<p>So, I've decided to switch from IT to Computer Science, meaning I have to take calculus in the fall or I'll be almost a year and a half behind in the program (because I need to take calc as a prerequisite for every freaking class). I took precalculus in high school and precalculus for social sciences this past semester, but apparently that isn't considered a prereq for the normal calculus class. So, to save money and time, I'm going to just refresh/teach myself all of the things I should know to take the placement test. What would you reccommend knowing before taking calculus? I know there's a looot of trigonometry on my school's placement test but what kind is the most important? And what other things? Thanks!</p>
<p>Here are some placement tests to check your knowledge on algebra, geometry, and trigonometry topics that are considered prerequisite knowledge for calculus. You can use them to see what topics you need to review before taking calculus, or if you have enough gaps in your knowledge that you should take a precalculus course before taking calculus.
<a href=“http://math.tntech.edu/e-math/placement/index.html”>http://math.tntech.edu/e-math/placement/index.html</a>
<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam”>http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam</a></p>
<p>Thanks! That makes me feel better because I remember learning most of that, I would just need to review them. </p>
<p>I’d say you just need to be pretty good at algebra to be good at Calculus.</p>
<p>What school do you attend?</p>
<p>The first calculus class deals with derivatives and the second one deals with integration. Both of them requires you to know all the trig functions (sine, cos, csc, their values at different angles, etc.). This is all trigonometry. You need to solve all kinds of trig function problems because you will see them a lot in calculus. You need to get a book on analytic geometry, not plain geometry, because almost all the rest of calculus is about them. And, of course, you need to know how to solve algebraic expression. That’s a given.</p>