Hey I just need some advice on moving up in Math

DadTwoGirls
Fri, 26 Sep 2025 02:22:09 +0000

I would recommend against jumping ahead in math. There might be two reasons that I say this.

One issue is that mathematics is an area where what you learn builds on itself for years, and years, and years. What you are learning now depends upon what you learned last year. What you will be learning next year will depend a lot on what you are learning now, and what you learned last year. It pays to learn each step very well.

One BIG example of this is calculus. Calculus depends a LOT on its prerequisites. I have consistently heard that any student who is weak on ANY of the prerequisites for calculus find it to be tough. However, students who are very solid on all of the prerequisites for calculus can find it to be quite straightforward. This was my experience. I did not take calculus until I was a freshman in university (at MIT). However, waiting until university to take calculus did not stop me from graduating from MIT as a math major. Also, I ended up using multi-variate calculus quite a lot both in future classes and later on the job.

Also, there really is only one type of student who can possibly jump ahead in math. These are students who are very strong at math. However these are specifically the same students who are very likely to be using math a great deal in future classes and quite likely on the job.