<p>Hello everyone. I need an honest oppinion from someone who has taken precalculus or calculus during their high school years. I am a studious student and study very hard when it comes to academics... so..</p>
<p>Is teaching yourself pre calculus over the summer possible, or is it one of those classes where you need a teacher to explain the principles? I did not take algebra in 8th grade, and took it instead in 9th, therefore eliminating my chances of taking ap calc in my senior year. There are no requirements in math, except for taking algebra, geometry, and alg 2. Pre calc is available, but I would rather study it in the summer of my junior-senior year and take AP calc my senior year.</p>
<p>If I buy the text books for pre calc and get the study tools for them, do you think it can be done? Or is it too difficult? Im hoping to go to West Point or another military academy, and I do know that math carries a lot of weight in them... </p>
<p>Any ideas? Thanks.</p>
<p>Pre-calc in my opinion was the easiest math I ever took. A lot of it is review from previous years and the calculus part at the end with derivatives/integrals isn't challenging at all. I can totally see someone doing this on their own.</p>
<p>So do you recommend I do this? Do colleges see Ap Calc as being essential for college admissions, or am I just paranoid?</p>
<p>Do you recommend skipping pre calc by studying over the summer, and going straight to calc? Thanks.</p>
<p>It's definitely possible to do precalc over the summer and place into calc. I actually don't consider it a necessity to do precalc at all; you just need solid trig and a very firm grounding in algebra. Try and take a pre-evaluation of the precalc course you're interested in and then just focus on the weak points in your test since you probably know a good deal of the material already.</p>
<p>And yes, you should have at least some form of calculus before going to college.</p>
<p>So you recommend me studying pre calc over the summer then, and going straight to calc? I found a nice pre calc book on amazon (though expensive) and it had very high reviews, most people claiming that its the best self teaching book around.</p>
<p>If...</p>
<p>1). You need to do summer work to take calc before you graduate from high school
2). You already have a firm grounding in algebra and trig so you wouldn't be rushing your mathematical development
3). You don't mind wasting precious hours of your summer doing problem sets...</p>
<p>then go for it!</p>
<p>I self-studied precalculus the summer before 10th grade and knew it well enough to have passed out, although I chose not to, especially because I had already done so in Spanish, and my GPA was already being smacked by my stupidity.</p>
<p>From what you just wrote, I cant exactly tell if you are supporting the fact I should skip it by studying over the summer, or avoid doing it...</p>
<p>When you said passed out... you meant fainting.. or ace-ing it?</p>
<p>Passed out placed out.</p>