<p>so my AP Calc teacher doesn't giv us homework?? is that like..normal?? we have like "recommended problems" but still,
b/c the only thing that counts on our grades are our tests, and since we don't do homework, we don't really ever learn it..
he says it is b/c we are a "college" course, or whatever..i'm very frustrated at my grade, b/c i'm getting really bad grades in the class!!!!</p>
<p>I don't think your teacher's stupid, they're just trying to prepare you for college by making homework not required. In college, teachers aren't going to grade homework, and tests are going to be a major part of the grade.</p>
<p>Our teacher does it, and everyone does the homework, which she then goes over the next day to see which problems we had trouble on. It's rarely ever graded, but necessary for the test.</p>
<p>So, in all, I'm saying just do the homework, and if you have questions, go back to the teacher and ask. I can guarantee you it'll help.</p>
<p>I would hate that. Homework is how I don't end up with a C in math. Even when I understand things, I never do as well on math tests.</p>
<p>My teacher got knocked up so she's leaving three weeks before the AP exam.</p>
<p>lmao...our teacher gave us hw but nobody does it.</p>
<p>LOL IMAGINE SOMEONE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW THEY DON'T GET HW</p>
<p>only CC. only CC.</p>
<p>My Pre-Calculus teacher is the exact same way. She doesn't give homework, but she recommends practice sets to do to prepare for subsequent sections of the text. I felt the same way you did in the beginning, but I learned to suck it up. Pre-Calculus upwards is college math. Get used to it.</p>
<p>It's only like that in my AP classes. She says she's just preparing us for college. She gives us notes to study so the 90 minutes is just lecture and homework is basically study and ask her if you don't understand something. She says in college teachers are just a resource. They don't really teach.</p>
<p>My Biology class was sort of like that. Actually, I was reading a book which brought up a question that has to do with this situation: If there were no grades/degrees (if you were in college) to be gained from learning at school, would people actually go to school and learn just for the sake of learning?</p>
<p>I think it has to depend on what subjects people are passionate about. I definitely would forget about Math and some of the sciences all together, while I would work hard in English and possible history just for the sake of learning.</p>
<p>We don't have scheduled homework either in AP Calc.. we have problems that are extra credit but are only extra credit for a very small portion of our final grade since tests are 70% of our grade while quizzes are the rest.</p>
<p>@thelittlemermaid many people take classes or attend community college just for the sake of learning.</p>
<p>We're given homework, but he doesn't check it or grade it. My teacher--who is by every definition a genius and can do all the calculus he's teaching in his head--says that, at the age where we can vote and give ourselves lung cancer, he's not about to go around telling us how to use our time. If we feel we don't need to do homework, we don't have to.</p>
<p>I like this policy, because I get B's without homework, and a B is good enough for me.</p>
<p>Some college courses are like that. Don't count on no homework, though, because most of my college classes DID have homework.</p>
<p>Reminds me of my regular physics teacher. The guy just throws us problem sets and tells us to solve them. These are problems that we couldn't get a girl who got a 5 on her AP Physics test to be able to do. We ask for help he just points us to our textbooks. He says obviously no one is ever going to ask you to use this stuff but it's the process in between that teaches you to think in Physics.</p>
<p>Smart guy (graduated from MIT) but a real *******.</p>
<p>My AP Chemistry teacher is exactly like that. He "suggests" we do certain problems at the end of the chapter...the only thing that counts towards our grade are tests and labs.</p>
<p>I wouldn't complain about not having calc homework--it's way better than what my teacher does. He said he was going to start grading homework periodically to make sure everyone was doing it, which soon morphed into him grading EVERY SINGLE assignment. And since we correct each other's papers, it wastes half of every class. It doesn't even have a real purpose anymore, because believe me, everyone now does homework--they're petrified of it.</p>
<p>Then, a couple weeks ago, he got the idea that people weren't taking the warmup problems seriously, so he decided to grade those in addition to our homework. He grades almost every single problem we ever do, and it drives me INSANE.</p>
<p>OP: Your teacher is doing you a favor, but it's up to you to use the situation to your advantage.</p>
<p>Many good students get to college and struggle because they don't really know how to work for a grade. They're not sure how to handle a course in which their grade depends on two papers and a final. They've never had to be in charge of their own studying. They have little self-motivation. Whatever. It's a different learning environment, and the adjustment can be difficult. Use this math class as a stepping stone. Figure out how to handle this type of structure before the vast majority of your final grades depend on it. </p>
<p>Here's a hint: you do have homework. Just because it isn't mandatory or graded doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing it and taking it seriously. If your teacher is recommending problems and you're not doing them, and you attribute your confusion to a lack of practice, then it appears to me that you're 100% responsible for your troubles. Start doing the recommended problems in a timely manner. If you have trouble and can ask in class, do so. If there's no opportunity to ask in class, talk to classmates, find a tutor, and/or request a time to meet with your teacher. If you have friends in the class who share your trouble, set up a study group (or just find a study partner) and hold yourselves accountable for the problems. Set a "due date" for the homework and then meet and go over it with one another. If you get to a section that really comes easily to you, then sit back and enjoy the spare time that you don't have to spend doing thirty variations of one type of problem!</p>
<p>This set-up allows you a lot of freedom and flexibility. It means you won't get bogged down with busy-work, and it means that if you absolutely need to, you can push math problems to another night's load. There's a lot of responsibility involved, though. Make it work for you. My calculus teacher had a similar policy (he did occasional visual "checks" to see if we were working, but we weren't regularly graded on completion or correctness), and I was glad to get comfortable with it then as opposed to a year down the road in pre-req courses for my minor.</p>
<p>This is hard to get used to, but it really does pay off :)</p>