Precalculus is killing me!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>I seriously don't know what to do with myself anymore. Precalculus is killing me! I don't understand the concepts or how to do problems. My teacher sucks at explaining things and seems to hold a grudge against me since I go in for so much help and probably annoy him, and I can't take his irritating, condescending voice (yeah, I know, not a very legit reason but he still sucks at explaining). Sometimes when I'm absent, I have the hardest time catching up because he will actually REFUSE to help me catch up. He just tells me to read the textbook, which is awful anyways and teaches stuff that is more simple than what we do in class. I just don't get why I can't get through this class. Other people freak out over Bs, well, I'd honestly feel lucky if I got a D. I actually celebrated my first D on a quiz, which is frankly really sad (I was getting Es thusfar).</p>

<p>I can't stand coming home and just sitting in front of my Precalculus homework, staring at it, trying to figure out how to do it and realizing there's no way to get around it. I am so sick of my parents too, they don't even support me. They basically just told me I'm stupid, screwed for life because I suck at math, and I should live with a D in this class because I'm not capable of getting a higher grade. I've gone in for help with "peer tutors" but every time I ask them for help, they don't even seem to know what they're talking about which is annoying. I have this AMAZING paid tutor that I got help from for Algebra 2, like I seriously don't understand math until he explains it to me, but my parents said they're not going to hire him anymore because they don't have enough money.. so I'm basically left with no one to help me. I've asked friends but none of them have a full grasp on the concepts themselves and/or they don't have the patience to help me, which is understandable.</p>

<p>First marking period, I got a D. If I get a B this marking period and an A on the semester exam, I could possibly earn a B in this class. Otherwise, a C it is and my chances at virtually all colleges will be majorly ruined.</p>

<p>So as I write this post, I stare at my Precalculus homework...hoping it will magically complete itself. Precalculus makes me want to cry. =[</p>

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<p>Rofl. What are you guys on? You should just ask your classmates…or a friend.</p>

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<p>most schools have peer tutoring through national honor society…may want to try that</p>

<p>it’s a really shame that your teacher can’t help you…maybe another teacher in the department will…</p>

<p>also, I’m assuming you are not in honors; if you are, you may want to drop down.</p>

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<p>advanced Lawlz- I already discussed that in my post.</p>

<p>rodney- I already discussed the peer tutoring thing in my post. I’m in honors but I’m dropping down to regular next semester.</p>

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<p>how about getting help from your new teacher for regular before you transfer classes?</p>

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<p>Maybe you could try some books at your library or google some precalculus/a specific topic math videos (there’s tons of math videos).
If you need help with a single problem, you could ask it on yahoo!answers since there’s tons of people on there that are willing to help (I’m usually on there too).</p>

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<p>Sucks, for you…I A-'d it 1st quarter, and I have a 97.7 halfway through the 2nd quarter.</p>

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<p>Precal was pretty easy in the beginning - Alg. II review, logs, and cubic functions I remember were in like the 1st and 2nd MP. It got pretty hard with trig and stuff at the end. I’m not sure what material you’re on right now but you can check out purplemath (I think that’s the site), they sometimes have useful explanations of things.</p>

<p>There has to be someone you know that’s good at Precal, just find them and get help when you need it. Good luck, and sorry to hear about your struggles, lol. I pulled a high B final avg. in Precal but don’t have good memories of trig and everything. -_-</p>

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<p>Yeah, what are you working on? We’ve done all the AlgII stuff, like logs and functions and conics and all that. We are working on trig now.</p>

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<p>I’m not talking about formal, “peer tutoring”, I’m talking about just getting a friend to “help” you.</p>

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<p>I’m in precalc/trig and we are halfway through chapter 4. Chapter 4 is the beginning of the trig part, and getting away from the precalc logs, functions, etc.</p>

<p>Right now we are working with SohCahToa (sin, cos, tan, csc, sec, cot), angular speed, linear speed, radians (0, 2/pi, pi, 3pi/2, 2pi counterclock wise in a circle on the coordinate plane).</p>

<p>I don’t think it’s that hard. I actually find it easier (more enjoyable) than the precalc part.</p>

<p>OP- what type of stuff are you guys working on?</p>

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<p>We just finished that Speedy. We just did “Simple Trig Equations” (8-1 I think?) and we’re starting Sine/Cosine Curves.</p>

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<p>Manifesto - do you guys do Mid-Chapter quizzes in that class? Our teacher splits each chapter into two parts. Say there are 8 lessons in a chapter (4.1, 4.2, 4.3…4.8). After we complete lesson 4.4 we will have a Mid Chapter quiz (short quiz over material in the first 4 lessons). Then at the end of the chapter we’ll have a chapter quiz (all 8 lessons).</p>

<p>Do you guys do anything like that?</p>

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<p>lolwut? You guys do angular and linear speed in pre-calc?</p>

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<p>eg2333 - yeah, just had a quiz on it today. Pretty easy stuff.</p>

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<p>Hmm, never remember doing it in my class, but the first time I was introduced to it was in AP Physics C.</p>

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<p>Wait you can get E’s?</p>

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<p>Same position as you in Algebra 2/Trig. On the borderline of slitting my wrists from pure depression.</p>

<p>Surely there must be SOME way to negate the damage of a D by retaking it… Man. I screwed up and just ruined my life just by taking one wrong class.</p>

<p>Better people before me failed and I didn’t listen to them.</p>

<p>I’m a tragic hero on the same level as Oediphus. Arrogance was my downfall.</p>

<p>Nooooooooooooooo! (Gouges out eyes and goes into exile at a community college.)</p>

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<p>@Claxton - Yes, we usually have 1 quiz and 1 test per chapter, except for the first 4 chapters (rushed through because it was review; we had a chapter 1-3 quiz and a 1-4 test)</p>

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<p>@ generallyrong: Some schools, including mine, give E’s instead of F’s. In this case an E is used as a substitute for an F.</p>