I am a sophomore right now and turning a junior this fall. I have placed in Calculus 1 class for a community college near me. I am planning to finish up until 3 for junior year. But the problem I have is that this sophomore year I was taking Alg2/trig, not honors, but the regular one, and this means I lack knowledge for the course. Also, I am planning to be a math major for college.
I have a couple of questions
Is this choice risky?
Will it be beneficial when I go to college?
Will the colleges look at this as a good thing?
Should I also study college algebra while I’m taking the class (for the SAT subject test)?
Talk to your HS math teacher and ask if the coursework you have had prepares you to take calculus. Personally I don’t see the rush to take calculus and wonder if there is something more valuable you can do with your summer.
There are a couple factors to consider if you are going to take Calculus 1 at community college.
How hard are the professors/classes at the community college? Summer classes usually are from 6-8 weeks so you are going to be learning the curriculum at a faster pace than in a normal school year.
How hard/tough are the Calculus professors/classes at your high school? If they happen to be hard classes and you don’t want to risk lowering your GPA, then taking Calc at a community college might be a better option.
Personally from my high school, taking Calculus at a community college wasn’t very common, especially when you want to move onto the next level. There are some instances when you take the class and if you want to move on to the next level (Calc 2), you might not have learned enough material to help prepare you. But really it just depends on the calc classes at your school and at community college.
I think you should weigh the pros and cons and consider your learning styles as well. Compare the curriculum at the community college with the one at your high school, talk to your advisers to get their advice, talk to friends who took Calculus at your school or at community college, and/or if you feel unprepared, you can definitely study college algebra to prepare for the SAT subject test.