<p>I finished my sr year with pre-calc and i'm hoping to advance to calc in college. But my friend says the Math Placement Tests are so hard that I will probably be placed in pre-calc again. </p>
<p>Should I re-study pre-calc over the summer to ensure that I do well on the MPT? I need calculus for pre-med so I want to take it right away. Has anyone else had this problem? I did good in pre-calc and managed an B+/A. Also, is this in the right forum?</p>
<p>It wouldn’t hurt you to study some for the test, especially if your college provides you the materials to do so. The test I had to take wasn’t hard at all but it wasn’t exactly a placement test and I’m sure every college’s test is different.</p>
<p>For free video tutorials:</p>
<p>College Algebra:</p>
<p>[Video</a> Tutorials to Accompany College Algebra, Graphs and Models, Second Edition / College Algebra / Course Information / Student Resources / Math Center / Learning Centers / Division of Academic Support / Academic Affairs / About TCC / TCC Home - Tal](<a href=“http://www.tcc.fl.edu/index.php/tcc/about_tcc/academic_affairs/division_of_academic_support/learning_centers/math_center/student_resources/course_information/college_algebra/video_tutorials_to_accompany_college_algebra_graphs_and_models_second_edition]Video”>http://www.tcc.fl.edu/index.php/tcc/about_tcc/academic_affairs/division_of_academic_support/learning_centers/math_center/student_resources/course_information/college_algebra/video_tutorials_to_accompany_college_algebra_graphs_and_models_second_edition)</p>
<p>Trig:</p>
<p>[Video</a> Tutorials / Trigonometry / Course Information / Student Resources / Math Center / Learning Centers / Division of Academic Support / Academic Affairs / About TCC / TCC Home - Tallahassee Community College](<a href=“404 - Tallahassee State College”>404 - Tallahassee State College)</p>
<p>Calc I, II, III:</p>
<p>[Video</a> Tutorials to Accompany Thomas’ Calculus / Calculus / Course Information / Student Resources / Math Center / Learning Centers / Division of Academic Support / Academic Affairs / About TCC / TCC Home - Tallahassee Community College](<a href=“404 - Tallahassee State College”>404 - Tallahassee State College)</p>
<p>I came home and found our son studying Boyce and Diprima and apparently he was studying it the whole day. I suggested that he relax instead of frying his brain on math. He’s taking the class in the fall and wants to be well prepared. At this rate, he should be able to test out of it.</p>
<p>I don’t know, since every school’s is probably different but I took Calc in HS (first semester sr year, don’t remember a damn thing from it) and I placed into Calc on the test. However, I took pre-calc at college because calculus wasn’t required for my major. Easy A. I would perhaps contact someone at your school and see if they are really strict about the math placement test because here they aren’t. They just use it as a guide and if you feel you’re ready they will let you into a higher class (it’s not necessarily recommended though, bc college calculus is way more intense than HS calc and you might be better off taking pre-calc first in college so as to ease into it since you never had calc in HS).</p>
<p>My son told me during the fall semester that he heard that about half of one of the calc I classes failed the first test and the test was only on precalc review. This was from other kids in his physics classes. Physics I had a coreq of calc I and physics II had a coreq of calc II but the the professors routinely used stuff from Calc III. The attrition rate was about 50% for physics I and 40% for physics II. No clue as to how many actually passed physics II. So if you’re getting precalc waived for college and you’re taking tough science courses that require calc or have it as a coreq, then you really need to know your precalc.</p>
<p>It’s really quite hard to say. All that I can do is repeat what others have said, and look into your schools policies. My experience with placement tests wasn’t that bad. I took calc my senior year and placed into calc 1 in college. At my school wherever you placed you were forced to go. I’ve heard stories of schools who only use it as a suggestion. Like others have said. All schools are different.</p>
<p>Uhh, if you have HS credit for Precalc, why wouldn’t you just be placed into Calc1? As far as I can tell, Precalc is just review of algebra/geometry/trig/etc. and helpful if you didn’t pay attention in earlier math classes. I never took it.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t advise going and doing pre-calc again. I would do Calc1 there. I took Calc1 at a college near my HS but it was a third tier school, so my college awarded me credit for “Excursions in Mathematics.” So I had to retake Calc1 in college and I honestly studied for maybe 5-10 hours and aced all the assignments, quizzes, and exams.</p>
<p>Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about it unless there’s something in particular you know you’re not good at. Then learn that before taking the exam…</p>
<p>i took calc in high school and when i had to take the math placement test i did not take it seriously at all, which was probably stupid. i got into precalc, and for my major had to go to calc 2 so i had to take a year of math. but on the other hand i felt math in college was easier than in high school.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies! Yeah my school only uses it as a general guideline, so I think I’ll be ok, but I’m going to skim pre-calc (I take the test July 24th) just to refresh my memory.</p>
<p>here’s a practice math placement test with scoring guidelines and placement info for Oregon State
<a href=“Oregon State University”>Oregon State University;
<p>I took the real thing after taking the practice test and it was the same difficulty so this test should be a good indicator</p>
<p>My school’s math placement test placed me higher than I thought it would… but I’m sure it depends on the school.</p>