Should I take Calc3, DiffEQ and Linear Alg, and Chem2 I. The summer semster at a community college?

Transfer Students
1

I am currently taking Calc 2 in the winter semester and I want to be done with my pre req math classes soon because I want to be able to take other engineering classes in the fall of 2023. And my math department sucks at my university, I find myself doing better at a community college instead. So I was thinking if I took 3 math classes in the summer and a chemistry class as well, would that be okay? Or an overkill? Please let me know your stories about linear alg and Calc 3 as to how difficult they are.

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unless your community college has 2 different sessions and you can take Calc 3+Chem in Session A, then DiffEq+Linear Algebra Session B, and only have a part time job (15 hours MAX), your plan isn’t feasible. 1 summer session = 1 full semester for 2 classes. Taking all these classes at once would be like attempting 32 credits in one semester.

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3

At a semester system school, a summer session is usually about half the length of a fall or spring semester, so two courses would approximate a full workload if four similar work courses approximate a full workload during a fall or spring semester.

So four courses during a summer session would be like a double workload of eight courses during a fall or spring semester.

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You will need a good grasp of linear algebra to do well in differential equations. Technically, one does not need to take linear algebra for either Calc 3/4 but some instructors expect that.
Overkill – depends on the school. One hard class per summer is about what I would recommend. You could do Linear algebra in summer 1 and calc 3 in summer 2. I suppose you could add on Chem if you can handle linear algebra in summer 1 because by all accounts, calc 3 should be a bit easier than linear algebra.
But to be honest, if you are struggling at your university then 1 course per summer, no matter where you take your class, would be my advise.

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5

Thank you for you advice. I appreciate it

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Thank you! Do you think Calc 3 is easier than linear algebra?

I think I’ll take Lin algebra and Chen in the summer and take Calc 3 in the fall

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They are different, so some students may find one more difficult than the other, but not the same one for all students.

A small amount of linear algebra is used in multivariable calculus, so there may be a slight advantage to taking linear algebra first if there are no other constraints on the order (like needing multivariable calculus for physics E&M).

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Depends on the student really. I found LA to be harder than Calc 3.