<p>Hi there! I'm a sophomore in high school and I'd like to skip Pre-Calculus- I'm taking algebra 2 honors at the moment, but I recently heard from my friends/ and the math director that it's possible to skip a class if you know enough. I'd very much like to skip Pre-Calculus because then I will be able to to take Cal BC in my senior year and Linear Algebra at the Harvard Extension School in my senior year. I was wondering if you guys could give me any tips as to how to study for it - I took a short pre-cal course last summer but I've forgotten a lot of it since then... Do you suppose I should get a textbook and study or is there some other way that I can do this? Thank you in advance for all your help
-schoolgirl</p>
<p>If I were you, I'd try to skip Algebra 2 first, and go straight to Pre-Calculus. Because at my school, Algebra 2 was like all review of Algebra 1, and so is the first month of Pre-Calculus, but I'm thinking that Pre-Calculus will get harder later in the year.</p>
<p>the thing is I took the alg 2 midterm to see if I could pass out of algebra 2 but I didn't get a good enough grade to do so</p>
<p>I actually did this at my school. The normal sequence is:</p>
<p>Geometry
Algebra 2/Trig
Pre-Calculus (Honors)
Calculus (AP)</p>
<p>I skipped pre-calc, took AP Stats instead, and took AP Calc my senior year.</p>
<p>Before doing this, I checked with the AP Calc teacher and asked her if my plan was all right. Originally, she said that I should study the school textbook for pre-calc myself during the summer and take the final exam; if I passed, I could skip into AP Calc when I wanted to. However, another math teacher put in a good word for me and I was able to avoid taking the pre-calc final.</p>
<p>So, I definitely think it's a good idea to talk to the AP Calc teacher first and see what he/she thinks about the topic. I actually ended up not reading the pre-calc book, and I did fine in AP Calc without pre-calc knowledge. However, the way calculus is taught at your school may be different, so I advise you to discuss it with your teacher.</p>
<p>Precalc = algebra 2 review + trigonometry + other random stuff (limits, induction, etc.). So</p>
<p>(a) Learn Algebra 2 Well. with a capital W.
(b) Definitely study trigonometry and the random stuff out of a textbook -- I'd recommend College Algebra and Trigonometry by Kolman/Levitan/Shapiro or Precalculus, its equivalent. Try to see if you can try to do the problems near the end of the sections -- they're typically the hardest.</p>
<p>At any rate, make sure you know your trig well -- even if you don't need it for your AP Calc class (which would be rather strange since it was heavily emphasized for us) you'd be screwed in college when you try to take harder courses and they expect it to be second nature to you.</p>
<p>I skipped pre-calc and went straight to Calc AB. Doing pretty well, but I was self-studying a lot, including (and exceeding standard pre-calc) trigonometry.
I also was self-studying Calculus a little bit before class.</p>
<p>Have you tried looking for a Pre-Calc summer program? I'm in Alg 2/Trig right now, and I'm probably going to do my school's free PreCalc summer program and do Calc BC (if i get in, if not AB) my junior year and Multi-Variable with our school's concurrent enrollment program my senior year. If your school doesn't have its own summer program, do a google search. A lot of boarding schools and colleges have them. But really, you should talk to the head of the math department and your guidance counselor first. They will know the best path for you.</p>
<p>mr_chipset...I gave you an Algebra 3,4 problem you couldn't do....</p>
<p>It was all symplifying.</p>
<p>You can try, I wouldn't skip Precalculus just skip Algebra 2.</p>
<p>You won't use most of the trig from precalc ever again. At least not in AP Calc. And if you do then everyone else in your class will have forgotten it anyway so you'll go over anything you need to know. I skipped precalc over the summer and got through AP Calc AB just fine, and this year in Multivariable Calc we're supposed to be able to recall concepts, but not the actual formula. Like our teacher will give us the conversion for sin 2x, and we'll be expected to know how to use it (which is the easy part) and memorize it for the test.</p>
<p>Theoneo, we're supposed to memorize everything, even unit circle, even though UC wasn't as hard as it looked first :)
But all the conversions between trig. functions and common derivatives we should know :(</p>
<p>you need to know stuff like trig in some parts of calc...</p>
<p>take precalc over the summer or something and take ap calc next year</p>
<p>i wouldn't try skipping trig. its very important in calc. I agree with above. do VERY WELL in alg 2!!. I skipped geo and bc calc so i would know :)</p>
<p>Take it over the summer.</p>
<p>Schoolgirl, </p>
<p>I think Algebra II is a prereq for PreCalculus, but I think you can work around this.</p>
<p>Take Algebra II and then PreCalculus at your convenience from EPGY epgy.stanford.edu. If you're already taking Algebra II, you should be able to breeze right through it and be ready for PreCalculus by January. Then do PreCalc and take your schools PreCalc Final in June.</p>
<p>Normally EPGY needs the SAT or PSAT to let you in. See if they will take your most recent MCAS report, and tell them you'll send them your PSAT as soon as you have it, assuming you're taking it this Saturday. They'll probably let you register. They're Californians and seem pretty laid back. </p>
<p>If they don't let you register, then you can buy Intermediate Algebra from Thinkwell (<a href="http://www.thinkwell.com)%5B/url%5D">www.thinkwell.com)</a>, which is the program used by EPGY's more anal competitor CTY (cty.jhu.edu). I think this will allow you to immediately start accelerating from the point you're at in school. </p>
<p>If you go the Thinkwell route for Algebra II, you can buy time to get your PSAT's back which you can then use to qualify to register for EPGY. I would definitely do the precalculus through EPGY or CTY because they can provide transcripts for college, and you definitely want to have on record that you've taken precalculus. </p>
<p>Also, tell (don't ask, the answer is always no) your math director what you're doing so you can get to take the PreCalc Final at your school. </p>
<p>BTW, EPGY also has math classes beyound calculus, which may be better than Harvard Extension if 3 hour lectures once a week concern you. I can just imagine not understanding a key point 10 minutes into class, and then you're screwed for another 2 hours 50 minutes.</p>
<p>I'm 3 months into precalculus.. Algebra 2 was lots of new things, such as ellipses. Precalculus is basically a review with more depth.</p>
<p>If your school does not provide credit for EPGY, or various other distance learning courses for that matter, would you recommend signing up anyway? I am applying to boarding schools; if I get into at least one, I believe they accept a formal transcript for such programs. Do you recommend I start now anyway? I am currently in Algebra II.</p>
<p>I am a junior and also in Alg2. I think I might do this... however, our school requires us to take ALL classes... so even if I do get into AP Cal, I think I might still hve to take precalculus simultaneously.</p>
<p>I went from Algebra II to Applied Calculus from a local college.</p>
<p>what about takin alg 1, geometry, alg 2, and trig. then skippin pre calc? and just takin calc??</p>