<p>Hey there! Long time creeper, first time poster.</p>
<p>I attend a moderately sized (~1200 students) high school in Ohio. As part of the accelerated math program, many students take precalculus in their sophomore years and go onto Calculus BC as juniors, then, usually, taking Stat as seniors. However, due to a scheduling conflict, I could not take precalculus as a sophomore but, instead, an alternative that focuses on algebraic skills as well as trig and some stat. </p>
<p>To be clear, the class was not devoid of precalc aspects. We dealt with trig identities, the unit circle, and so on; however, it did not encompass the entirety of the precalc curriculum. For example, we did not explore matrices, ellipses, vectors, etc. Nor did we explore into great detail limits (although we did superficially go over them). </p>
<p>However, I find it difficult to warrant taking an entire year of precalculus when I have learned so much of it already, and would not a one-month "review" cover all that I need to know? Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, let’s see. If you want to take Calculus BC, I don’t think pre-calc is necessary. Taken from my point of view (I took pre-calc as a sophomore and then calc bc as a junior), pre-calc is only important to the point where you understand the trig identities and the radian. Also, knowledge of conics is a plus, but definitely not a necessity to succeed in calculus. </p>
<p>However, I think a one month review (as you explained) would be beneficial. If you can look over some conics, limits, and make sure you are aware of some of the higher graphing calculator functions, you will definitely do well.</p>
<p>Personally, pre-calc is just a little bit more detailed than algebra II (or whatever you call it in Ohio). Therefore, you don’t necessarily NEED it in order to do well in calculus. So, my opinion would be to skip it. (It really depends on how strong of a math student you are).</p>
<p>You don’t need to do pre-calculus to do well in Calculus BC. However, you do need to have a good/great foundation of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.</p>
<p>Thanks all for your responses! I would consider myself a decent math student but definitely not an exceptional one. I’d like to think that I’m, on the whole, above average in math.</p>
<p>I’d be glad to hear more opinions, however! Also, would it be a massive hindrance to me in later math classes (I’m thinking Calculus III and beyond) to not have – in a classroom format – gone over some of the aspects that I will not be formally learning, e.g. vectors and ellipses?</p>
<p>I didn’t know anything about vectors before Calc BC. I learned about ellipses in Alg 2, but they’re really no different from any other shape there’s an algebraic equation for. In fact, I don’t remember many problems on them until ellipsoids in multivariable calculus</p>
<p>I’d skip Precalc. However, I would spend a month or so (as you mentioned) to review matrices, vectors, conic sections, complex number trigonometry, parametric and polar equations, etc - maybe even some group theory and a bit of vector spaces if you’re up for it. See the Wikipedia article on Precalculus for more information.</p>