Not sure if this is the right place to start a thread, but I’ll go for it.
Here’s the situation, I took pre-calc sophomore year in high school, AP stats the next, and no math during my senior year. I’m going to Bowdoin College this fall, and plan to transfer (Cornell gave me transfer for 2016). Choosing to go into Animal Science, Calculus is strongly recommended from Cornell. I would like to have the mathematical background for the major. However, I’m not sure how I will do. I’ve always struggled with math, and I’m not sure how big of a jump college math will be. Can anyone give advice or input?
Take it in college. Khan Academy’s great for prep. If you’re worried about it, try to learn as much as possible before the class starts (look at the syllabus/go through the Khan Academy series)
Since you had precalculus in high school, you should theoretically be ready for calculus. However, you may need to review some topics this summer.
Here are some math placement tests to try. You can use them as guides to determine which topics from algebra, geometry, and trigonometry you need to review before taking calculus this fall.
Taking pre-calculus as a sophomore is actually ahead of the typical trajectory in math even if you didn’t continue on to calculus, so don’t underestimate your math ability!
Be aware of all of the resources your school has to help. You can often ask for help from the professor during office hours/by appointment or from the TA during office hours/discussion sections. Your school may also offer tutoring services or help rooms (this is what I found on Bowdoin’s website: https://www.bowdoin.edu/center-learning-teaching/ and http://www.bowdoin.edu/baldwin-program/student-resources/index.shtml). There are also lots of resources online in terms of walking you through how to do problems and finding extra problems to practice with. Math is all about practicing, so make sure you do lots of practice problems. You’re library may even have old editions of math textbooks that you can use for extra problems if you don’t find enough good ones online. There are lots and lots of resources for calculus.
i took precal my senior year and although i got an A on the exams and understood fairly well, i still had to test into in college. unfortunately, even after taking the college’s review courses and taking the exam to test into it, i didn’t pass. so then i decided to test into precal since i couldn’t test for calc again, and i studied by using khan academy. khan academy was incredibly helpful, and i didn’t have to pay for it like the college review course on aleks. seriously, khan academy is great, just look at all the precal videos and you should be refreshed. then look at the calc videos if they have any. calculus isn’t actually that difficult, you’re just analyzing graphs and their slope and you learn like 3 main concepts and just use those concepts the entire semester. so you shouldn’t feel too intimidated by it.
it’s easier than precal because precal covers a lot of subjects. just go to class every day and ask your professor questions. sit in the front and just try to focus in class and hopefully it’ll be easier to understand if you have trouble with math. they’re there to help. don’t forget to do your homework. remember, there is no such thing as a dumb question. you took AP stats so i don’t think you’d be bad at math by any means, but i understand that sometimes when we compare ourselves to others we may feel like we’re bad at something when in reality we might actually be good or above average at it. i can’t stress enough how important it is to ask questions when you don’t understand something. it doesn’t have to be in the middle of the lecture (though if you’re lost during the lecture you should definitely ask), you can ask after class or during office hours. you’d be surprised at how helpful professors can be. if you don’t understand them when you ask, you can ask them to explain it you another way if you’d like. you have to persistent in your education. math is a skill. you can get better at it.
oh and id also refresh my trig if i were you. it comes up a lot. khan has great videos on this too.
also some schools might have different types of calculus classes. some might be specifically for scientists and engineers, some for economics or business people. so ask your counselor what would be best for you. if calc is the only one you need, and i know you’re an animal science major, you might be able to take the more applied or simpler calc course than the engineering/science one.
If you are already in college by the time you apply, taking calculus might not even be necessary. I’d inquire with the admissions office but I’m guessing they want to see quantative ability in which case another class may do the trick
