<p>Is it crazy if I try to take an online introductory statistics class and Calc I in a classroom together for winter quarter? Winter is 6 weeks – but if there is still a finals week then technically all the material would be taught in 5 weeks.<br>
I’m not a math genius and I have struggled with math before, but with hard work and practice I think I can say I have a pretty decent grasp on everything now. I started out at a community college in intermediate algebra (got an A), then took plane trig (got a B) and I’m in pre-calculus right now (I think I can pull an A out of this class). I was thinking if I worked hard enough, I could manage to work it out like I had done before. But I would like advice from other!
Is calc really as crazy as everyone makes it seem? Could anyone give a brief overview of what would be covered in calc I so I can try to self-teach myself some material before the winter semester starts?
And do you think introduction statistics is easy enough for me to handle online WITH calc I in 6 weeks?</p>
<p>Let me know your thoughts. </p>
<p>does anyone know anything about the material for either class? I’d just like to know how much I need to prepare myself for this kind of schedule!</p>
<p>My school has multiple tracks for calculus. There’s “Differential Calculus” as well as “Differential and Integral Calculus” for the first course depending on the sequence you choose. We also have many different introductory statistics courses. I suggest you look up the name of the courses you are looking into taking (for your specific school) and see if you can find a syllabus with a list of topics. If you post that information here, it would probably make your question easier to answer. Also, are you planning to do these two courses at your community college or a university? I believe that it’s very possible to do what you are wanting to do as long as you put in the time and are average or better at math. Of course the difficulty/rigor will vary greatly based on professor. You also want to know if most of the students in your calculus course are going to be students who have already taken calculus in high school or if they’re in your situation. I don’t think the statistics course should be bad if you are able to take it without having already completed calculus.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in veterinary school, I would ask the institutions you’re interested in (or at least your advisor) whether or not that’s a good idea. I know they usually prefer to see applicants take required courses during regular terms, though.</p>
<p>Since you’ve just started precalculus this year, I don’t know whether I’d suggest taking calculus in an accelerated course right after. I breezed through honors math classes in high school and basically fell flat on my face in AP Calculus senior year. Unless you feel really, really confident with the material, it might be a better idea for you to take it in the spring. You should be fine with taking Statistics, although I wouldn’t underestimate the difficulty or workload. It’s a lot more straightforward than Calc but still not a walk in the park either–there are a lot of formulas to memorize, and knowing how and when to apply said equations is important as well. It’s a lot more than probability and mean, median, and mode (at least that’s how it feels to a non-math person currently taking it now, haha). </p>
<p>I would personally take just one class over winter quarter, but it’s your call. Best of luck with your classes! </p>
<p>I’m currently studying at a California community college and the class is called “Calculus with Analytic Geometry 1.” It should be an introductory calculus class I think? In the class description it says:</p>
<p>“Introduction to differential and integral calculus with applications; functions; limits; and continuity; techniques of differentiation; exponential; logarithmic; and inverse trigonometric functions.”</p>
<p>Opinions on these concepts? Would they be hard to learn within 6 weeks?</p>
<p>Also, I know it would probably be better if I took these two classes in separate terms but it’s just that I’m trying to transfer to UC Davis by fall 2015 and I already have a hard schedule planned for myself in the spring (general chemistry and general biology being my core classes along with two honors classes coming up to a total of 16 units already).
The chemistry, biology, and calculus is for the major prep in the Animal Science or Wildlife Biology majors I’m going for at UC Davis. Introductory statistics is a requirement for my cal-state backups.
Technically, the major prep for UC Davis is not REQUIRED but I just thought I would hurt my chances of transferring in if I don’t have as much of it as possible. So I guess I could apply without calculus to make my load easier. I’m just scared of what they’ll do if I don’t get ANY calculus done since both calc 1 and 2 are listed as major prep. </p>
<p>I realize that I’m packing a lot of material into such a short period of time. But with careful planning and hard work, I was hoping it could get me through these remaining semesters. :</p>
<p>I can’t comment much on admissions for your program since I’m a mathematics major and have not been in your position. I want to first focus on a quote from your response: “I’m just scared of what they’ll do if I don’t get ANY calculus done since both calc 1 and 2 are listed as major prep.” I strongly recommend you contact them and ask for clarification on this issue. Will you still be short calc 2 regardless?</p>
<p>A majority of the topics on your calculus course can be found as tutorial videos here:</p>
<p><a href=“Differential Calculus | Khan Academy”>https://www.khanacademy.org/math/differential-calculus</a></p>
<p>What your calculus course covers is about the equivalent of what most natural science students start out at my university with. So I’d say that what you’re taking is pretty standard. It may be difficult but I wouldn’t consider it over-the-top because the math I took was all of that plus integrals in one semester.</p>
<p>I guess it’s tough to answer your question without knowing precisely how much it’ll impact admissions and how difficult the professors you will get are going to be. Have you been able to look up the professors?</p>
<p>Thanks for the thoughts and resource
And I’ll try and get in touch with them on Monday about the issue regarding major prep.<br>
As for calc 2, I won’t be able to work it into my schedule before transfer no matter what. The classes I have planned for spring are just too rigorous to throw in calc 2, and summer units don’t count for the application. It’s not a requirement for my cal-states but it’s major prep for UC Davis. However, it’s not part of one series for UC Davis, thank gosh. So I could take calc 1 at my community college and have the credits transfer to the university without having to start all over in calculus because I didn’t finish calc 2.</p>
<p>And I did get to look up my professors, actually. Supposedly my intro stats professor should be relatively easy (4.4 out of 5 helpfulness/4.3 out of 5 clarity/4.0 out of 5 easiness) but the online factor makes it risky. And for my calc professor, he’s unfortunately difficult… he apparently has a concept based teaching and doesn’t really practice specific problems with the class? But his helpfulness rating is 3.9 and his clarity rating is 3.7. It’s just his 2.3 easiness rating that scares me. So I know for a fact I’ll be spending a great deal of time practicing calc if I actually go through with keeping both stats and calc this winter semester. </p>
<p>Well that’s crappy that you will have a difficult professor for calculus. I suggest you go ahead and sign up for both courses to at least try to secure them (provided that you don’t have to do payments yet) and then you can drop before the semester/payments if it turns out you don’t want it/them. It looks like you are likely going to take Statistics and the only thing in question is calculus. I personally think that Statistics in general is a little softer than calculus. You could email the calculus professor and tell him/her your situation and that you are going to be taking Statistics and ask for his/her opinion on taking calculus at the same time as Statistics and what the expected rigor will be (you can email this same question to the statistics professor). The last thing you want to do is push yourself doing these two courses over the winter and end up getting a C in calculus.</p>
<p>That’s very true :-< I’ve actually already secured the classes. I just wanted to know other people’s opinions about the rigor of the courses to predict whether or not if I’d really be sticking with the schedule. I guess I’ll just have to see how it all works out when the semester starts. Thanks for all the help!</p>
<p>Calculus I will be an introductory calculus class, but don’t be deceived by the ‘introductory’ part of that phrase. It’s calculus. It’s introductory much in the same sense as introductory calculus based physics. It’s still going to be difficult. </p>
<p>Calculus I basically takes you through a development of limits which leads to the derivative. Then you’ll cover a bunch of different methods of taking derivatives such as the power rule, product rule, quotient rule, chain rule (or extended power rule), as well as the derivatives of transcendental functions (trig functions, logarithmic functions, and exponential functions), and different applications of differential calculus (related rates, graphing, optimization problems, position>velocity>acceleration with initial conditions and other applications). When I took Calculus I, the last topic we covered was an introduction to integration. We didn’t cover logarithmic and exponential functions until Calculus II though. It can be structured somewhat differently depending on the school. </p>
<p>All that said, it would be difficult to learn calculus I in only 5 weeks, especially with a statistics course on top of it. If you have to go further in calculus, it would be hard to adequately learn the material. Once you get beyond calc I, it’s assumed that you know how to take most derivatives. Calc II is basically all integration, sequences, and series. But you’ll still have to take some derivatives, and the methods of doing so typically won’t be covered. </p>