<p>So last quarter I decided that I'd like to have a job one day, and enrolled in some of the bottom level CS courses including Calculus and Intro to programming. I've rocked my programming course, but I'm struggling with calc. I got a 73 on my first midterm, and an 80 on my second. I'm looking at about a 75 in the course with the final coming up, a long ways a way from what I hoped I would have.</p>
<p>For me, the class has been nothing but trouble. I like to hold myself accountable for what's going on, so I won't blame the professor (who I do believe is absolutely horrid), so I really don't know what's going on, except the idea that I just simply can't grasp calculus. I excelled in pre-calc and really enjoyed it, but so far this has been crushingly difficult, to the point of where I just get sick looking at my homework assignments. </p>
<p>I believe I can bang out this class with a C, but next quarter I'm not so sure. Even if I do manage to pass next quarter, is it really worth continuing if I'm just scrapping by? Just getting a C in a class is not sitting well with me, as I hoped to turn around my sub-par high school experience with hard work and excellence. I've been attending every lecture, going to office hours, checking youtube videos and asking friends, but still having trouble.</p>
<p>So is it even worth continuing with if I just can't get it?</p>
<p>You can get it, sometimes it’s just how it’s being explained or demoed for you. My Calc I Professor was horrible but there’s this teacher at our school who posts videos of example problems being worked out. </p>
<p>I would try and see if there are any free help sessions or tutoring put on by the math department or anything. If not, maybe considered cheap tutoring; at A&M there are many different services that are like $150 per semester and you get a lot of instruction; there may be a place like this near your school.</p>
<p>Your calculus sequence may go in different order or whatever but in general it’s most likely very similar stuff. I know you’ve said you’ve viewed youtube videos and everything but these videos helped me tremendously during my first semester of calculus so they may do the same for you: [Math</a> 151 Week in Review](<a href=“http://www.math.tamu.edu/~austin/wirmath151.html]Math”>http://www.math.tamu.edu/~austin/wirmath151.html)
If not then they won’t hurt.</p>
<p>You can persevere and do well, just keep working hard.</p>
<p>which youtube videos have you been watching? khanacademy literally got me through calc 1 , patrickjmt literally got me through cal 2 and helped me with calc 1 if khan wasn’t working for me. Now for calc 3 multivariable calc i’m viewing the MIT lectures they have on youtube. All these teachers/professors are great imo</p>
<p>I say either work harder to understand it or not at all.If you’re having such problems with Calc I, I can’t even begin to imagine what calc II will do to you… Remember you have to get through all three calculus courses, and the higher classes are applied calculus (with emphasis on certain areas).<br>
Either you work your ass off to understand the concepts, or it’s just not for you.</p>
<p>Whether or not calc is important depends on what kind of work you want to do after you graduate. If you want to be a video game developer (and who doesn’t!) then the more math, the better (3D graphics involve a lot of math), or involved in anything sciencey, then you’ll want more math under your belt. Not to mention that even if it’s not a part of your job, the guy who aced calculus does better in the interview than the guy who didn’t, all things being equal.</p>
<p>Unless it would really throw off your course sequence, it’s not a bad idea to take calc I again. If you did well in pre-calc but suffered in calc, then that tells me your pre-calc class was too easy, because the only hard part of calc is the algebra. If you’re weak in algebra, you’re weak in calculus. And whether you use calc in your future job or not, here’s one thing that won’t change: COMPUTER PROGRAMMING IS FANCY ALGEBRA. It has the functions, the variables, input/output, etc. In fact, learning some rudimentary C programming years ago helped my algebra skills considerably, just by shifting my POV on a few key concepts.</p>
<p>Schools often offer free tutoring, either formal tutoring where they set you up with somebody (usually another student) or informal tutoring where you walk into a learning lab and there are peeps there to help you (often faculty/grad students).</p>
<p>Bolster your algebra skills. Calc I covers two big concepts: the limit and its son, the derivative. Calc II covers the limit’s daughter, the integral. Yes, I called them son and daughter. The male is the straightforward one, the female is the complicated one that’s more difficult to manage and that often confuses people. Master the derivative and the limit, which is easy, and only the algebra stands in your way. Read another text, get tutoring, watch those videos on the concepts you are struggling with, etc. Because if you falter in Calc I you will either miraculously get your crap together and win at Calc II (rare) or far more likely you will do poorly.</p>
<p>So I suggest (and take my words for what they’re worth) that you retake Calc I and aim for an A.</p>
<p>I second what TomServo said. To add, I would work incredibly hard on understanding and learning the Calc 1 stuff because as a CS student you’re gonna have to take Calc 2 which is a bear. </p>
<p>Calc 2 requires being a wiz at algebra and the calculus stuff. I’d venture to say that many people can <em>pass</em> calc 1. As for calc 2 there’s no hope for someone to scrape through that class. Either you know it or you don’t. Wolfram can help you with your homework but then the quizzes and tests are frightening. At my school, and I’ve heard at others you can’t use a calculator for the quizzes/tests. So when it’s test time you’ll get a nasty looking integral and think “*** do I do now?” If you can use calculators in calc 2 then you have a much better chance at getting through it but still it’s gonna be a beast, even though the answer is there you’re gonna need to conjure some tricks to get it. </p>
<p>^ Calc 2 is frustrating. I would say that it is nearly more taxing on the algebra skills than the actual calculus. Doing the integral is not bad but simplifying to an answer they want is sometimes close to killer.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the C. I made a C on my first Calc 2 exam this semester, but I know why I did so and I moved on. Things to try are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Don’t sit around and wait for hours and have it not come to you. Get help.</li>
<li>Don’t, absolutely don’t, overstudy the material (there is a point that is too much, learned that one hard way).</li>
<li>Toss your TI-89 out the dorm window. If you rely on that thing, you are doomed. If it is even tempting to use, you are doomed. Remember this thing can work a whole exam in 30 minutes as long as a person is half awake, and it cannot become a crutch.</li>
</ol>
<p>Love it, aggieengineer. Son has been too reliant on his TI-89, basically because his hs math teachers basically taught how to use the calculator, not how to work the problems. Been tough adjusting to his college calc teachers who forbid calculator use. Son still will add instead of multiply on his first test, that’s how reliant he was on his calculator.</p>
<p>Second the recommendation to get help. Even the biggest colleges have tutoring offices. Make use of those!</p>
<p>And if you have a passion for engineering, DON’T, DON’T, DON’T let your lack of math skills discourage you. Met many adult engineers who were idiots in high school, and now earning six figures as working engineers because they had the talent, though not necessarily the book smart. </p>
<p>While a student should learn how to do Calculus without a calculator, I also think it is important to become proficient in solving problems using calculators. When you graduate and get a job and you are being payed to solve quantitative problems your future employers are not going to be impressed, and definitely will not be happy, if you spend three hours on an integral that a $17 Casio fx-115 ES can solve in a few seconds.</p>
<p>True, but to know how to make a calculator helpful, you have to know what you’re asking it to do. You have to grasp the underlying math <em>first,</em> otherwise you’re just learning how to do certain recipes, and not really learning how to be a chef.</p>
<p>Just want to provide a quick update. I’ve taken about 2-3 hours per night since my first post, and have made some pretty big strides in my knowledge. Once I understood one part, it created a snowball effect and I’m starting to get more things. Sure, it’s taking more time, but I’m almost confident I can pull out an A- on so on my final.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the words of encouragement here, you guys are great</p>
<p>Yeah Calculus is a subject where you really gotta sit down and make sure you understand it before taking the test. I didn’t put in any effort (until the midterm and final) in my last Calc class probably since the material was harder than I expected. I taught myself half the material I didn’t understand before the midterm and final by studying for about 8 hours straight and ended up with a B- in the class. The moral is, don’t do this. If you don’t get something, make sure you understand asap. This way you’ll get an A. I think books can be more helpful than teachers sometimes.</p>
<p>teacher also makes a big difference, to me the books all read and explain the same material in their own way, maybe its just me but i can’t study for crap with my textbooks they all explain how to do simple problems, but in the excercises you start seeing problems that aren’t mentioned anywhere in the example, hence the solutions manual + cramster comes in raelly handy rather than the book itself imo. my calc teacher thankfully reviewed whatever was going to be on the test, so the problems were just like the review, just switched numbers, so that wasn’t too bad. in either case glad to see yourr getting the hang of it.</p>
Master the derivative and the limit, which is easy, and only the algebra stands in your way. Read another text, get tutoring, watch those videos on the concepts you are struggling with, etc. Because if you falter in Calc I you will either miraculously get your crap together and win at Calc II (rare) or far more likely you will do poorly.</p>