<p>Ok first of all i want to be a strucutral or maybe mechanical engineer. I got a 4 in my Calculus AB exam so they let me skip Math10a and i can go onto Math10b. Because im an engineer i realize that math is crucial. Do you think i'm ready to go onto Math10b or should i retake Math10a? I got a 630 in 2c so i'm not like a math genious. I've heard that unless you get a 5 you should probably retake it to get a better understanding but i'm not sure.</p>
<p>There's a similar post about whether a kid should retake Calc II after he passed the AP exam. My advice is the same: do <em>NOT</em> retake. Those classes are weeder classes, you know the material, and they end up hurting you (time, GPA, boredom) more often than not.</p>
<p>is this calc one or two??</p>
<p>its calc one</p>
<p>dont retake.. u got a 4.. u are in good shape</p>
<p>It's a tough call. We often tell our students to not apply AP to skip Calc 1 because we've seen a high percentage of them fail Calc 2. Calc 1 in college is more rigorous than most high schools. But I'd talk this over with adviors at your school.</p>
<p>Actually calc 2 is known as the hardest calc course at U of I. So unless you're really ready I have seen the same thing as dr_reynolds. Believe me, the first intro course isn't the only weed out. If it was they couldn't catch all of them. As bad as that sounds it's true.</p>
<p>Hi dr_reynolds, are you an engineering advisor? I am interested b/c my S will be a freshman EE major. He made 5 on Calc BC AP exam and took Calc I, II, and III in h.s. The EE people he met with seemed ok w him going into Calc II. I am interested in your opinion. Thanks.</p>
<p>i got 4 in Calculus BC and 5 in Calculus AB. I am confused whether to take credit or not.I havent studied the things since I took the exam . If I take the credit I might have a problem in remembering things . If I do not ,I will waste so much time doing the same thing. n who knows I may get a lower grade .I will be in disadvantage . If I take the credit I will get A or B in the transcript .can anyone help.</p>
<p>It's always a tough call. A 5 on the BC exam is quite an accomplishment so I would imagine that your son will be fine in Calc 2. poisonedapple, I would talk to advisors at your school and see what they think. They will have a better idea of the sucess rate at your school.</p>
<p>illini pointed out that calc 2 is much harder than calc 1 where he goes to school. it's the same at berkeley. if you don't know your calc 1, you're going to be in deep ... in calc 2. the easiest route (and, in my opinion, best route) is to get a 5 on AP calc BC and skip both. ;) multi-variable calc, diff eq's, and linear alg don't really require much of calc 1/2 (at least not the really intense stuff) unless your prof is a little sadistic. plus, you get used to using all your old textbooks as reference. everything in engineering seems to build on past stuff.</p>
<p>Let's say you get accepted to UMAA and you really don't want to put up with Calc II there; just take it in the summer at your community collge.</p>
<p>I took CALC 1 and II in community colleges. They did a thorough job in preparing me for calc III at my main school which was quite a challenge.</p>
<p>My main philosophy is - if there's a course which isn't directly part of your primary major and it's rough; just get it over with a community college.</p>
<p>For example; if your a chemistry major; criteria aren't that important but ALL your chemistry courses should be taken at your primary institution. </p>
<p>If your a math major, ALL your math courses should be taken at your main school but your side science electives can be taken at community colleges and it wouldn't really matter.</p>
<p>I'm a chemical engineer. I absolutely love chemistry and physics but math and programming are not on that list. Math is something I really don't like and programming is something I abhor. </p>
<p>That's why squeezed in calc I, II at a comm. college. </p>
<p>In the future, I plan to sqeeze in linear algebra, C++, and maybe probability theory at a community college.</p>
<p>Note that I DID take differential equations and multivariable calculus (YUCK) at my primary college</p>
<p>depends really on how you feel with calculus. i took calc BC and was 100% that i would get a 5 on it, and it turned out that i was right. anyways, i had a pretty good teacher for calculus in h.s. and i tutored a lot of my friends in college in both calc 1&II, and actually i think my knowledge was more solid than their's even after they went through the standard first year of calculus ( i can spent a lot of time learnign the proofs for calculus by myself). i took calc III over the summer @ comm college, took vector calc 1st sem and took a proof based version of linear algebra + diff-eq's 2nd semester. i didn't really have any trouble with any of the courses after going through calc BC, so i don't think you would have anything either.</p>
<p>Hi hdotchar, just wondering:
what college you attend
and
what's your major?
Thanx, tabbyzmom</p>
<p>i attend purdue university. my major is electrical engineering (focus: biomed). i take the standard electrical engineering curriculum, but at the same time, i take a host of other engineering/science courses that prepare me for my biomedical engineering electives. i actually plan on attending law school after engineering.</p>
<p>Tried to send you a PM but you don't accept them. Does PU still make folks like you hold in some two year major and apply for the Eng School? How many kids make it beyond the 2 year wait. Just curious....it always seemed funny to me that PU doesn't admit straight into the Eng Program. Are you a Hoosier or from another land?</p>
<p>i'm from chicago (now living in california actually). you are required to finish freshman engineering, before moving into a engineering school. i just finished my freshman year there. a lot of kids drop out of engineering after the freshman year. after the kids who dont really belong drop out, the drop out rate is not too bad. i'd say about between 70-80% of kids are retained after freshman year. its not really that odd, you take the standard freshman curriculum, and if you tested out of math or whatever you can take advanced math classes ( i took vector calc 1st sem & doubled up on honors linear alg.& diff -eq 2nd). in addition, you can select some of the engineering courses as electives, provided you tested out of enough stuff to make room for them. for example you can take materials & properties, thermo, basic mechanics, etc... provided you meet the requirements. 'freshman engineering' is really just a nomenclature issue.</p>
<p>I guess I thought the Freshman Engineering was two years....thanks for clearing that up. So.......the drop happens during the first 2 semesters....is it mostly a math problem? They come in with a math deficit and cannot make it up in time....??? In addition. You came from Chicago, will you elaborate on how you chose PU as you are an outofstater?? I am curious.</p>
<p>i chose PU because i had pretty bad grades in h.s. for my first two years. by the time i shaped up for junior/ senior year it was too late to revive my <em>horrible</em> gpa. i was barely in the upper half of my class. however i did good on my standardized tests and took 9 AP's + 1 comm college class. (1520 SAT I/33ACT). the drop from most students does not come from any sort of real 'deficit'. the only deficit that most people drop out of engineering is that 1) they aren't willing to work hard enough 2) they got into engineering for all the wrong reasons. i would stress that although a good math background can definitely help you grasp material quicker, a good work ethic is probably more important. that being said, a good gpa is definitely attainable. i currently maintain a 3.75 GPA, as does my roomate (computer science major). he actually had a 4.0 last sem. i have a few friends who have gpas higher than mine.</p>
<p>Depends on your school. At mine, Matthew's advice holds -- 103 (AB equiv. single variable) is a weed-out course. Everyone takes it thinking they've had it before and it'll be an easy way to get the math requirement out of the way, so the curve is brutal. But things may be different at yours.</p>