<p>Short answer: EXTREMELY FAR</p>
<p>I felt the same way when I was in high school so I’ll share my story. I got really interested in physics my junior and senior years of high school but didn’t feel that I could handle the math in college. I did alright in most of my classes but I thought math was pretty boring so I would just copy most of the assignments from friends until I was a junior or senior. At my high school, we didn’t have any AP or honors classes so I finished my senior year with precalc and college algebra, no calculus, and I figured I’d be WAY behind the other kids. My ACT scores were average in about the 29 range. Because I was really interested in physics, I figured the next best thing would be engineering and I knew all I would have to do was get by with above a 3.0 to at least get a job after graduating. </p>
<p>I heard the same thing as you about getting the foundations so, the summer before my freshman year in college, I picked up an old calculus book from amazon and started reading… I literally couldn’t put the book down for about three weeks and fell in love with the subject. I ended up making it through my first year with a 4.0 as an engineering student so I switched to physics and kept this trend through my second year as well. As for the math classes, I’ve earned A+ in all of them (through differential equations) so far and loved ever minute of them! Now, obviously from my high school experience I’m of average intelligence but the difference is definitely my work ethic. I probably put in twice as much time as my class mates but that’s completely fine with me because I absolutely love the challenge physics/math provides.</p>
<p>I suggest following through with your plan: building a strong foundation in math, especially algebra. This will definitely help you with your calculus classes as well as get you used to teaching yourself. A big part of college is being able to take control of your own learning experience and teach yourself things. In my opinion, that’s the most fun part about being a physics major, getting to teach yourself cool things. A tip that has REALLY helped me so far is reading the section BEFORE going to class (especially in math!!!). You will then be familiar with the topics and not trying to build the framework “on the fly”.</p>
<p>My advice: Go for it!</p>