<p>My adviser told me to retake Calc 1 and Calc 2 no matter what I got in my AP Calc BC exam. She said the majority of students struggle with Calc 3 when they skip Calc 2 even though they got a 5 on AP exams. </p>
<p>What would you recommend?</p>
<p>(I major in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Southern University).</p>
<p>It depends on the student, although my friend got either an A- or A in Calc 2 after skipping Calc 1, and Calc 2 is generally a more difficult class from what I hear.</p>
<p>Yes, it does depend on the student. but I was talking about Calculus 3 (multivariable calculus). Do you know anyone who successfully pass Calc 3 with an A, when they skip Calc 1 and Calc 2?</p>
<p>I only know several people that got an A- and some B+ es.</p>
<p>The Calc BC exam isn’t too hard to get a 5 on… One student was so scared about the test yet it turned out much easier than the high school class and what she thought it’d be. When she took Calculus in college though, she said it was one of the worst things ever… </p>
<p>If you’re “that” good at math you shouldn’t take people’s word about the difficulty of a class, as for me I always got criticism in High School saying BC isn’t that hard before I was even in the class, when indeed, it turned out to be easy for me. One way to judge your ability going in is if you ever self-studied a math class before and succeeded with a math competition or test.</p>
<p>I’ really not sure if Im good at math or not. However, I never struggle with math and never have B in my high school.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s hard to decide by judging others’ opinion.</p>
<p>So here is my last question, what topics of single variable calculus that are most used in multivariable calculus, differential equation, and linear algebra?</p>
<p>Why don’t you look at the syllabus of a Calc II class to see whether you’d be able to skip it or not? If necessary, just email the professor asking if you could see a sample final exam.</p>
<p>i passed with a B, skipping I and II. but now i have to go back and take II because i wasn’t supposed to do that. i easily got the B but my college is a run of the mill state school so one would expect the tests to be considerably easier than the ones administered at a selective university - and they were. i missed the 2 quizes we had and half the homeworks but still managed a B because the tests were conceived by the professor in such a way that made passing them unnaturally easy.</p>
<p>You need to speak to somebody in the math department and carefully review the syllabus for calc 2 and 3. It varies by school and major.</p>
<p>For example, at my daughter’s school the calc sequence for engineers has a lot of multivariable stuff in 2 (which you would not have learned in BC) and therefore taking 2 at college would be a good idea and if you instead skipped to 3 you would have missed out on some stuff.</p>
<p>Georgia Southern’s Calc I and II classes aren’t that hard. However I agree that if you have a 3 you may want to get into Calc II rather than III – but if you got a 5 in Calc BC there shouldn’t be a problem with entering Calc III. In addition, check and see but typically you have the right to “switch” classes within the first 7-10 days and if you find Calc III too hard you can usually move back to Calc II. In addition, email the Calc II and the Calc III profs asking for the syllabus and see which one you’re best at. Typically, Calc BC score 4 or 5 means you’re ready for multivariable calc.
<p>I got an A in multivariable (for engineering majors), after skipping calculus 1 and 2 in college, so it’s definitely doable. Multivariable really isn’t incredibly hard, if you didn’t struggle in previous math levels, but I can’t speak to linear algebra and differential equations. That being said, you might get the best advice from older students at your school. It’ll vary by school and the class and how good your previous math education was.</p>
<p>Unless you are a calculus diva (and you know in your heart if you are), you should retake calculus in college too if your advisor recommends. She wouldn’t be telling you this unless she’d seen lots of BC students crash and burn when coming into calc iii.</p>
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<p>Differentiating and integrating are used a lot in mv calc. Your mv calc will talk a lot about vectors, which may be brand new to you. I love vectors because I love geometry. Some people seethe over them.</p>
<p>In diffy qs, everything you covered in calculus is a tool that you use to solve differential equations. Rather than being more calculus, it <em>uses</em> calculus. It will also use lots of trig, and sequences and series.</p>
<p>The way linear algebra was taught to me, no calc was necessary. Now, you can combine all kinds of advanced math with linear algebra but it’s not really necessary to bring integrals or derivatives or differential equations or even trig into it to teach all about matrices, vectors (not necessarily geometric vectors), matrix arithmetic, eigenvalues, eigenvectors, Markov chains, approximations, all the kooky things you do with matrices, etc.</p>
<p>^ nice posts</p>
<p>Were series and sequences used a lot in differential equation?</p>
<p>Yes, students doing well (i.e. A grades) in calculus 3 after skipping calculus 1 and 2 with AP credit are common enough.</p>
<p>According to [Advanced</a> Placement, International Baccalaureate and College-Level Examination Program | Undergraduate Admissions | Georgia Southern University](<a href=“http://admissions.georgiasouthern.edu/programs/ap-ib-clep/]Advanced”>AP, IP, or CLEP Credit | Georgia Southern University) , a 3 on BC passes Math 1441, while a 5 on BC passes Math 1441 and 2242.</p>
<p>However, see if you can get old final exams for GSU’s Math 1441 and 2242 courses so that you can try them to check your knowledge against what GSU’s math department expects. Then you can make a more informed decision about whether to skip the courses if your AP score is high enough.</p>
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<p>Thanks. And they’re real too!</p>
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<p>Yes, in things like Fourier series. A sum of two valid solutions to a diffy q is itself a valid solution to that same diffy q.</p>
<p>@daivintran1993
One method to solving ODEs is using Taylor series. Many times the series solutions won’t be readily recognizable.</p>
<p>York00, so what do you mean basically?</p>
<p>daivinhtran: at Georgia Southern, the “early” calc sequence is divided into 3 levels. What’s your calc BC score? If it’s a 5, you will NOT have any trouble with Calc III. If it’s a 3, better take Calc II. You do NOT need to take Calc I in ANY case.</p>