What to know before taking AP Calc?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>Okay, so I homeschooled this past year as a sophomore, and basically had to teach myself precalculus. This probably sounds crazy (and it kind of is), but I didn't really take any tests, just did the problems in the book and graded myself on those. I'm actually very good at math and, when I've been in a normal high school, was always the best in the class. But I'm concerned that doing this homeschool precalc will not prepare me for ap calculus due to it not emphasizing the memorization aspect. (Also, I pretty much skipped the most complicated trig identities where you have to simplify the problem. Ugh, I can only teach myself so much)</p>

<p>So, my question is, how important is it to know precalc concepts before taking AP Calculus (AB)? From what I've heard, it's not really that cumulative, but I'd love to get some honest answers. </p>

<p>I'm going back to a real high school next year, and before I can take Calculus I have to pass an assessment test. This worries me considering the lack of memorization I did, and I was also wondering---do you think there's a way to persuade the teacher into letting me into the class even if I don't pass the assessment? I know I could handle the material if given the chance, so this whole situation I've gotten myself into is very frustrating. </p>

<p>On yet another note, how bad is it to stop taking math all together after precalc? I am looking at top selective liberal arts colleges like Vassar, Swarthmore, and Amherst so I know my course load needs to look rigorous. But I am definitely more of a humanities girl and don't want to major in anything math/science-y so is it not a big deal? By no means do I want to look unappealing and under-qualified to colleges just for not taking more math, but at the same time I really hate math and it's definitely not in my future career wise.</p>

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<p>Pre-calc isn’t an actual branch of math…it’s just where they teach you a bunch of random stuff you might need at some point. So it’s not important that you know every single thing from pre-calc. I started learning calculus when I was in the middle of Algebra II. </p>

<p>You need trigonometry, and you need to understand how functions work (degrees, inverse, even/odd, zeros, graphs, etc.). Polar coordinates, conic sections, sequences/series, and parametric equations are used in calculus, but not until the middle/end of Calculus BC. I didn’t really understand any of those things until I studied them in calculus.</p>

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<p>There really shouldn’t be that much of a memorization aspect. Memorize the first quadrant of the unit circle and you can figure out everything else. Trig identities can be derived if you forget them. </p>

<p>You don’t really need that many trig identities (in the first part of calculus, at least). And if you don’t know them all that well when you start calculus, you can derive them or look them up until you do. I recommend learning the reciprocal identities, Pythagorean identities, quotient identities, sum/difference formulas for sine and cosine, double-angle formulas for sine and cosine, and the power-reducing formulas for sine and cosine:
[Table</a> of Trigonometric Identities](<a href=“http://www.sosmath.com/trig/Trig5/trig5/trig5.html]Table”>http://www.sosmath.com/trig/Trig5/trig5/trig5.html)</p>

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<p>Those colleges are really competitive, so it would be helpful for you to have calculus.
But if you really don’t want to have calculus, you could take AP Stats.</p>