<p>I will be taking Precal at Rutgers New Brunswick and I am wondering how the class is? What is the structure of the class... # of students? Easy to get an A?</p>
<p>Not really an easy A =</p>
<p>No mean to discourage you. I mean, back in high school I received like A-'s in honors precalculus. College is different. I struggled and ended up withdrawing from the class because I failed the midterm with the majority of my class (they were struggling too)</p>
<p>Class and recitation alone won’t be a big help. I got a recitation teacher who didn’t help us at all and would mumble under his breath while going over a problem. </p>
<p>A tip: You’ll probably need to do some outside work to pass the class. Form a study group with others from your class. Also, expect to spend at least 1-2 hours of precalc homework a night if you want a good grade.</p>
<p>I work at one of the learning resource centers on campus, and I can attest the difficulty of this course. as i’ve been told by the tutors and students, the precalculus exams allegedly have the highest failure rate in the u. but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to do well in the course. visit the lrc on your campus frequently. they are very helpful, and because they’ve taken the course and are generally aspiring math majors, they know what they’re doing. best of luck!</p>
<p>Would you suggest Precalc for 4 credits and just one semester or precalc for a year and only 2 credits per semester?</p>
<p>oooops, i mean to say ''attest to the" and “ONE OF THE highest failure rates.” there must be harder classes than precalc. as for your question, i think it mostly depends on youuu. i mean, would you rather get it over with in one semester or drag it out for the entire year, but with what i assume to be at a more lenient pace? it also depends whether you are good at math and whatnot.</p>
<p>How many tests did you take, and were there curves/calculators?</p>
<p>i didn’t take precalc, sorry.</p>
<p>Based on my time in the class for half the semester before giving up . . .</p>
<p>There are 2 exams and 1 final for the class itself and a 10 point quiz for every recitation class (recitation class only met once a week for an hour). 11 recitation quizzes altogether, but the teacher stated the lowest quiz grade would be dropped.</p>
<p>I suggest not to drag it for 2 semesters. Unless you suck at math, take it for one semester. Yet, it depends on your placement results too if you’re an incoming freshman. Sometimes you are placed into the 111-112 class (which is the 2 semester one) or the 115 (which is the one semester course)</p>
<p>edit: calculators weren’t allowed until one or two chapters into the book. But overall, calculators are allowed.</p>
<p>I was placed into 115.</p>
<p>Oh. That’s the one semester class =)</p>
<p>Good – so you don’t have to deal with precalculus for 2 semesters!</p>
<p>I dont mind, i just want the A.</p>
<p>agreed with the above; it’s not an easy A and if you want to do well you have to MAKE sure you attend every class to learn and understand the material and don’t fall behind.
i had professor scheiman, he’s a recommended professor - he teaches the material very well and as long as you go to every class you will understand mostly everything. but since his exams are easier than the final (i got an A with studying and a B with only reviewing; the final is made up by the math department) i would suggest studying extra hard for the final.</p>
<p>I got placed into Precalc 115 but dropped out and into the 111-112 sequence after two 115 classes… in my opinion, precalc 115 is meant for those who took Calc in high school and did really poorly on the placement test/people who are very good at math yet never took Calc in high school (I guess that’s me). The prof’s expect you to know everything and treat the material like a speedy review.</p>
<p>I probably would have survived passing 115, but I’d rather get more grip on what I was learning, while getting course grades higher than a C, and I’m happy I took 111-112. Think more about doing well rather than getting things over with…I’m assuming you’re a freshman anyway. Don’t take 115 unless you got like 700+ SAT math/took Calc in high school and did well.</p>
<p>I’m an incoming freshman and I was placed in 115 as well.</p>
<p>I’m picking my classes tomorrow and I was wondering whether we are allowed to pick certain professors or not? Because I know some other schools let freshman pick their professors as long as the class is not filled.</p>
<p>^ Unfortunately, no. You can’t choose specific teachers. You just choose whatever classes you want to take, and they do the scheduling for you. It’s only for your first semester of freshman year. After that, you basically have the freedom to choose whatever section you want to or can.</p>
<p>For precalculus (and most of the math courses), they don’t even list the teachers for each section =</p>
<p>How did you find out what math you had been placed into?</p>
<p>It is listed on the enrollment pathway about 2 weeks after you take the exam along with the English and Foreign Language placement.</p>
<p>Thanks! We found it.</p>
<p>Hey guys, how is precalc 115??? And WHY is it that so many people fail it?? is it difficult, or do people just have bad time management skills/don’t practice everyday like they should?? I’m trying to decide between 115 and 111…Help!!</p>
<p>Eh. I heard 115 is about the same. I mean, if people are having difficult in the supposedly “slower” precalculus class that is spread over two semester, imagine one semester! But if you think your math skills are kind of rusty, take the two semester sequence. Anyway, to address your other question:</p>
<p>**
I think people fail at it for many reasons.<a href=“1”>/B</a> It is almost a lecture hall style (like about 50 people), so maybe people feel a bit hesitant to ask the teacher for help</p>
<p>(2) You are overconfident. You watch your teacher during lecture do the problem on the board and go “Oh yeah, I get it. This is easy”. Then you go home and do the homework: struggle a bit for hours but you kind of get the hang of it after a while; it is not uber difficult. You go to recitation class and take the quiz: You struggle, chew on your pencil, bounce your leg up and down, pull your hair … and then fail.</p>
<p>(3) You try and ask your recitation teacher for help, but they suck! I felt bad for my TA, but I felt even sorrier for myself and my classmates. First of all, he was a foreigner so it was a bit difficult to understand him. But that didn’t bother me. It was the fact that when we asked him to explain a problem for us, he would do the problem on the board while mumbling under his breath despite numerous attempts to ask him: “could you please speak louder?”</p>
<p>(4) Math is not a strong suit for most of us in the class in the first place, hence why we were placed into precalculus and not calculus. Unless you just happened to fall asleep or had a 100+ degree fever during the math portion of the placement test, despite being very good at math.</p>
<p>(5) The lecture problems are easy as pie, but once we get the quizzes in recitation and the midterm exams, it is freakin’ difficult. It would be better if the problems in the book were difficult so that when we take the test, it would seem easier to manage. But yet again, if one struggles with the book and can’t even get proper help from the TA, you are pretty much screwed.</p>
<p>My teacher in high school used to do that – make homework problem difficult so that the exams seemed easier. Sadly, I’m not in high school anymore. Welcome to college math where slacking is just not cutting it. Where you actually have to study a few hours a night and actually have to study for test several days beforehand :(</p>
<p>**If you do plan to take the class, I suggest several things:<a href=“1”>/B</a> Drop it NOW! Don’t take it at Rutgers. Take it at a community college over the summer.</p>
<p>**If you DESPERATELY need to take the class at Rutgers for a prerequisite, do the following:<a href=“1”>/B</a> Sign up for tutoring
(2) Spend at least 2-3 hours a day doing practice problems in the book. Seriously. If you skip one day of studying or doing practice problems, you are already behind and SCREWED.
(3) Form a study group with kids who know the stuff and kids who don’t know the stuff.</p>