Should I take Precalc before taking Calc I?

b_r_um
Sat, 04 May 2013 04:19:45 +0000

I took AP Calculus in high school without ever having taken a pre-calculus or trigonometry class, and I did fine.

Calc 1 shouldn’t require much pre-calc beyond basic properties of exponentials, logarithms and trig functions: these all fit onto a single sticky note in case you need a reminder.

Calc 2 is normally much heavier on trigonometry, but I did fine here even without any previous trig training. I really only needed to learn the trig identities and the trick for computing sin(arccos(x)) and similar expressions of this sort. It took me a single afternoon to catch up on everything I’d missed.

I do agree with previous posters who said that your algebra background is absolutely crucial for calculus. If your algebra background is solid, you’ll probably do fine in calculus. If you struggle with algebra, you will struggle with calculus too.