<p>So for those of you who took calc, would you recommend that I take calc directly or is it so hard that I should take pre calc?</p>
<p>Calc. is based a lot off of Algebra and Alg 2. If you can kill those two and you can understand concepts then Calc should be a breeze.</p>
<p>Take Pre-calc though. It's a lot different from calc, it's basically reviews algebra 2 for a while in the beginning and then introduces new material. Especially if you're taking AP calc, you need to take pre-calc.</p>
<p>Pre-calc definitely! You need quite a few precalc concepts in calc that you'll basically die without (AP calc that is).</p>
<p>Depends where you are coming from in terms of math prep and how strong you are in math generally. For most people, pre-calc is a very good idea. What have you done and what are you doing (in terms of math).</p>
<p>Precalc was a huge waste of time for me.</p>
<p>Pre-calc was a waste of time for me too. There was exactly ONE new concept that I learned (identities) but you learn that again in Calc. so it doesn't matter at all.</p>
<p>wat little_duck said</p>
<p>Well, I'm a sophmore right now, probably taking AlgII next semester and I was wondering if I should take Calc straight off in a cc, but I guess I am going to take pre calc.</p>
<p>for me, pre-cal has been a huge help.
I switched schools (i went from a really crappy school to one that you have to apply to get into), and it's made me realize how bad my high school is/was.
i mean, if you haven't done the unit circle in geometry (which i hadn't), then you absolutely need precalc.
it depends on how good your math skills are so far.</p>
<p>I didn't know you could "skip" pre-cal anywhere
I'm a Freshman and I have Algebra II this semester... and pre-cal next. </p>
<p>I don't mean to derail the topic... but would you be taking AP cal? And if so, AB or BC? </p>
<p>Also... should one go from pre-cal to BC?</p>
<p>take precalc if you did not do well in algebra I and II. precalc to BC is fine because you learn all the AB topics and a few BC topics like series and improper integrals</p>
<p>You absolutely need Trigonometry for Calc, and that's usually what the first semester of PreCal is.</p>
<p>Second semester is just elective topics, IE stats and analytic geometry. The more important stuff would probably be vectors, polar and parametric coordinates, but that's only a small portion of the AP exam.</p>
<p>If you have faith in your Trig skills and are solid in algebra, you could feasibly go to AB from Algebra II.</p>
<p>No take precalc. You won't get most of calc without precalc (vectors, polar, parametric, trig, analytic geometry, limits, UNDERSTANDING of functions, etc...) you can not do calc without precalc.</p>
<p>It depends on whether or not you're a math person. If you have a really good analytical mind then you should be fine going straight to Calc, otherwise, you might want to consider Pre-calc.</p>
<p>It depends, if you are taking university calculus then take the precalc. If you are talking the AP don't mother. The AP exam is excessively watered down. Everything is of the easiest functions possible.</p>
<p>Take pre-calc. Calculus is largely based on pre-calc, and even when it's not, you may be expected to recall some procedures from pre-calc to do some calculus problems. For example, there may be conics related problems requiring pre-calc.</p>
<p>Don't bother taking pre-calc, but it'd be a good idea to learn the concepts on your own. You don't have to have a crazy awesome knowledge for it to do well in AP Calc. Several of my friends took AP Calc BC last year without taking a pre-calc class. They did at least as well as I did (I took geometry, skipped algebra II by doing it on my own, pre-calc, calc bc, and now, multivariable calc).</p>
<p>Actually, I second that. I tested out of pre-calc/trig this past summer and it was not particularly hard if you're good at math.</p>
<p>Trigonometry - are you good at it? If you can pick up those concepts easily, skip Pre-calculus and go for Calculus.</p>
<p>At least you get a choice. At my school there was no testing out of Pre-calculus; everyone had to take it before they could take AP Calculus.</p>
<p>Hrmmm, I'm not really sure if it would be that great of an idea unless you have god like algebra 2 skills. Obviously you will be missing out on a few things which can be picked up rather easily, but I would not want to rush into anything and end up hindering my conceptual knowledge of the subject. And this is especially important in math.</p>