<p>^
Agreed, I’ve gotten high A’s in Calc 1 & 2 with relative ease, but now in Calc 3 I’m sitting at a high B and I’ve been putting much more work in then I did with Calc 1 & 2. Honestly I thought the material in Calc 2 was harder and have had NO problem doing the problems or understanding the material in Calc 3, I think it’s the professor that is making the difference. </p>
<p>This current professor is really nit picky, I got every non multiple choice question right on our first midterm but I lost about 10 points on just minor quips in the work I did, I’m definitely going into office hours to try to get some points back as I think he was a bit harsh on slashing points for minor things and if I explain my logic hopefully I can get 3-5 points back. Not giving up on this… I want my A haha.</p>
<p>Does anyone feel that the book has some influence over it as well? For three semesters now, I’ve had issues with the Stewart book. It seems like the h.w questions out of the book are poorly written and lack to teach any problem solving methods. I just want to poke James Stewart in the eye or something.</p>
<p>I am well acquainted with the Stewart book. I had to buy my own copy of it to study during the week so I could teach my son Calculus when he came home on weekends because he sure was not learning it from his worthless Calc1 and Calc2 professors. I did take Calculus in college but that was a while ago. I had issues with the book at first, particularly with his derivations and examples where he seemed to skip a lot of steps that might be obvious to him but would not be to the average person and I had to pencil in a lot of these steps. Some of the problems are extremely difficult and instead of being marked or put at the end of a problem set they could just show up anywhere with no clues about to solve them.</p>
<p>The book is very long and contains more material than can be covered even in three full semesters and some of that material is extremely difficult. In time I began to appreciate the book more due to its thorough coverage of so many topics and is fairly well written as math text-books go. I think it will be a good book to keep as a reference source. I also liked how he included a large number of problems to be solved with graphing calculators and computer algebra systems because when you are working and someone is paying you, your employer is not going to be happy if you spend three hours on an integral that a calculator can solve in a few seconds.</p>
<p>I do not think that CCCs have much choice but to use this book. Not only is it used at CSU Sacramento for Math, Physical Science and Engineering majors but I know that it is also used at UC Berkeley for such students as well. I suspect that it is very widely used by both the UCs and CSUs and since those are the schools that most CCC students are going to transfer to it gives them the same preparation for courses that have Calculus as a prerequisite as students who started attending those schools as Freshman. </p>
<p>I have really only studied the book up through about chapter 12 since my son has gotten into a Calc3 class with a really good professor and is getting an A so far without any help from me.</p>
<p>I am going to be a sophomore this fall and i took calculus two this previous spring and barley missed a “C” i had a tough prof and didn’t study as much as i needed. I plan on applying for the mech engineering program this spring which means I need calc one,two and three by the end of the spring. My question is,</p>
<p>Whats your opinion on taking calculus three and Calculus two(again) next semester(fall)?
i hear calc three is easier than calc two.
what are your thoughts. </p>
<p>I love Stewart’s - I use it as a supplement to my textbook (Thomas’ - way too disorganized and structured kind of oddly). Stewart’s is far more approachable, and I prefer the way that it is structured. In fact, I hate Thomas’ Calculus. It’s horrid.</p>
<p>If you get a C in Calc 2 or Calc 1, my advice is to just keep going. If you can remember what an integral is, and what a derivative is and can handle looking up how to do trig integrals and limits, you’ll be fine. The worst parts of Calc 3 to me, were definitely things that were unique to Calc 3, lol.</p>
<p>Are you sure that Calc two is not a prerequisite for Calc three which would prohibit you from taking both at the same time. I would just repeat Calculus two in the Fall and be sure you are really on top of the material and then take Calculus three and Differential Equations in the Spring.</p>
<p>i’ve taken calc two and gotten a D in it which allows me to take calc three i believe, not too sure how but it allows me too when i register. </p>
<p>bad idea for both in same semester? i think it will be tough no doubt but calc two should be easier the second time around? right… just trying to weigh my options</p>