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Hello.

I'm kinda new to this place and not sure if i'm allowed to post this...=/

Ok right now, I am a freshman in PACE at Polytechnic High school in long beach, CA. I took a geometry course over the previous summer at a city college, which I got an A in. In the first semester of high school, I received straight A's with Int Alg/trig as my math course

Right now I have the choice of going to AP Calculus AB or precalculus.

Next year, I will have 2 APs (US history and comp science) along with the math course and others. I am afraid that if I were to take calculus, the homework load would kill me.

The teacher advised that I took precalculus because she said AP calc would be 1-2 hours hw a day and us history (which is where all the hw is from) roughly ten hours a week. Along with that I would need to take another math course at a city college or a lower class

If I took calculus, I would finish the higher math courses by my senior year, so I would have to take either stat, finite math, or something else at a city college since my high school highly recommends 4 years of math.

I have a few friends who have taken the calculus course in 10th grade and they said it was pretty stressful but it looks real good if you get a 5 on the AP as a sophomore.

I also play badminton which is either from 6:00 AM before school or 3:00 - 5:00 after school.

Ok sorry for the long description and everything, but I need some opinions.


I hope that was not confusing =)
Thanks!
Hoameng

By Nyguy (Nyguy) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 08:30 pm: Edit

ahh my ap calc class for AB had like 2 hours of homework a week, so im gonna say go for the calc. It depends on the teachers, we report like 90% of calculus students earning a 3+ with plenty of 4s and 5s. just dont be intimidated. ap calc is easy. BC is a little tougher but if you keep on top of it, its a joke

By Dori (Dori) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 08:34 pm: Edit

i'd say take the precalc. you don't want to get too overwhelmed with courses. calc AB in 11th grade is still good

By Crazyandy (Crazyandy) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 08:52 pm: Edit

Since you're so young, I'd personally take Pre-Calc. I'm a junior taking honors Pre-Calc now and I've heard from friends of mine who went to major colleges for engineering and science related fields that Pre-calc THEN calc made all the difference. But also, my school is on blocks so I can take 2 math a year. A basis in pre-calc will definately prepare you well for calc AB. I guess it just depends on if you think not going over the basics of functions and trig will hurt you or not. Hope this helps

By Arcaneavenger (Arcaneavenger) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 08:54 pm: Edit

By the way I'm planning to major in fields of computer science or mathematics. Its not certain though.

Nyguy, did you take precalc before you took AP calc ab?

I'm also curious...what would look better. Getting into AP Calc AB with a 5 on AP w/o a 4.0 or going to precalc and maintaining a 4.0?

Thanks for your replies....i'm patiently =) waiting for more opinions....

By Noesis (Noesis) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 09:08 pm: Edit

My A.P. Calculus teacher firmly recommends that students take pre-calculus/math analysis before calculus, as the firm grounding and review will help you breeze through the A.P. course and test. Don't feel like you would be getting behind, because the seniors taking pre-calculus are considered advanced math students (at my school anyways). Then, during your senior year, you could take Calculus II or III at your local college, which is impressive to any admissions officer. Remember, the tortoise won the race. Slow and steady.

By Phantesi (Phantesi) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 10:21 pm: Edit

I'd personally recommend the pre-calc. It will really help you to understand the calculus. However, if you're some kind of math genius and catch on easily, go for the calculus!

By Arcaneavenger (Arcaneavenger) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 10:31 pm: Edit

Hm...

Can someone explain to me the advantages and disadvantages of taking ap calc in my soph year? not the fact that I would have stress buildup but its effect on the future as in college applications, etc.

I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

By Arcaneavenger (Arcaneavenger) on Thursday, February 27, 2003 - 11:14 pm: Edit

need some more advice...=)

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 12:35 am: Edit

If you're ready for calculus now, go ahead and take it. You won't run out of courses to take. You can always take a college or correspondance math course next year for multivariable calc. Or maybe your school offers a statistics or computer science course you could take after calculus.

By Nyguy (Nyguy) on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 11:27 am: Edit

My school offered precalc in 4 sessions of 3 hours each over the summer. This enabled me to skip ahead a year. pre-calc has little to do with calculus and most of the required precalc stuff is reviewed in calc anyway, so you could probably not take pre-calc although it is useful for entrance exams and some other junk that nobody pays too much attention too

By Kad (Kad) on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - 07:58 pm: Edit

I'm in a situation similar to you, only I'm a bit worse off. Some advice would be wonderful.

I'm a junior currently taking Algebra II, as is the regular math path in my high school. I've found all the regular math classes I've taken in high school extremely easy and too slow paced. So instead of taking a Precalc/Trig next year, which I know will be horribly slow and easy for me, I want to jump to Calc AB.

My friends in Calc AB say that Trig is required to take Calc AB, but the PreCalc course that they took was just a review of Algebra 2 and Trig, and for the most part they could of been okay in Calc AB without it.

This means I'll have to take Trig at the local community college over the summer.

I'm sorry about such a long message, I'm just really confused about what to do. I really love math and would love to learn to the most of my ability. Also, I'm willing to put in a lot of extra work, because I know that taking this class in high school will probably be better than taking it in college. I also want to go into Computer Science and Math. Just more reason for me to want to jump.

Any comments/advice?

Thanks.

By Dori (Dori) on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - 09:25 pm: Edit

trig is part of precalc.

basically precalc is approx. 1 semster trig, and 1 semster math analysis. the math analysis is a huge waste of time. all u do is relearn everything u did in algebra 2 (and sometimes algebra 1) but with a graphing calculator.

your friends are right about trig, u need it for calc. u don't NEED math analysis, but most schools require it.

i'd suggest taking trig/math analysis over summer school (either at your school or CC). i'll tell u now, as long as u memorize the unit circle your first week, trig will be a breeze, and math analysis is a huge joke anyway (as long as u know how to use your calculator)

i'm not a great math student (think B average), and even I have an A in precalc.

good luck!

By Azn_Cowboy (Azn_Cowboy) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 05:27 pm: Edit

Haha, Dori, that makes me feel stupid. I'm a freshman and I'm taking PreCalc, and I have an 89 right now.

But regarding Avenger's question:

I was offered the chance of taking AP Calculus BC my freshman year. However, after staying in that class for a week, I realized there were a lot of holes in my mathematical foundation. So plug those holes up, I decided to take Honors PreCalculus instead. It's not an AP course but it WILL provide you with a much stronger mathematical foundation if and when you do decide to take AP Calc.

By Asdf (Asdf) on Sunday, March 23, 2003 - 11:57 am: Edit

Take Calc if you feel you are prepared. Make sure that you'll still be able to maintain strong grades if you do take it.

By Bkwrm98 (Bkwrm98) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 08:06 pm: Edit

I think it really depends. Right now I'm taking PrecalcH but I'm getting an A+. I really wish I had the opportunity to skip. I would try to find out whether your school has AP Calc BC or not...if it does, you should probably first take precalc then Calc BC. If not, then calc AB.

It also depends on how much sleep you're getting this year...

By Emonerd (Emonerd) on Friday, April 25, 2003 - 01:08 pm: Edit

I was offered the chance to take AP calc as a sophomore, but i'm glad i took the extra year and waited until my junior year. The extra year really helps all of the ideas in precalc mesh and coagulate, so to speak. AP Calc is really easy if you have a strong foundation...but challenging if you don't.

By Number9 (Number9) on Friday, April 25, 2003 - 02:27 pm: Edit

At my school, one HAS to take Precalc before AP Calc.

By Kaimeluin (Kaimeluin) on Saturday, April 26, 2003 - 07:25 pm: Edit

At my school, they double you up on math freshman year as to give you that needed foundation and then you can take AB Calc as a Sophomore. That's what I did. I went into highschool with geometry finished and freshman year, I took Algebra 2 everyday(block schedule) first semester and then Pre-Calc second semester. Last year, AB was so easy. I got a 5 on the exam. I'm now in my junior year and taking BC. The exam is in two weeks, I will probably make a 5. I would suggest taking Pre-calc, even if you take it over the summer. Along as you've sat through some trig/precalc, AB Calc will be a breeze.

By Carrimelo (Carrimelo) on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - 02:30 am: Edit

I recommend taking Precalc next year, then skipping Calc AB to Calc BC. This way, you don't miss anything important in math and you stay on an advanced schedule. There's actually quite a lot of stuff you learn in Precalc like limits and derivatives. Also, it really helps cement all the trig and conics into your memory. It's okay to skip AB because Calc BC covers all of AB in the 1st semester anyway.

That's what I'm doing anyway. I'm a sophomore and taking Math Analysis Honors so I can take Calc BC next year. Freshman year I took Algebra 2 with Trig.

By Galaal2004 (Galaal2004) on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - 09:14 pm: Edit

It really depends. Pre-Cal is just Alg 2 and Trig all over again. If you want to study engineering, or somthing with alot of math, go ahead and take AP Cal and try to finish with as much math as you can in highschool. However, if you don't study engineering or a math career than take ur time and don't rush

By Primadonna (Primadonna) on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 09:08 pm: Edit

Okay i have a question as well, because I've been confronted with this conundrum here....i'm currently a SENIOR taking Pre-Cal H in high school, and am doing poorly (according to my standards). I blame myself largely for my lack of iniative in studying, but also due to my absence of math courses in high school...i've taken now 4 years of honors math classes (the honors don't really have much to do with it i suppose) but the last course I took was the first semester of my sophomore year! So Pre-Cal and math in general is like a foreign language to me at the moment. With a month left, I have a pitiful average that I fear will look bad on my final transcript. However, the three AP courses I have taken so far have resulted in A's, and the only C or B i will have is in this ridiculous pre-cal class. Do you think my college will see this as a general weakness (with my other grades being so high or whatnot) or perhaps bring it to my attention that those grades are not up to par with the school's level...I'm just paranoid because I hate this pre-cal crap, and its ironic how one stupid course in trig (this is where i explain that i am right-brained) will be the end of me despite my successes in my more rigorous courses. What do you think!!! Does it look terrible that I will graduate with 4 years of math but no Calculus?

By Gotitans086 (Gotitans086) on Monday, September 08, 2003 - 11:23 pm: Edit

hey i got a bit of a problem, i'm currently a jr and i had a alg2/trig class last year. i changed schools and now the only options i had was acc.trig or calculus ab. i really do not want to take trig again and i believe that calculus ab would be a challenge but if i worked hard at it i'd be alright. i had a a- in trig and found it pretty easy, so what should i do, switch to calculus ab or stay in acc trig?

By Kewkiekid (Kewkiekid) on Tuesday, September 09, 2003 - 04:43 pm: Edit

take calc. the only thing you're missing is math analysis which is basically alg. 2 all over again but with a calculator. the whole point of it is to familiarize yourself with the calculator.