<p>Math II I'd imagine it would be a huge help, with all my newfound fancy limit knowledge I didn't know before. During a practice test I forgot how to find the vertex of a parabola so I set the derivative equal to zero to get it, was pretty proud of that. SAT I Math, I doubt it would help at all. </p>
<p>Does anyone else have testimonies of using Calculus in these?</p>
<p>Well, the vertex of a parabola can easily be found in general. Letting f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c, f’(x) = 2ax + b, setting f’(x) = 0 gives x = -b/2a. Limits on Math II are pretty basic, but if you had never seen limits before taking calculus, more power to you.</p>
<p>A similar scenario I’ve seen occurred when I had to find the minimum value of x + (1/x) (or something like that, idr) where x > 0. You can do this with calculus without too much effort, but AM-GM gives a slick, one-second solution, giving x = 1 as the value that minimizes x + 1/x.</p>
<p>@MITer94 and @BassGuitar</p>
<p>Couldn’t you just use a graphing calculator to solve both those problems? Less chance for error and it doesn’t take that long.</p>
<p>Yeah, a graphing calculator can solve this pretty quickly. If not, we can use algebra to solve it. I don’t think calculus is needed to do SAT Math and Math level 2. Halfway through precalculus, I took the sat II math II and I got a 780 compared to the 680 that I got in SAT II math I in sophomore year. I’m a junior right now. I would say that you should focus on the concepts in algebra, geometry and pre-calculus. </p>
<p>I took it after precalculus and managed to get an 800, so you don’t need calc </p>
<p>Well, usually a calculator only gives you a numeric solution. However, it shouldn’t take that long even without a graphing calculator. </p>
<p>No, not really. I think it makes you better at math overall and maybe improves your intuition but content wise, absolutely not. </p>