So, I've gotta somehow get from Algebra II to Calculus II...

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Ok, so I'm going to need to take Calculus I and II. I've pretty much put off math my entire college career until this past summer when I took statistics. Besides that, though, I haven't had math since Algebra II about 12-years ago in highschool.

My experiences with math in highschool were terrible... I barely made it. My teachers sucked and I was completely bored by the classes. I also tried too hard with each problem and overcomplicated things to the point to where I would get everything wrong. It wasn't until my statistics class over the summer that I faced math (well, kinda) again and something seems to have "snapped" in my brain. I can do it now for some strange reason. I came out of my stats class with the top grade and people were always asking me for help... :confused:

Anyway, I've now got to figure out how I'm going to get myself to Calculus II from here. Some colleges let you go into pre-calculus while others make you take trigonometry first, then pre-calc, then Calc I, etc. What should I do? Should I start with trig. or should I try to start learning Calculus from the ground up? BTW, what in the f**k is pre-calculus anyway? What does it cover?

Some people have suggested that I just buy a good book on Calculus and start teaching myself until I get to the point where I can take a CLEP test for it. That would be nice, as I'd like to bypass trig and precalc if I can.

I know there are a lot of engineers and such on here who have taken these courses, so please share your thoughts

Thanks!

I was originally placed in Pre-Cal Trig after I took a placement test. After this class, I will have to take Calculus I, Calculus II, Calculus III, and beyond, in math. I am currently taking Pre-Calculus Trigonometry for the second time. This summer I studied a couple of chapters from Pre-Cal book independently. I am doing better now than the last time, but I just want to keep it up. The CLEP test for Calculus may only cover Calculus with Applications, which is not the same as Calculus I, II, etc. (It is for primarily business and social sciences students, I believe.) You should check into that to make sure that the credits will transfer to your major.

What the freak is in Pre-Calculus? Well, at my college you can take it as a single class, which combines both Algebra III (polynomials, exponential functions, logarithms, etc.) and trigonometry, or as two separate classes, one for the Algebra III and another for the trigonometry. Due to my placement score, I only have to take the trigonometry class. I would recommend the Cliffs Notes book on trigonometry (Author: Kelly) for this class.

Thanks, I didn't realize there were different types of calculus.

Maybe I should get Cliff's notes for Algebra II, Trig and Precalc and study, then take the placement test (we have to do one of these as well). I just don't want to be placed in developmental math or something like that

That would probably be best to just look at pre-cal, you might not want to rush to test out of calc as it can be difficult and it is important. I would take the calc class and study to do well. If you manage to pass a pre-cal placement test then more power to you as pre-cal is just trig and algebra which you can probably just review in calc to a great extent.