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hey, this is directed to all of the people that have taken sequential 3/precalculus/calculus..
i'm a sophomore taking sequential 3 in new york (algebra 2/trigonometry) and i heard that if you take honors seq 3 than you can skip precalculus to go to ap calc or reg calc. i am in honors this year, and i was wondering if this is true if i should skip precalculus or not. since calculus is a difficult topic, i am not sure if i should skip the precalculus course. please help me to decide if i should skip precal?

By Smiley (Smiley) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 11:34 pm: Edit

eh... There's really no need to take calc before senior year if you have a stressful junior year or whatever (esp if your school doesn't offer math beyond calc). If you're eager to take calc and understand everything in algebra II, go for it... I learned almost nothing new in precal, and our teacher said that most people in my class could have just taken calc and been fine (we had a really smart class). Precal would prolly be pretty easy, but it might reinforce things you've learned, help you with SAT IIC, etc... You'll be fine either way :-)

By Branda (Branda) on Sunday, October 05, 2003 - 08:40 am: Edit

just skip whatever you can. you can self-study the extra material in precalc if you're willing to and then take calc

By Archon (Archon) on Monday, October 06, 2003 - 10:02 am: Edit

to smiley: my school offers the usual AP Calc AB/BC but for the people that finish Calc in their junior year they have multivariable calculus for seniors.. i think that will look good on my college application since i'd like to be a sci/math major. and yes, you are right, i probably will be having a stressful junior year with APs and SATs and etc..

By Jawaad87 (Jawaad87) on Monday, October 06, 2003 - 02:30 pm: Edit

hey archon I did the same thing that you want to do.

I am in New York as well, and I took the Math B last June (I got a 96). I took pre-calc regents in the summer (that's what they offered) and I went into ap calculus ab. Next year, I'll be taking Calculus BC.


Don't take Calculus Honors because that is essentially pre-calc for 3 quarters and introductory calculus for the fourth quarter (like limits, differentials, continuities---the basics).


Btw what'd youg et on the Math b? If you can tell me I can probably tell how strong in math you are.