass the course, you still need to be familiar enough with the concepts to apply them to physics and your major specific courses. You also mite want to start taking precal. seriously because calculus is mostly algebra which isn’t really hard.</p>