<p>Hello,
I am taking AP Calc ATM, and I'm doing horribly (I got a 88.89 last semester) I have tried everything to bring my grade up, but nothing will help. The first quarter was kind of my fault, I didn't study enough and I got bad grades. 2nd semester started this week, and I think I got a 60% on my first quiz. I studied for about 2 hours with just notes and homework, I did all the problems in my Barrons workbook, I did more prolems than my teacher assigned from the homework, AND I watched 45 mins of video on the subject. I understood how to do the problems in general, but there some specific problems I can't solve. </p>
<p>Let's pretend this is how my Calc class goes.</p>
<p>Every week we have a quiz, and most people just study the notes/homework. Let's pretend I'm learning exponents in Calc. For 5 days in class for out notes we would do problems like 7^2, 7^3. We only do positive exponents. The homework has only positive exponents like 6^4 7^7. Then all of a sudden on the quizzes/tests there are problems like e^2, 3^-4, 5^5+5. There are specific examples we didn't learn to do on the test. I'm getting a tutor soon, but how can I get an A? Only 12/45 people in the class have an A, and I asked them how they study, and they said they study off the notes and homework, which is usually nothing like the tests/quizzes. Halp</p>
<p>If you’re wondering about derivatives and exponents, then the derivative of a^u is a^u<em>ln a</em>du/dx. Just imagine the derivative of e^x, which is e^x* ln e(which simplifies to 1) * d/dx of x (which simplifies to 1.) If you need help on anything, just ask me or any other CCer.</p>
<p>From the situation you’re describing it seems like the issue lies at your fundamental skills. Go back and review your basic algebra, you need to know how to deal with radicals and negative exponents and be able to simplify something.
If you can do the simple example problems then you should be able to apply the concepts to much more difficult problems with relative ease as long as you can do the algebra.</p>
<p>I had a problem in Calc too. What I did was I studied too much and practiced the same equations. You don’t want to study the problem but instead, you want to study the method to go to the solution. I wasn’t incorporating my prior knowledge into my problems too and I ended up with a 60 on one of my tests but now my average is probably around a 92. I don’t know if that helped; English isn’t my strong point, but I hope I helped a little.
I’m in Calc BC right now. I didn’t take AB.</p>
<p>LOL, I didn’t literally mean I am doing exponents,or that I don’t know how to do basic algebra. It was just an analogy. Meaning that’s what it is like.
A better analogy:
A kid has begun his multiplication unit at school. The notes he takes in class involve only multiplying with postivie numbers. Then out of no where there are negative numbers on the multiplication test.
So my point is 80% of the quizzes and tests have things we haven’t learned.</p>
<p>More clarification: I said I watch 1 hours of videos. I watch PatrickJMT, Khan, and other people.</p>
<p>More clarification: I’m in AB, related rates was easy.</p>
<p>More clarification: My question is how do I study for things that aren’t on the homework or notes, that I don’t know.</p>
<p>My class is unfair, you have a 95 in your Calc cause your teacher prolly only puts in things you’ve learned on the test.</p>
<p>Yes I do study the method, but that doesn’t help when my teachers, puts things we don’t know how to do on the test. I basically have to learn every possible situation or every unit to get an A</p>
<p>or you apply problem-solving, critical thinking skills. Math is about applying concepts. Not memorizing every possible situation but adapting and carrying-over.</p>
<p>like some people said, fundamentals are in need. Also, class is clearly not impossible if 12/45 have A’s thats more than 20%… and these analogies are not good, please just use the real example</p>
<p>This is what it’s like, no matter how long I study,or how well I understand the unit. My teacher will incoporate something we don’t know how to do on the test/quizzes.</p>
<p>Here is a REAL example, cause no one seems to get me. Even though I’ve stressed that there are things on the test/quizzes that are not from the homework.</p>
<p>Homework+Notes (Involving taking derivatives, we only went over quotint rule)</p>
<h2>u’v-v’u</h2>
<p>v^2</p>
<p>With this I can take derivitive problems like </p>
<p>x^2/6 and stuff like that</p>
<p>Test/Quizzes</p>
<p>Using your knowledge on quotient rule, find the Critical points, max, and min points for f(x)= x^4-4x</p>
<p>How the heck am I suppose to know about Critical Points, Max/Min, if my teacher didn’t say anything about them during class. There were no problems involving CP, Max/Min on the homework either. I taught myself how to do these after the test.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like your teacher expects your skills to be so well-honed that you can tackle problems of any level of difficulty. You should try doing harder problems; go beyond the work that your teacher assigns. For example, if you’re doing derivatives of a polynomial in your homework, you can probably expect that there will be harder derivative questions coming up, so practice those. If your notes and homework are “nothing like the quizzes,” then start looking for and doing homework that IS like the quizzes.</p>
<p>^Problem is, I can’t learn about what there is on the test when he can put anything on the test.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if we were learning about vectors there was a problem like:</p>
<p>4 Dolphins are swimming along the graph of y=x, what is the average weight of dolphins</p>
<p>I can’t learn everything known to man in a week…</p>
<p>When were doing related rates. Our homework was on mainly squares, circles, pythag therom. Then the test it asked for rate the diameter is increasing in a oval</p>
<p>Well that’s a problem if your teacher is putting extrema and the first/second derivative tests on your tests if she/he hasn’t taught you yet. Yes, you could come to those conclusions with critical thinking (why first derivative test works, etc.), but while taking a test? That’s nigh-impossible. </p>
<p>This is a teacher problem, especially if you thought related rates were easy (I got a 97 on the test but i still thought they were hard; if they’re easy to you, you must be doing something right).</p>
<p>And I have a 95 because i study my ass off, not because im lucky or whatever you implied.</p>
<p>if you’re right, there’s definitely something wrong with the way your teacher, uh, teaches. One question though: even if you didn’t cover in class, with the derivative problems for example, were extrema and critical points mentioned in the derivative chapter in your textbook? I mean, it could be that your teacher didn’t assign problems on those topics but they were covered in the reading for the chapter.
If that’s not the case, well, critical points/related rates for ovals/etc had to be covered somewhere in your book. There has to be a method in the madness. Maybe your teacher’s tests are a couple chapters ahead of the homework. Crazy, but it could be true. In that case you have to look at the next two chapters when studying for a test. Look for a pattern in where those topics come up compared to what is actually supposed to be on the test.</p>
<p>Can you ask what’s going to be on the quiz in advance? What chapter or general topic? I dunno, usually at my school the teachers will say “chapter 7 quiz tomorrow!” or something.
Don’t other people complain about this too? Does he do anything about it?</p>
<p>Dunno if this will be of any help, but my main problem on math tests is usually terminology. I probably would be able to figure out how to find a critical/inflection point on my own if I didn’t know (probably not on a test if I was nervous), but I wouldn’t have been able to figure out what a “critical point” was because it’s not really a self-explanatory term. Questions seem a lot harder if you don’t fully understand the directions.</p>
<p>My teacher is the same way. We usually learn one thing and then on the tests we have to APPLY this. That means we’ll get a question that looks like something we’ve never learned before, but based on what you’ve been taught you have to use that to answer the question. Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way, but I think your teacher wants to apply yourself, which is sometimes a learning curve in itself. My teacher often gives one question tests that have multiple components. Usually they relate to physics. At first glance all I can think is, how the hell does she expect us to do this? We’re not engineers or anything. The key is, you take what you were taught in class and figure out a way to solve the problem based on what you know. Deductive reasoning and such. ;)</p>
<p>Lol in my class homework is a million times harder than tests&quizzes… Like I can never do a single problem on the homework, but I get high ninties ~ hundreds on tests&quizzes.</p>
<p>Anyway, OP. If the teacher hasn’t yet been reprimanded for what seems like a lack of teaching ability, it’s evident that a lot of other students are doing fine in that class and have little to no complaints. I’d advise that you ask the other students for help. Even if I’m dead wrong and the teacher really is as crappy as you make him seem, there’s got to be at least one kid who’s been getting great grades in that class.</p>