I am currently enrolled in Calculus C, and I am struggling a lot with this class. I am applying ED to a very selective school, and I don’t want them to see a C on my first quarter grades. Please Help!!!
So I talked with my counselor, and she said that she strongly recommends that I stay in Calc, and just try really hard to bring my 1st quarter grade up to a B. But by talking to people who have taken this class before, I don’t think it will be possible.
She said that it would look bad for colleges because it would show a withdrawal in Calc, and I wouldn’t be taking a math class senior year. However, I already took 4 math classes, so Im wondering if its ok to not take a math class senior year.
9th grade: Algebra 2 GT
10th grade: Precalc GT
11th grade: Calculus AB AP AND Statistics AP
12th grade: Calculus C AP
Please help I’m really stressed and my counselor is not very helpful. BTW if any of you have taken Calculus C and know stuff about Series tests please help it would mean the world to me.
If your intended major in college requires calculus, be aware that calculus in college will cover material faster than your high school calculus courses.
Your counselor is right, trying to get a B is your best bet, and it won’t look good to withdraw from calculus; you’ll need to take another math class to make up for it in all likelihood (does a local community college offer caclulus-based statistics? Assuming you CAN take the class in Winter Quarter for example… or Spring semester?) However getting a C in Calculus C will look worse.
I hope however that you’re not planning to major in anything that requires calculus, since college calculus will be faster-paced (and depending on the school you’re aiming for, more in-depth).
Not sure what you mean here. Isn’t your school on a semester system? Colleges that ask for an interim report will get your grades at the end of the semester sometime next year. They don’t see your grades per quarter, typically, unless for some reason your school puts them on the report sent out.
As for dropping, colleges will get the report from your HS showing what classes are offered. At top colleges they’ll take the time to notice what you’ve taken vs what is offered. Which in a way is a moot point because the withdrawal on your transcript is a red flag that nobody is going to miss. Any “very selective school” is going to wonder if you can handle their classes if you gave up on Calculus C. Frankly I’d have doubts myself.
Furthermore it sounds like your counselor is implying she won’t check the “most rigorous” box if you drop the class. At which point you can just about write off admission to that “very selective school” .
Most kids have pretty poor study habits so it isn’t surprising they found this too much to do. There are so many resources out there today. Khan Academy. Forums to get help. Workbooks like the “Calculus Problem Solver” to get thousands of worked problems so you can practice until you understand the material. And there is also a measure of self-discipline. A math or science class in college takes most kids who do well 6-10 hours outside of class each week to study, do the homework, do extra practice problems. Colleges care about grades in tough classes (or kids that don’t take them) because it gives them insight into an applicants readiness for a challenging workload.
No, she is being helpful. She’s just not giving the answer you want to year.
Guys thank you so much for the in depth responses, I really appreciate it. Lol honestly didn’t think someone would reply so quickly (this is my first time posting on CC). Im thinking of just sucking up the stress and aiming for the B. I talked to a lot of people in my Calc class and quite a few of them have the same grade as me.
@mikemac My school has 4 quarters in a year, and 2 semesters. According to my counselor if you apply Early Decision, the school will almost certainly call the school and request 1st quarter grades, especially if they’re on the fence about accepting you. If it makes any difference, I am applying to Cornell Arts and Sciences Early Decision. My sister got into cornell with a lower GPA, and i think fewer Extra Curricular activities. I know how important it is to bring up my Calc grade, but I feel like my teacher makes the problems in a certain way so that studying won’t help no matter what if you can’t think outside the box.
you’re probably right about the school checking. I was thinking of RD where updates are sent in Jan/Feb
I’ll address this, although not knowing your teacher or what she asks some of this is speculation.
Here goes. I think you’ve got a wonderful teacher! One you may not appreciate now, but one that aftr a year or two in college you will look back and thank. Maybe
A lot of kids get good at plug-and-chug. They are shown, for example, how to apply the chain rule. And when they see a problem that says “use the chain rule to…” or a problem that is clearly the chain rule they can do it. But they have never developed a real understanding of what the chain rule does or why one would want to use it. And so on for every topic in calculus.
So to me when you say “can’t think outside the box” what I’m hearing is “doesn’t really understand the concept, but can use the concept by rote when asked”. This may get you thru many HS classes but in college, esp. in a college like Cornell, not so much. And it won’t be just Calculus in college where they assume as a matter of course that you can repeat what you’ve been shown but that for a good grade you need to show you understand the concepts and can recognize/apply them in unfamiliar cases. In Chem, in Psych, in Econ, in you-name-it, it is trivial for a prof to come up with questions that can only be solved by recognizing the concept that applies and then using it. If this is something you don’t see yourself as proficient in doing then I suggest you pause for a moment to consider if the challenge of a school like Cornell is really going to be right for you.
I understand how important knowing the concept is in Calc. However, I understand that math isn’t my strong suit (which is why Im not majoring in anything math related). If anyone here is good at math, do you have any tips to become stronger in Calc? Right now we are doing Series tests, and the big test that I have to well on is about all the Series tests we learned. By the way Im thinking of either majoring in Biology or Economics
The 1st 2 links are about the conceptual approach to learning math or any subject, the 2nd two are specific advice you can use
As mentioned earlier, I also suggest you buy the “Calculus Problem Solver” book which has thousands of worked examples. You start solving ones related to what you’re studying in class, check your answer after each one, and continue until you are getting them right.
BTW Economics at many colleges, and likely at your “very selective school”, is heavily based on calculus, and if you are thinking of a grad degree in the subject it will be thus everywhere.
Guys thanks for all the input I really appreciate it. First, I just realized that I posted this in the Harvard University section, lol. I have no intention of going to Harvard, and I know my capability as a student.
Second, I got a 100% on my last quiz! My grade jumped up drastically and now I am very close to a B. We still have one test and a quiz for this quarter. Thanks everyone.
