I’m currently enrolled in Calculus I. I had originally been very worried about how difficult the class was going to be but I’ve come to enjoy it quite a bit. I had initially registered to take it Pass/Fail but I am now taking it for a grade - I’ve received a 100 on every assessment thus so far (a midterm, a project, a test, 4 quizzes) and I really like my professor. He’s absolutely brilliant (and a double alum of MIT) and can explain even the most complex ideas in an almost casual, conversational fashion. He teaches all of the courses in the Calculus sequence at my school so, ideally, I’d be taking it with him.
Background: I’m a Political Science major. I don’t have any requirement that would be filled by Calc II – I’ve already fulfilled all my Math/Science general ed requirements and I obviously don’t need Calc II as a prerequisite for major courses. I know that Calc II is notoriously difficult and it seems foolish that I’d put myself through harder classes outside my major just as an elective (that could just as easily be filled by a class like Introduction to Sailing and Canoeing 101) but Calculus is currently my favorite class atm – I love the feeling of working through a problem and reducing complex equations into simpler terms. I have a vested interest in maintaining a high GPA for law school so unless I suddenly discovery I am a Calculus savant, I’d be taking Calc II Pass/Fail.
More background: I have a cold and took NyQuil two hours ago and so I may not be in the proper frame of mind (read: I am most definitely not in a proper frame of mind).
Thoughts? Is Calculus II REALLY that difficult? My father is a professor at a different college and he has friends who are math professors - they’d probably let me just sit in on their class and listen/take notes. Would that be a better option?
@Niquii77 - Are you a STEM major (that needs Calc II)? I feel like students who have to take Calc II can tolerate it more since it’s just something one has to “get through” so to speak; but for me, if the class is incredibly difficult/overwhelming, it kind of defeats the purpose of me taking it in a sense. Challenging is good, but if the material is just completely lost on me every single lecture, it’ll just be time wasted.
I actually prefer Calc II to Calc I… I’m doing much better in calc II than I did last semester in calc I (and it was my second time taking calc I since I had taken ap calculus in high school!).
If you are successful in Calc I and enjoy it, I think you’ll do just fine in Calc II. I say go for it.
Calculus 2 is a difficult class and is often thought of as the hardest in the entire calculus series.
I wouldn’t take a class unrelated to your major just to learn the material especially for a course you can easily find all of the information online
If you want to learn it then just go to the second half of MIT 18.01 and MIT 18.01sc on youtube. There are also princeton lectures, khanacademy, patrickjmt, integralcalc (special shoutout for calc 2) on youtube. These along with a good textbook should be more than enough to learn calc 2.
The only reason for taking calc 2 at your university is that you enjoy the class and plans can always change.
The most important benefits is that you can do it at your own pace (24 weeks compared to a rigid 16 weeks) and you don’t have a difficult class affecting time you could be spending on other classes.
The class is totally unrelated to your major, true. However, you will be taking many classes unrelated to your major. If you want to push the envelope, go for it. Is Calc 2 more difficult than calc 1? Maybe slightly, but if you’ve found a great teacher, then maximize the resource.
Additionally, online learning is not for everybody. Khan Academy and MIT OCW are not for everybody. Especially when the student is not a STEM-person, which the OP is not by self-admission
Calculus can be a useful subject to at least have some understanding for, and you’ve found a good professor, who makes the material engaging and easy to understand. You can take it Pass/Fail so that even if you barely pass it won’t matter for your GPA, and you can always drop it if it’s too much work. You don’t have to take classes just because they are required for your major, and you don’t always have to take the easy way out. It’s okay to take a class that could be difficult for you, especially if you’re learning a lot.
Online learning is especially useful for students who aren’t STEM oriented. You can learn from multiple sources and the educator has plenty of time in the video to go in depth and explain everything about the concept or problem. MIT 18.01 is basically if the OP wants the theory and experience of a college lecture. MIT 18.01sc is basically the same as khanacademy though.
If this was a course where there aren’t many texts and/or good online video lectures, then I would probably sign up for the course. This is definitely not the case with calc 2.
There might be one or two benefits to actually taking the course at university, but there are dozens of benefits to learning the material through online sources.
Calculus II is a difficult course, but I think one can gain a lot from it. You’ll develop a lot of problem solving intuition that you don’t really get in math prior to that point. I’d take it.
I liked the theory. But then there are pages of formulas. (Or was that diff eq?) That was the only part I didn’t like. If you have a good professor and like the math I would say take it. I think the people who say it is harder are people who do not like math to begin with. Where I went the classes were divided into those who needed the math for majors and those who had to take it just for credits. So one group had harder tests and was a bit more detailed and the teachers did not push the students who were not going to be using math. I wish I could help more but taking 4 levels of math it just all blends in and I forget what I did yesterday.
I don’t really see a problem with taking Calc 2. I am not sure why you would pass/fail it if you have made a 100 on all of your assignments in Calc 1.
However, I don’t know your degree plan or courses offered. Will this just count as an elective credit counting towards the total number of hours needed to graduate? Also, you may want to think about what class you would be taking if you did not take Calc 2. I see you mentioned that you would rather calc 2 instead of a canoeing or sailing class but those aren’t necessarily classes that you would take anyway. If there aren’t many other classes that you would be interested in taking as an elective credit, then you might as well take it. I satisfied my elective credits with mostly computer science and math courses however I’m a math major.
I think one of the key things that you’ve mentioned is that you have a good professor and would most likely have class with him again. My highest level of calculus is AP Calc back in high school, so I don’t know how difficult Calc 2 is. However, I know from other experiences that I learn things very well from a professor I like and who is good at explaining things and making them less daunting, so that would probably help you a lot.
Like baktrax said, you could always take it P/F and actually value your learning. If it doesn’t take time away from other classes you need, then I’d say go for it! I might be doing the same thing with a literature class over the summer. I don’t need ANY extra electives to graduate, but I really like the professor and I really like literature, so I might just go for it.
I just took the second test (it was pretty good) - he’ll be handing them back on Wednesday. It’s our last test before the final exam. I plan on discussing it with him afterwards (depending on my performance on the test.) It’d be the same professor.
On a side note, as a math tutor it is wonderful to see someone say “take calculus II for fun.” I spend a lot of time working with people that aren’t good at and don’t enjoy math. I listen to a lot of complaints about it. It’s good to see that some people that may not even be pursuing a mathematical field can see math as an interesting and important topic.
Calculus II is one of those classes that breaks a lot of people because they go into it almost afraid of it. They hear so much about how hard it is…and yes, it is hard. But it’s not as hard as some people make it out to be. There’s a good amount of memorization involved in calc II, which a lot of people struggle with. There are a lot of case-specific integration formulas, and one has to be able to recognize the patterns and recall the correct formula before applying it. Some professors allow some kind of note sheet or note card for exams containing the important integration formulas. Some of them (like my calc professors) don’t, which adds an extra element to it. Calc II is in many respects the meat and the bones of calculus, and you’ll definitely gain some problem solving skills in it.
Maybe then you can take calc III. That’s when you start working in three dimensions and working with vectors and surfaces. That’s when things really get fun.
Have you taken logic yet? Because “I love the feeling of working through a problem and reducing complex equations into simpler terms” makes me feel like you’d love it. When you get into the more advanced stuff, it gets even better. Plus, it helps you with the LSAT.
Take it. It’s hard for someone who does not have strong reasoning skill. It’s easy for someone who does.
Calculus II is easy. Calculus III is a little bit harder but not that bad.
If you’re doing well in Calc I, I’d say don’t worry too much about the difficulty. It wasn’t too hard for me (AP Calculus BC) with the transition to Calculus III entering college was very smooth. – Engineering perspective
Of course, if you have space, take it!
~Calculus I/II are great classes with wonderful applications that, well as an engineer you get to really appreciate them.
Even if you’re not a STEM major, learning about the Taylor series and what they have done for us is really interesting.
Also, your integration toolbox can use a little upgrade. Integration problems will challenge your knowledge of trigonometry, algebra tricks, brilliant eye for seeing special substitutions, and all new Calculus techniques that will be introduced to you. These problems are so fun, yet can also be very challenging/varied that my school hosts an annual Integration Bee… SO FUN.
So I got back my second exam today (last assessment before the final) – I got a 100%. The class average was in the high 40’s so the professor is offering a retake on Friday which I guess is some indication that the test was challenging for a lot of people.
I met with him during his office hours today and he said that he thought I’d do “great” in Calculus II – he said that there are two things which trip people up in Calc II - the emphasis on integration (which he says isn’t covered as extensively in Calc I so it overwhelms people up a little) and the theoretical framework for other concepts. He said Calc II is far less calculative and relies more on logic and rationality than simply being able to apply an equation and extract an answer. But he said that Calc I at our university (though this might not be the case everywhere) is much more of a weeder class than Calc II so I shouldn’t worry about that.
