<p>I shall be attending Harvard this fall as an incoming freshman. However, during the summer, I would like to improve upon some of the subjects in which I have significant weaknesses, namely mathematics. This year, I took AP Calculus AB, which is the equivalent of a one-semester introductory calculus course in college. Admittedly, I did not work as diligently as I should have, but I feel that my comprehension of mathematics in what is only an introductory course is extremely low, and that I shall be at a significant disadvantage in the coming year in comparison to my future classmates. As is such, I am currently considering taking a class at my nearby community college, but I have already acquired employment for the summertime that will make pursuing studies quite difficult. </p>
<p>In short, is the stress of working full-time (with commute, I shall be out from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Friday) and balancing coursework worth it? Or should I just purchase a math book, work independently (which in the past has not worked well at all, not for a lack of trying), and hope I grasp something in time for the fall?</p>
<p>Shameless bump #1…</p>
<p>Does no one here have an opinion on this or advice to give? :(</p>
<p>ksarmand, since you won’t have time for a live course due to your work schedule, take a look at this site, which contains lectures in many areas of advanced mathematics. You may find this more effective than just reading a textbook, or a good supplement to a textbook.</p>
<p>[Khan</a> Academy](<a href=“http://www.khanacademy.org/]Khan”>http://www.khanacademy.org/)</p>
<p>Depends what you want to do in college. If you’re planning on being a physics concentrator or something, you might want to brush up. If you just need to fulfill your math gen ed requirement, just take Math 1A and be done with it.</p>
<p>Well, I would like to take some higher level statistics and economics courses. If I don’t follow through on that, I’d just like to be competent in mathematics. :)</p>
<p>Try the MIT OpenCourseWare? It’s college lectures available whenever you want them :).</p>
<p>[Free</a> Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Calculus | MIT OpenCourseWare](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/hs/calculus/calculus/index.htm]Free”>http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/hs/calculus/calculus/index.htm)</p>
<p>Also, I think you can get the Harvard lecture notes if you log into one of those course websites.</p>
<p>Edit: found another link to course videos: <a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-01Fall-2006/VideoLectures/index.htm[/url]”>http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-01Fall-2006/VideoLectures/index.htm</a></p>
<p>You could audit the community college class–no grades.</p>