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06-23-2008, 05:06 PM
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#16 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Tiburon, CA
Posts: 154
| hm. almost everyone at my school skips precalc.
the ppl at my school who take precalc before calc are in the accelerated program & have extra periods to use up.
they all say that precalc is the very similar to calc - except for the honors class. it prepares them well for calc bc. the regular class doesnt help much. | 
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06-23-2008, 08:56 PM
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#17 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Georgia
Posts: 32
| Precal is no big deal. It doesn't really focus on any "fancy calculus," like derivatives and integrals, but is truly more of an Algebra 2.5 than anything. As stated, you need to be comfortable with graphing and working with trig. functions, but other than that, you should be just fine. | |
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06-23-2008, 09:10 PM
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#18 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 276
| I am not sure but I think Calculus A refers to Derivatives. I think most teachers would go over that part anyways because those are defiantly on the BC exam | |
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06-23-2008, 09:11 PM
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#19 | | Member
Join Date: May 2008 Location: Minnesota
Posts: 303
| I'd say make sure you know your trig stuff... | |
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06-23-2008, 09:45 PM
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#20 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 96
| yeah, skipping Calc A is the least of your worries... agreed that Precalc is Algebra II and a half | |
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06-23-2008, 09:50 PM
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#21 | | Member
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 731
| yeah I guess I should relax, thanks for all your help.  | |
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06-24-2008, 02:34 PM
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#22 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 141
| This girl at my school took Pre-Calc over the summer in order to take the honors Calculus class that my school offers. I went on to get a high 90 in the class and took the BC exam in May (which I am confident I got a 5 on). She was a hardworker but didn't do too well in the class - I think she ended up with a 70 something. As far as what I've read on here, it is possible to make the leap but you're missing some stuff that you'll need to know. Among them, the unit circle (pi/2, pi/3, pi/6, etc. and their values) , trig functions, limits, and functions. | |
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06-24-2008, 11:39 PM
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#23 | | Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 430
| Calc AB used to represent precalculus topics, limits, and derivatives. Calc BC used to add on integral calculus. Over times, these meanings have shifted over time, but that's part of why very few folks see the significance of the "A" portion in Calc AB. | |
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06-25-2008, 12:30 PM
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#24 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: LA
Posts: 178
| I took a precalc last year, but it was a lower class and I learned next to nothing. I then skipped to BC this past year.
The main thing that was consistently difficult to work with was trig functions. If possible you should learn the identities (especially sin^2 + cos^2 = 1). I also had no knowledge of vectors and limited knowledge of polar functions and series. Depending on your knowledge of the basic material (derivatives, integrals) this could be important.
I never really had anything more than a sketchy knowledge of Infinite Series, but I'm pretty sure I got a 5. | 
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06-26-2008, 08:23 PM
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#25 | | New Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 21
| I pretty much skipped Precalc and did Calc BC (which includes calc 1 and 2) in 4.5 months. Don't worry about it. | |
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06-26-2008, 09:39 PM
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#26 | | Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 402
| Quote: |
i don't see how you can skip calc AB and go straight to BC without even taking an intro to calc class. personally, my pre-calc class did not involve anything related to calculus so that might be why.
| at many schools BC and AB both start at the very beginning of calculus, BC just moves faster so it gets through the extra stuff. The really good kids at math take BC, while the decent but not super good take AB.
My school has different precalc tracks for those wanting to take BC and AB next year, the one that leads to BC moves a bit faster and does the first couple chapters in the calculus book at the end of the year so we could hit the ground running in calculus whereas the AB one doesn't.
That said taking calculus without taking precalc would be difficult if you haven't seen the concepts before in other math classes, which you may or may not have depending on how your schools normal math sequence goes. I recommend looking into the ones mentioned above in that list over the summer. While calculus doesn't build directly on the stuff in precalc in a sequential way, it does require an understanding of the concepts covered in precalc. You don't need to be able to ace a precalc final or know all the little specific details as many would forget those over the summer anyway, just have a basic understanding of the important concepts. You could probably get learn them as you go, but you would have to work a bit harder than having already learned them. | |
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06-26-2008, 09:42 PM
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#27 | | Member
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 731
| oh, in case you guys weren't clear I am taking a online course for precalc (epgy), so i'll learn the concepts(I have to pass the final you know..) Its just the class at school rush through precalc an finish it in 3 quarters and finish most if not all of calc A in one quarter. So, some Calculus A stuff might appear on the final, so...thats why i'm worried. | |
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