Is it bad to take Intro to Calculus my first semester?

College Life
1

I’m going to be a freshman in college this fall and I’m registering for courses right now. I took my school’s math placement exam and I got placed into Calculus I. However, I’m nervous to take this class right away because I didn’t get a good math foundation in high school. I took IB SL Math, which does cover some calculus but I didn’t feel like it went very in-depth. I think it would be best for me to take Introduction to Calculus (which is still considered a calculus course, it’s not pre-calculus) my first semester, and then take Calculus I in the spring. Apparently, Intro to Calc covers AB and Calculus I covers BC.

Would it look bad to employers and grad/professional schools if I took an intro class like this instead of taking Calculus I straight away? I guess I feel weird/guilty about it because I’ve always been good at math and I feel kind of dumb for wanting to take a class lower than what I was placed into. I would appreciate any opinions, thank you.

Oh, and by the way, my major doesn’t require any type of math other than stats. I just want to take Calculus to learn more.

2

Employers and grad schools are not going to care if you take Intro to Calculus if calculus isn’t required in the first place. They probably wouldn’t know the difference anyway

3

Many college students take calculus 1 in college after having completed up to precalculus in high school. Since your college does placement testing to check your knowledge of needed precalculus stuff, taking calculus 1 should not be something to fear excessively, especially if you saw a light overview in IB math SL.