I've only taken Pre-Calculus (aka Math Analysis)

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>TL;DR: My question is, will I have problems at Cal if I have only taken up to Pre-Calc?</p>

<p>Read on for more info.</p>

<p>So, my freshmen year I was put in Algebra because my public high school didn't have my records from my private elementary school, therefore, they didn't know whether I had taken algebra already.</p>

<p>Anyway, our typical math is:</p>

<p>Algebra
Geometry
Intermediate Algebra
Math Analysis
AP Calculus</p>

<p>so, either you start in Algebra or Geometry, and in my case, it was Algebra. </p>

<p>I'm a math/science person, so I breezed through Algebra my first year, had little difficulty on Geometry (not into shapes and theorems, thank you), breezed through Int. Algebra again, and am now breezing through Math Analysis.</p>

<p>I tried to fit AP Calc and math analysis in my schedule this year, but I couldn't because some schedule conflicts, and probably some laziness (3rd period was a Psychology class from a community college. If i had not taken it, AP Calc probably could have fit in, now that I think about it.).</p>

<p>Now, I'm 1 year behind most of my friends, but no way am I "dumber" than them. In fact, last year, AP Physics B, I was one of three to actually pass the test with a 3 (that's good for my school) while 30 others got 1s or 2s. AP Physics was all just a lot of math, which is why I compare that.</p>

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<p>Sounds just like my high school. Anyway, you should be fine. I only had up to pre-calculus in high school and I took Math16A and 16B and I was ok. I didn’t do great but it’s also because I really slacked off in those two classes. I ended up doing pretty good on the final for 16B though, so I ended up with a decent grade for the class.</p>

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<p>if your gonna be an engineering major
your gonna have some problems</p>

<p>but if you arent, you should be fine</p>

4

<p>why not just take calculus 1 at community college this summer?</p>

5

<p>Hey Chango,</p>

<p>I not only just made it to PreCal, but I took it my junior year so I basically forgot it by the time I got to Cal. I took 16A this semester and had an A- going into the final. So don’t worry too much about it; in fact, sometimes I think students who take Calc in HS do worse because they think they know it already.</p>

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<p>Hey AVNevis, </p>

<p>I’m in the same situation as you! I took precal last yr as a junior and I’m taking stats right now in lieu of Calculus as a senior. I have never been a math person but I think its due to the lack of good math teachers at my highschool which made me dislike the subject. Almost if not all my math courses throughout hs has been self-study with the exception of precal where I had an excellent teacher. Do the professors that teaches 16A good? Is 16A do-able first semester?</p>

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<p>You shouldn’t have a problem with the 16A-16B series
but you probably will with the 1a-1b series (which is required for engineering, harder sciences, math/stats, the mathy version of econ, cogsci?i think, compsci, etc)</p>

<p>but for next fall the 1a teacher (borcherds) should be relatively easy compared to other teachers for math 1a. He got really good/easy ratings on ratemyprofessors.com for 1a. I would recommend taking calc at community college over teh summer because it will help a lot, but I think you can get by in his class without having taken it. I have him now for 1b and hes really nice :slight_smile: Last semester math 1a was hard and i got a 5 on bc too :(</p>