Hello everyone. I’ve just been recently introduced to this website and I thought I’d ask for your advice on this subject. I’m currently a junior in high school and I want to take calculus 1 at a community college over this upcoming summer. I’ve looked up classes at my nearby colleges and most of them have a pre-requisite of college algebra. I’m currently taking Calc A at school and I’m planning on challenging the AP Calc AB exam.
With these in mind, is there a way to skip this pre-requisite by any chance? By taking a diagnostic exam of some sort perhaps? If so, is it wise to take it over the summer? I’m only taking it to help further my knowledge in calculus because I want to have a good foundation in it before entering my freshman year.
They’ll probably ask you to take a placement test no matter what (unless they just use your AP score). College algebra is essentially pre-calculus, and they’re not going to make you retake it.
In that case, you already know the material from the Calculus I class and you should be taking Calculus II. If you have the option of taking AP Calculus BC at your high school, I would recommend just taking that next year so you don’t have to spend as much money.
As far as the testing goes, they will probably make you take a test that either is or is similar to the CLM test (College Level Math). I also would agree with the previous poster that if you already have Calc 1 then I would recommend moving into Calc BC.
My school does offer BC and I’m planning on taking that, but I’ve heard that the BC course takes away a lot of the stuff taught in Calc II. Should I just try to take Calc II over the summer then? If Calc I is just pre calc, would I be fine if I took the summer course for Calc II as a supplementary course? And about the money issue, I’ve spoken with my counselor and been told that I can request a fee waiver.
Calculus I is not pre-calculus. It’s equivalent to AP Calculus AB, which you said you’re taking now.