<p>I'm early in my undergrad, and I'm currently taking algebra. I have to take calculus with analyctic geometry.</p>
<p>How can I prepare for those courses?</p>
<p>Are they really hard?</p>
<p>If I study diligently, will I thrive in calculus?</p>
<p>depends, have u ever taken it in HS, otherwise id say its tough, studying wont help unless u know it lol, go office hours n help groups, best chance</p>
<p>Calculus is not really hard in my opinion. I've gotten an A or A/B in all my Calculus classes and DiffEq and my study habits are simply doing practice problems. My professors always assign suggested problems from the book and I always make sure to do those. I take all the notes in class even if I never actually use them to study. Just the act of writing those problems down is going to help you learn it.</p>
<p>So
-Take notes
-Pay attention
-Do homework problems</p>
<p>And you will do fine.</p>
<p>Mathematics are generally easy for the disciplined mind. I've known people of varying degrees of brilliance who struggled with calculus (or even algebra) simply because they were too accustomed to freewheeling their way through abstract subjects. Successful mastery of a subject like calculus requires a preceding mastery of certain fundamentals. In other words: you have to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide before you can work with exponents or simplify algebraic expressions - and so on, all the way up the line.</p>
<p>Truth be told, most people who struggle with calculus do so because they never fully grasped the algebra that underpins it - and many of the people who struggle with algebra do so because they never fully understood fractions. Do well now (with algebra) and you should continue to do well later.</p>
<p>So true. I'd say I've made more mistakes on calculus tests due to algebra mistakes rather than actual calculus.</p>
<p>I also found that a sound understanding of manipulating trig functions comes in handy as you get further into Calculus.</p>
<p>Yea there are a couple trig identities that help a lot.</p>
<p>I've only taken algebra in high school, and I've gotten all A's in calc 1,2,3, and linear algebra. I don't write any notes down; I simply pay attention to what my professor is saying during lecture, and I watch what he/she is writing on the board. I also do all the assigned homework problems to hand in and do a couple of old practice exams to prepare for exams. I also go to the review sessions and watch the professor do problems on the board. All of this helped me get the A.</p>
<p>In the end, there is no clear cut way to do well in calculus. Everyone is different, and different methods will work for different people. JoeJoe05 suggests taking notes during class helps. I, on the other hand, don't like that idea because sometimes when I'm writing stuff down, I can't understand or am not paying my full attention to what the professor is saying.</p>
<p>I thought Calculus was straight-forward until the end of Calculus 3 it gets a bit abstract. There is also a ton of videos online that make it easy to understand.</p>
<p>Be willing to put a massive amount of time in. Practice, practice, practice. Know the trig functions inside out so that you can live and breathe them second handedly.</p>
<p>There's no clear answer to this question.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Depends on the professor and several other factors.</p>
<p>I have been in in instances where I had to study my butt off because there were only 3 tests in an entire semester and nothing else. Your grade was determined by your performance on those tests totaling to 300 points. Oh yeah.. and the tests were ridiculously hard. Good luck passing these classes.
I have also been in situations where I could not do any homework and do minimal studying for quizzes/tests and still pass the class with A/B.</p>
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I have been in in instances where I had to study my butt off because there were only 3 tests in an entire semester and nothing else.
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<p>I think all of my math classes so far have consisted of 3 tests and nothing else :P</p>
<p>Three exams isn't too bad... Having a midterm count for 45% of your grade and a final count for 55% of your grade... now that blows. Especially when you bomb the midterm.</p>
<p>If you can't breeze thru calc, forget about engineering</p>
<p>"If you can't breeze thru calc, forget about engineering"</p>
<p>..lol serious? That worries me...I'm in HS right now. Pre-Calc Honors. I have an A in the class but I certainly don't breeze through it.</p>
<p>If you've got an A in honor's Calc then you'll be fine.</p>
<p>HSembi, don't worry. The poster YOU is engaging in stupid macho posturing. Just make sure to do well in that class and get a good intuition about calculus. If you decide to do engineering, then being able to reproduce the proofs isn't too important, but make sure that you have a good feeling for their results. If you do, then it will pay off in later classes. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, and the AP calculus AB test does a horrible job of testing calculus competency. I got a top score on the test, and I really didn't understand calculus beyond pushing symbols around on a piece of paper. It took me another math course in college before I got a handle on the ideas.</p>
<p>Calculus is not a hard class. What gets most people is not the actual calculus, but the lack of algebraic fundamentals.</p>
<p>the average Calc 2 grade at my school for engineering students was a C+, and most of them went onto graduate. So don't forget about engineering.</p>
<p>um...calculus is pretty easy. If you're worried about Calculus maybe Engineering is not for you...j/k. Just relax. I'm sure you will do well.</p>
<p>Learn the algebra well because bad algebraic manipulations lose more points on tests than not understanding calculus concepts.</p>
<p>Re Citan's post, my son "worried" a lot about beginning calc, but then went on to get straight A's in engineering. Sometimes it is good to "worry" a little bit - it keeps you honest! ;)</p>