<p>Johnson & Culater,
I did not know that’s what it meant >__<.
My teacher just told me its a unit of time but you don’t have to worry about it as it wont be on the test.</p>
<p>Guys, okay I’m no fool, I know I need to hunker down and get serious.
I am going out tomorrow to get an algebra review book.
For pre calc, we use Pearson/Prentice Hall Blitzer’s Precalc book 4th edition. Is this any good? Can someone recommend another textbook that might benefit me?</p>
<p>^cross-posted with Johnson</p>
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<p>This does not sound like a good teacher at all. </p>
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</p>
<p>You don’t see anything wrong with this picture? She gave easy tests —> no one learned anything —> people did poorly on one of the easiest AP exams out there</p>
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<p>If you can’t handle definitions like this, then maybe you should just take ENGLISH classes.</p>
<p>Culater,
you’re just grilling me, that was a quick one i found, after reading it, i realize its not hard…AT ALL.</p>
<p>This is my problem, I understand the concepts and do well with the book problems. On test day, I completely fudge up or the problems are so beyond my scope of understanding I’m just left completely blank minded. I’ve never even had this feeling in physics, only in math classes.</p>
<p>Maybe I just have test anxiety?</p>
<p>tubguy, I’m sorry if I came across as grilling you. You’re right, maybe this is just test anxiety and you can get help from the learning center on your campus. If you understand the homework and what goes on in class, you should be able to handle the tests. Maybe not 100% on everything, but you should be able to do well. It sounds to me like you might be relying on your calculator too much and not actually learning the material the way you need to.</p>
<p>
Well someone’s contradicting themselves quite a bit.</p>
<p>
You’ve never taken a legit physics class then. Besides, legit physics classes are calculus based, which means you can’t have possibly taken them.</p>
<p>I meant high school physics. It did involve alot of math, alot of algebra. I had no trouble with that, its just MATH tests kill me and I do poorly every single time; calculator or no calculator. It doesn’t help that today’s teachers would rather lecture from a power point instead of actually doing problems and then asking if anyone was unsure.</p>
<p>In high school and in this pre calc class, none of my teachers have ever stopped or taken a day for just discussion to see if anyone is lost or needs clarification. These are not teachers but robots who do not have an off button when it comes to lecturing. It’s pretty much you do the homework and if you have trouble, maybe youll get lucky and can ask the teacher a question if there’s a minute or two left and then she’ll just whizz right through and ask is that better and as soon as you say something, she says “and that’s the end of today’s lecture”.</p>
<p>Please tell me universities are not like this?
I was thinking of trying to transfer out to Pitt but it seems like at the bigger institutions, alot of this goes on and I think i’d be better off at a small private school.</p>
<p>@Culater
that’s exactly what I’m trying to understand, never in my life have I studied as hard as I do now. I go to the point where I can do any problem in the book to make sure there is no sense of uncertainty, to make sure that I have covered every possible type of problem that may appear.</p>
<p>I think my best bet would be to study with someone who does well in class.
Oh and any ideas on the textbooks (blitzer precalc 4e)? I am thinking of reviewing algebra concepts from a basic review book.</p>
<p>
Lecture means lecture.
Lecture doesn’t mean discussion of questions. If you have questions, go to your classmates, go the math lab, or go to your professor’s office hours. They’re there for a reason. </p>
<p>This has been said over and over, but no one cares about you in college. It’s the truth. The professors do not care if you skip class or pass on readings because it’s your education. If you want to learn something, then use your effort to learn it. No one is going to spoon feed you information anymore.</p>
<p>And by the way, it’s not better to study with someone who does “THE BEST” in class. If you study and struggle on problems with someone who is at or around your level, you might be able to understand their explanations better than the “best person’s” explanations. The “best” person might not be good enough to explain to you their thought process through the problem, or if they do explain it to you, you might not understand it.
It’s more important to understand what you’re doing in math rather than “learning how the ‘best’ person solves this problem.”</p>
<p>Why is almost everyone in this thread being so rude and unhelpful? (Sorry to the few who are giving advice, I don’t mean you)</p>
<p>I go to community college currently and am in a pre-calc class. Not all of us are amazing at math, this doesn’t mean that we don’t deserve to go to a four year university. I currently have a 98% in this class, and don’t know “what 48*8’ means”, but that’s simply because I haven’t learned it, not because I’m dumb.</p>
<p>Good luck in your class, I am having similar issues with some of the problems from difficult tests. I have found that studying with the “smartest person in the class” has actually helped a lot, I suggest you ask for their number. Sprints does have a good point though, sometimes I feel like it’s just her tutoring me rather than us working together. I have also found that a math tutor helps greatly.</p>
<p>@Individualized,
it’s classic American elitism. Most of the people at this forum come from parents who are well educated and have been established in America for generations. Their parents have gone to prestigious schools and the character and practice of learning and studying have been instilled in their children since they were born. I on the other hand, was born to 3rd world high school dropouts. Most of the posters here think anyone who has ever gotten a B doesn’t deserve to go to college.</p>
<p>If you look at the threads posted here in the Chance me section, you have kids getting 2200+, doing sports year round, doing 100+ hours of community service and then practically reaching the verge of sucide because they couldn’t get into “Havahd”. Oh please.</p>
<p>Oh get over your “they’re all mean elitists wahhhh” diatribe.</p>
<p>You were the one who made blatantly rude, sexist, and elitist remarks. All starting with the original post long before anyone replied to this thread.
You yourself said that you thought you were better than comm. college material, so don’t act all high and mighty now.</p>
<p>Don’t make rash generalizations. As you prove it yourself there are some posters here who are not “uber geniuses” or rich or both. My parents didn’t go to prestigious schools (my dad only got to go because the CUNY system was free to NYC residents at the time) and you don’t have to attend such schools to instill
in your children. Being born in poverty doesn’t mean you don’t value education, and being born more well off doesn’t always mean you take it for granted. </p>
<p>I have no problem with community college or those who go to it. I know a whole ton of people who go because of money or maturity issues and not necessarily because they’re too stupid to go to a four year college. A four year college, away or not, is not always an option for everyone and that’s fine. I have a problem with people who complain about the difficulty of a class because they expected it to be easy, based solely on the fact that it is a community college class. </p>
<p>I applaud you for “rising above your circumstances” or whatever you want to call it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t insult the rest of us for criticizing your post if we feel its wrong. You put it out into a public forum, be prepared for those aren’t going to be sympathetic to your situation.</p>
<p>There’s no shame in dropping a class and moving to a lower one if you feel it would be detrimental to your GPA. There’s also no shame in doing it if you aren’t prepared to handle the material. If you have to teach yourself or go above and beyond in your work for the class because you feel you’ll fail otherwise then do so. Don’t sit here on the forums and yell at us for suggesting these things, it’s not helpful for you or for us.</p>
<p>lol if you actually go to a CC thats not a joke, 4-year schools are not that much harder imo. Just do practice problems for your math class until you understand the material. Not that hard.</p>
<p>Johnson, I agree that his post was very sexist and I personally don’t approve. It’s okay to point these things out, but there is no need to try to be unhelpful (not talking directly to you) on top of that and act elitist/rude back. Most of the posts in this thread are bashing him and then supplying with no help. If you don’t think that he deserves to have his question answered because of what he said, how about the people who lurk on this forum and might have the same questions?</p>
<p>I go to a CC and I feel like, although it is still a challenge, that it is relatively easy. Apparently (this is just what I’m told) I go to the top CC in the nation, NOVA. I am fully expecting my university classes to be more difficult than the ones at this CC.</p>
<p>This thread has gone downhill. The OP lied and then went on to insult women and community college in general. I’m getting out of here.</p>
<p>OP, people are grilling you because you admitted to cheating on your tests and you blamed all your problems on your teacher’s gender. I don’t think you’re stupid, but you obviously need help and nobody is going to want to help you if you act like that.</p>
<p>Wait I read this whole thing and thought you were in like Calc IV. This is ridiculous. Its only pre calc. Use the interwebz. Or a friend in calc. It just can’t be that hard… Sorry. I’m mean.</p>
<p>Sighs!!! The valedictorian at my CC just went to Harvard.</p>
<p>I swear people really need to stop underestimating CC on this board.</p>
<p>I agree, community colleges deserve much more credit than people give them. But it’s much more up to the individual to make use out of them.</p>
<p>^I agree. At my CC there was a wide spectrum of outcomes that could result from attendance. You really got out only what you put in. I know students from there who have transferred to high ranked universities, and I know people who have walked away with nothing. Personally I found my CC to be more challenging in a lot of ways than my university, just because at the university they have really high expectations for everyone and if you screw up it is noticed. At my CC, there are kids with a wide array of ability levels and if you are barely making it they’ll just assume maybe that’s all you can do. You can slide right into the background and nobody notices or cares because you are in good company there. There is no pressure to motivate you. You have to be entirely self-motivated and self-disciplined, and that really means something different in that kind of an environment than it does in high school or at a university. I balk at people who insist that you’re going to get the same education at a CC as you will at a university, that was certainly not my experience, but there was certainly nothing wrong with the education I got at my CC even if it was not quite on the same level as my university.</p>