I’m currently finished with my Freshman year and I’ve been teaching myself Algebra II over the summer with the aim of skipping the class next school year. Now that I’m most of the way done, I’m confused as to which direction I should take my studying. Moreover, I’m wanting to know which topics from Algebra II appear most commonly in Pre-Calculus. Which topics do you wish you were prepared for before taking Pre-Calc?
Everything trigonometry. I would also definitely review solving and graphing quadratics. There’s also these things (I can’t remember what they’re officially called) where you modify the basic equations for parabolas, hyperbolas, etc and it shifts and/or stretches the graph in a certain way. Learn that. It makes graphing so much easier.
Also, learn geometric and algebraic sequences because they show up also.
Lots of the Algebraic principles carry over, especially factoring, and simplification. There will be lots of trigonometry and graphing. But honestly, you can just google what is taught in Pre-calculus to get your answer
My friends have told me that when they took Algebra 2, they learned the unit circle. Not sure if that’s the case with you. I was ahead in math, so I learned it in precalc before our district changed the curriculum. I’ve taken precalc honors, calc honors, and AP calc AB, and it’s something you definitely have to know for those classes. I would recommend printing out maybe like 10 copies of a blank unit circle and trying to fill them out by memory till you have them down pat. Good luck!
“Precalc” is a VERY vague term-- it’s like “Geography.” What’s taught in my school may not match what’s taught in yours.
I would take a look at some NY State Regents Exams. If you can successfully take a few old Algebra II & Trig Regents, you should be on track for whatever your school teaches in Precalc.
You’ll find them here: http://www.nysedregents.org/a2trig/home.html
Oh, and the shapes that @ski_racer was referring to are called “Conics.” The shifts and stretches are called “Transformations.”
Thanks for the feedback everyone (I am the OP),
To provide some more insight as to what I’m learning over the summer, I’ll post a quick list of the chapters which I have covered, I plan to cover, or will be skipping over. Note that I will also put a check mark over chapters I’ve finished and an “X” over those I have not.
Glencoe/McGrawHill Algebra II:
✓ Chapter 1: First-Degree Equations and Inequalities (Skip - Learned in Algebra I)
✓ Chapter 2: Linear Relations and Functions (Skip - Learned in Algebra I)
✓ Chapter 3: Systems of Equations and Inequalities (Read Over - Need a refresher, but learned before) X Chapter 4: Matrices (Study in Detail - New concept)
✓ Chapter 5: Polynomials (Read Over - Learned before)
✓ Chapter 6: Quadratic Functions and Inequalities (Read Over - Need a refresher on some areas)
✓ Chapter 7: Polynomial Functions (Study in Detail - Mostly review, but some important concepts)
✓ Chapter 8: Conic Sections (Study in Detail - New concept)
✓ Chapter 9: Rational Expressions and Equations (Study in detail - Mostly review)
✓ Chapter 10: Exponential and Logarithmic Relations (Study in detail - Logarithms are new)
✓ Chapter 11: Sequences and Series (Study in detail - New concepts, but not taught at my school)
✓ Chapter 12: Probability and Statistics (Study in detail - New concepts)
✓ Chapter 13: Trigonometric Functions (Study in extreme detail - New concepts)
X Chapter 14: Trigonometric Graphs and Identities (Study in some detail - not taught at my school)