I’m planning to self-study MIT OCW’s Multivariable Calculus (http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-02sc-multivariable-calculus-fall-2010/ ) this summer, and I’m figuring out how to pace myself. I had a few questions below:
-How long does it take? I want to do all the material, ie video lectures, problem sets, and exams. A rough estimate of hours would be good. I can imbibe math fairly easily, if that helps.
-How many hours a day would you recommend? I have a lot of stamina, but it is college level math, and I want to make sure I’m not stuffing too much into my head in one day.
-(Yes, the poisonous question, I know) Will a college look down on the fact that I did MIT OCW instead of a course for credits?
Thanks!
Hey, I self-studied 18.02SC last summer by only watching lectures and then went back over the course of a semester and went through the entire course again with a fine-toothed comb. If you want a thorough understanding of 18.02 (in order to pass the ASEs for instance) you should devote most of your summer to learning the material at least an hour a day, or most days of the week.
I didn’t really stick to a general schedule and did the coursework in chunks that ranged from one to six hours. In the end you should do what works best for you. The coursework itself I feel is very rewarding and 18.02, especially under Denis Auroux, is SUPER fun. 
Basically, don’t start in August! And as for putting it on your application, it’s a great idea. Colleges love to see that you did work outside of your school whether it was for credit or not. I put down 18.02SC in my courses taken for MIT and got in EA; that’s not correlation but it’s good evidence that colleges definitely wouldn’t look down on you. 
@simpstuck Thanks for the detailed response! Sorry but I have a few more questions…what are the ASEs? Can I get credit for passing them?
Well okay, but suppose I wanted to finish it all in seven weeks, kind of how Harvard Summer School does. How many hours a day then? (Maybe a rough estimate of total hours required would be nice)
ASEs are placement exams as OMPursuit said. If you’re accepted to MIT, you can get place out of certain levels by taking them like finals during orientation. Needless to say, 18.02 is a pretty common ASE that incoming freshmen take.
If you want that Harvard summer school style of rigor I’d say put in at least two hours a day, you could definitely get through all the lectures and a lot of examples if you spend about 14-15 hours per week on it.