<p>Okay, I wasn't really sure where to post this question but I thought here was the best option. </p>
<p>Anywho, I'm a freshman at college who took PreCal as a junior in high school and retook it again my first quarter here at college. Calculus is not a required class for me to earn my degree, but I feel like it may be good for me just to kind of have that general knowledge under my belt. If I'm taking 4 other courses that require work, would it be unwise of me to also add Calculus to the list? Is it really as tough as its reputation says it is? I'm not terrible in math but I'm not exactly Mr. Spectacular either. </p>
<p>Try auditing it or taking it Pass/Fail if possible. Calculus is very time consuming if it college is the first place you have seen it, no matter how good at it you are. However, i highly recommend at least having some knowledge as it really teaches you to think.</p>
<p>Calculus is difficult if you don't have a solid foundation; If you feel that you could do well in this course given your prior math experience, then go ahead and take it -- having calculus is a great asset if you ever decide to change your major. Also, there is the option of doing a pass/fail as mentioned above, which could possibly be a good outlet for you to explore.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Is it really as tough as its reputation says it is? I'm not terrible in math but I'm not exactly Mr. Spectacular either.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Calc gets a bad rap because it's so different from the math courses that precede it. Some students who are used to breezing through run into trouble with calc, but some students who've never had a lot of interest or natural skill in math find that it really "clicks" with them. </p>
<p>One word of caution is that college calc courses can be quite fast moving, because they assume some prior knowledge + cram the yearlong HS curriculum into about a semester and a half. On the quarter system, it might be an even greater concern. I loved calc (no idea why...I was just a person who it "clicked" with), but I wouldn't recommend taking it on top of a full course load. I also wouldn't recommend auditing the course unless you really believe that you'd do the assigned work (in which case, may as well take it P/F). IMO, you won't get enough from lectures alone to make it worth your while...you'll need the practice of HW. </p>
<p>If a calc class fits in to your schedule (in other words, if you won't have to move a lot of stuff around or sacrifice anything to make it fit), you could always add it and "test drive" until the drop deadline.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies everyone, really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Tenisghs--I'm currently taking Stats with an A grade as of now. I also took a different stats class in high school as a senior with an A grade.</p>
<p>Student615--My next quarter's classes are already signed up for along with Calculus (I signed up for it in case I did indeed decide to take it, if not, I drop it), so I wouldn't have to move anything around. However, I have one class which meets once a week but requires a number of large projects throughout the quarter, on top of a lab class and 2 general ed courses. I'm only expecting a lot of work from the class that meets once a week, which is why I thought this quarter would be good to take Calculus if I did decide I wanted to take it. I did have the idea in mind to drop it by the drop deadline in case it showed early signs of overwhelming work with my current schedule. </p>
<p>I think this deserves a bump, since I’m in the same boat- I’m going in undecided (I don’t even know whether I want to do science or liberal arts ), and I’m trying to figure out whether I should take calc just in case!</p>
<p>If you are thinking about studying engineering, chemistry, physics, or mathematics, then calculus will be an extremely useful course to take. Calculus is useful for particular areas of Computer Science. Calculus is often required for natural sciences, economics, and business programs but usually courses in these majors hide a lot of the mathematics from their students. It is a required class, but you can do well in these majors without knowing it very well. </p>
<p>If you are thinking about majoring in any of these subjects, it may be a good idea to sign up for calc I.</p>
<p>I was doing okay in math up through pre-calc. I could do algebraic manipulations and compute the area of a triangle and whatnot, but I never really saw a “big picture.” Calculus clicked with me because it connected everything I had previously learned in algebra, geometry and much of physics. It felt like a unifying theory and that’s why it was so exciting. In fact, I was so fascinated that I decided to major in math after taking calculus, and 3 years later I am as happy as a math major could possibly be :)</p>
<p>Just a word of caution: the first few weeks of a calculus course (the limit stuff) can be very technical and kind of tedious. It gets a lot more interesting when the focus shifts to computations and applications.</p>
<p>Feeling comfortable with limits is important though. You can’t really understand the derivative or the integral without having a good feel for limits.</p>
<p>Brush up on your algebra, too. I think lots of students find calculus to be difficult not because the theory of calc is so hard, but rather because they become bogged down in the algebra of it.</p>
<p>This was so true for me. I found high school math disconnected and tedious, but when I took my first course in calculus, it all ‘clicked’ in my head.</p>
), and I’m trying to figure out whether I should take calc just in case!</p>