Math 104 and 114 coming from IB

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>I've read through the previous threads on this forum regarding Math 104 and 114 but it seems more targeted towards AP students. I was wondering if any IB Math HL students could compare the two?</p>

<p>I'm thinking about placing out of 104 and taking 114 by taking the departmental exam at the beginning of the year. I took a practice 104 paper and scored a solid 16/20, despite there being a few topics not covered by Math HL (like surface areas through integration and arc lengths) that I don't mind learning over the summer.</p>

<p>What do you guys think?</p>

<p>--
Ahmed, Class of '17</p>

<p>I don’t really have an answer, but I’m in the same boat as you. It probably depends a lot on what option you did. We did series and differential equations, and a bunch of us took the Calc BC exam to try to get credit. I’m not sure if I’ll get the 5 for credit, but I’m planning on taking 114 either way. I feel like we’ve covered enough of the material that we can self study the rest this summer.</p>

<p>Wahey, I did series and differential equations too! (Paper 3 was surprisingly easy this year, first time I finished well within the time limit…)</p>

<p>Yeah, the topics I don’t know (surface area, arc lengths, etc.) I’ll study over the summer as well.</p>

<p>Also, it’s nice to see another Penn ‘17. PM me your facebook name and we can gush about Penn together. :’)</p>

<p>If you are self motivated, I would fill in the gaps in your knowledge of the material on the math 104 syllabus and start with math 114. The reason I suggest this is that the calculus courses (math 104, 114, 240, 241) are very poorly structured and taught and you would be better off learning the material on your own so you can start 114 and finish the sequence earlier.</p>

<p>In addition to what Poeme said, if you start with 114, you don’t have to take the placement exam. If you get a C or higher in 114, you automatically get credit for 104. For this reason I would advocate taking 240 straight away (if motivated). Fill your knowledge gaps from 104 and study a bit of multi (from 114) as the first third of 240 is a review of 114, and the rest is linear algebra.</p>

<p>I only need Math 114 for an econ major. How hard are the placement tests? Would it be feasible to study this summer and get credit to skip the class entirely?</p>