<p>As a freshman in high school, i’m wondering if i should take Pre-calc/trig over the summer (at a local college).</p>
<p>My math teacher (alg2) recommended me to take pre-calc/trig over the summer and than skip into Calc BC next year. (I have pretty significant math achievements… placed in 2 regional competitions, won one, and qualified for the AIME).</p>
<p>My question is, do colleges check/care about how advanced you are in math? is it really a great benefit to go through these classes this quickly? (i noticed that the AMC has quite a few trig. questions on them).</p>
<p>If you feel like going far in math then it is worthwhile. I would have done the same thing as a freshman, but I never did and find math a cinch.
Colleges will note where you are in terms of math ability (level of classes taken). However, the main con is that you may end up not learning all the material correctly-and failing to do so means that you will be screwed later.
As for the AMC, go out and get AoPS or even Engel’s Problem Solving Strategies-you have the time to be able to possibly go on to USAMO if you are able to finish the whole set (AoPS I/II, two intermediate books, and the Engel volume) by February of junior year.</p>
<p>I took Precalc/Trig over the summer before my freshman year and the best piece of advice I can give in regards to that is: make sure you really love math. Make sure you have the discipline to be able to study while your friends are out frolicking in the warm weather, and the love of math in able to pour hours of your summer hours into it. Based on your background, however, I think you’ll probably be okay in terms of the love for math, so if that is the case I would say go for it. </p>
<p>Make sure you get a good program however and understand all trigonometry or else you will be helpless in calculus (and BC calc is notoriously fast-paced).</p>
<p>thanks for info about the AOPS textbooks. are those AoPS textbooks really helpful for the AMC-type competitions?</p>
<p>I already planned on taking “Intermediate Trigonometry/Complex Numbers” at AoPS just to develop my mathematical skill over the summer. Has anyone taken a class at AoPS?</p>
<p>Also… I have a choice of taking pre-calc/trig online or at a local college (both free)…</p>