Jumping from precalculus straight to physics 1 and calculus 1 in a single semester?

<p>I realize the ease of doing this will depend on the individual. Also note that taking calculus 1 and physics 1 at my school, at the same time, is allowed - CRs.</p>

<p>I do pretty well in math. Technically I didn't have that much math in school because I dropped out of high school after the 10th grade, but I aced a somewhat advanced algebra course last semester and I've also taught myself enough trig (since then) to do well in my current intro physics course. I'm also pretty well caught up on limits, which seemed easy enough. I had fun pushing that concept to finding instantaneous motion. Thank you Google!</p>

<p>Anyway, I want to be safe and take precalculus this Fall, but then I want to go ahead and take physics 1 and calculus 1, together, the following Spring. Is this something a lot of people do or...?</p>

<p>To me there's a line between BEING ALLOWED TO DO IT and SHOULD DO IT. Just not sure about how thick that line is.</p>

<p>I took precalc last semester and am now taking calc 1…I kind of regret it. In my case, it’s just lack of studying, laziness, and motivation (plan to take a break next semester). If you feel pretty good when you take precalc, go ahead and take Calc 1 after. At my college, the prereq. for Physics 1 is calculus 1.</p>

<p>Yeah, I know some schools require you to first take calculus. That’s why I made sure to note that my school didn’t. You just have to at least be taking calculus at the same time.</p>

<p><a href=“An Error Has Occurred”>An Error Has Occurred;

<p>I did this Cal I and Physics 1 last spring, and went ahead and took Cal II and Physics (Cal-based) II in fall. Now I’m in Cal 3 for Spring. The pre-cal stuff didn’t not prepare me for the Physics equation at all. </p>

<p>The math in physics 1 is actually ahead of Cal 1 (Limits, Derivative, Integration)… 1st formulas chapter of physics is about vectors (Cal III) and integration (didnt learn til late Cal I) they have stuff like DOUBLE integration formula which my Cal II and III classmates had trouble also that they didn’t even cover yet at the time. But the teacher was easy so he didn’t ask us on test or quiz.</p>

<p>Just depends on the teacher, I made D 1st time doing Cal I w/ the physics (B) , retook cal 1 in summer got a B, then B for both Cal 2 and physics 2.</p>

<p>Does your school have a math placement test, or final exams from the precalculus courses that you can review to determine if you need to take precalculus?</p>

<p>If not, you may want to try this on-line placement test to see if you know enough to start calculus:</p>

<p>[Calculus</a> Diagnostic Placement Exam | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam]Calculus”>http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam)</p>

<p>It is beneficial to have had a semester of calculus before taking calculus-based physics. It is also beneficial to be at least concurrently enrolled in multivariable calculus when taking the physics course with electricity and magnetism.</p>

<p>Hmm. Well, I have one other option. Since I’m pretty decent at the math up through intermediate trig, I could take calculus in the fall without physics and just work really hard, and then take calculus 2 with physics 1 in the spring</p>

<p>Thank you very much. I’ll take that test and see what it says.</p>

<p>Okay, I took it and here are my scores:</p>

<p>[Placement</a> Exam Results](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/r/6okgol/6]Placement”>http://■■■■■■■.com/r/6okgol/6)</p>

<p>It’s kind of vague on what I should do. It says something like “if the majority are red, you should consider taking precalc first”. Only one is red, as you can see, but I feel like the red one SHOULD have been the easiest…</p>