Transfer student that needs help.

<p>Ok so my goal is to transfer to UC Davis as a Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology major. It requires that I take Calculus 3A & 3B. Unfortunately I placed really low on the math assessment test. I got Pre-Algebra. Luckily I went to my counselor and she moved me up one class to Elementary Algebra. I enrolled for Elementary Algebra for the Summer so I could move up faster in math. So I started yesterday and so far I have completed two chapters of homework with a grade of 97%. I feel like I should be in a higher math course. The stuff they teach in Elementary Algebra is stuff I already learned in High School. Like mean, mode, median, properties, order of operations, etc. </p>

<p>So I went to the counselor and she told me that she will arrange for me to take the assessment test again in July 16th so I could place higher. I would have to drop my Elementary Algebra class in the summer. The deadline to drop a class is tomorrow. And I would either quickly enroll in another class or just take the summer off. Should I take the risk and do the math assessment test to place higher. At least in Intermediate Algebra. I am aiming for Trigonometry or Statistics tho if I take it. </p>

<p>I just feel like this is a waste of time doing all this remedial math I already know. And that I have a chance to make my time in community college much shorter and less classes I have to take. So any advice on what I should do?</p>

<p>Does your school actually enforce pre-reqs and placement tests, or can you just sort of sneak into the class you think you should be in? Also, this is the very, very beginning of the course, so you performance on this part might not be a good representation of the class overall. If the stuff from the end of the class looks like it’ll be review as well, and you think you can do better on the placement test a second time, I’d say drop it. If you don’t know if you can get out of it, or if there’s material you don’t know or haven’t done in a while, it might be better to stick it out so you don’t end up more behind if they still want you to take basic algebra.</p>

<p>Yeah it does enforce pre-reqs and placement test. And for this class, instead of a textbook I had to buy Math Pearson Lab. I think that is what it is called. It is online and the teacher already posted all the homework and quizzes from chapters 1-6, 9, and 11. I wanted to see what the other chapters were about so I looked at one of the assignments from chapter 6 and 11. I scanned through it than exited out. Little did I know that it gave me a 0%. So I had to go do the assignment I viewed from chapter 6 and I got a 100% on it without the teacher teaching me anything from chapter 6.</p>

<p>I’ve read about this before where students do badly on the placement exams the first time around because they didn’t make a big deal out of them. Now that you know what the placement exam is like, study for it, and go into it a second time well prepared. Chances are you’ll get the correct placement this time around.</p>

<p>You have a long way to go to be able to take and pass Davis’ calc courses. Is there a reason you didn’t get credit algebra, geometry or pre calc in high school? You can always check free online hs courses to see what level you would be comfortable attempting.</p>

<p>@OpaqueApotheosis: Yes unfortunately I didn’t try my best. Had to learn the hardway.</p>

<p>@Aunt Bea: Yeah as a freshman I took geometry and got C’s. Then I took Algebra 2 and did horrible. So I went back to Algebra 1 Junior year to learn the basics again. My Algebra 1 teacher in middle school was horrible, I didn’t learn much. Then I took Algebra 2 senior year and passed it.</p>

<p>I think you should skip Elementary Algebra and go right ahead to Intermediate Algebra - or if you score high enough, College Algebra. They teach you a minimal review of Elementary Algebra in Intermediate Algebra - it’s really also similar, in a few ways if you don’t count the logarithims. </p>

<p>Because you have such a long way to go…Calculus 3A & 3B, you should definately try to aim for College Algebra if you can. That’s mostly the prereq to enter Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry.</p>