my calc2 test just raped me.

[Tvan]

Yea, I took calc in high school, but for engineering here you have to be pretty good to go straight into calc 2. So here I am, re-learning what I was taught last year...

[rwh11385]

Taking calc in high school can be a bad idea... for the very reasons you experienced. Its hard to apply calc in the high school environment. In college, you're learning a math/science/engineering major, and taking other classes that calc is directly applicable to.

FWIW, I only went as far as Pre-calc in high school... took all my calc at the college level. Certainly it was harder to learn in college than high school, but I wouldn't have been able to apply calc as well if I took it in high school.

AP classes are over-rated. Once you get to college, no one cares what you did in high school, or how long you spend in college.

Jonathan

I respectfully disagree.

I had a much easier time learning in HS when there wasn't much else going on. I don't necessarily need to apply calc to understand it. I am so much more distracted in college by the environment and activities. Even though what you learn could run together with 3-4 classes, and help to build on one another, taking it in HS isn't a bad thing in my eyes. Also, knowing calculus already can help you in a few classes that play on a foundation already, like economics even.


I came to college with 21 credits, and went into 2nd semester chemistry directly and later got credit for the 1st semester. I have been able to take the minimum number of credit hours so far to make it easy to get good grades (as opposed to running a full load or extra heavy load). Also, I am going to be able to pile on two minors and finish with a more involved major because of being ahead, and graduate on time.

A lot of my requirements could be taken care of with AP credits, leaving me with less classes a semester (so more time to get drunk and have fun) and still be ahead in my plan of study. (Taking classes now with a lot Junior friends)

I definitely care about how long I'm in school. Although 5 years might be fun, I'd rather be done in four spending less $$.

[EtaSport]

I agree with the above to an extent. While I took calc 1 and 2 in HS, I retook calc 2 in college. I learned stuff in HS, but I doubt I would have survived college level calc 2 if I didnt take it in HS. Most of it was just refresher, but I did have to do a lot of work to get it right.

My HS education was good, but I learned more in 2 years of college than I did in 12 years of public schooling. Unlike heeter, ill admit that I am a genius.







j/k, farr frum it aktualy

[Z3Jonathan]

I respectfully disagree.

I had a much easier time learning in HS when there wasn't much else going on. I don't necessarily need to apply calc to understand it. I am so much more distracted in college by the environment and activities. Even though what you learn could run together with 3-4 classes, and help to build on one another, taking it in HS isn't a bad thing in my eyes. Also, knowing calculus already can help you in a few classes that play on a foundation already, like economics even.


I came to college with 21 credits, and went into 2nd semester chemistry directly and later got credit for the 1st semester. I have been able to take the minimum number of credit hours so far to make it easy to get good grades (as opposed to running a full load or extra heavy load). Also, I am going to be able to pile on two minors and finish with a more involved major because of being ahead, and graduate on time.

A lot of my requirements could be taken care of with AP credits, leaving me with less classes a semester (so more time to get drunk and have fun) and still be ahead in my plan of study. (Taking classes now with a lot Junior friends)

I definitely care about how long I'm in school. Although 5 years might be fun, I'd rather be done in four spending less $$.

I see your point... yeah, in high school you have more time, and a more relaxed environment to learn in. But its impossible to see the connections of calc in high school. Calc is all about the application of it to real-life problems.

My viewpoint comes from knowing too many people who walked into college with AP credit, and were worse off because of it. Many of them AP'ed out of Calc I or II, and where extremely unprepared for later classes. Had they just taken that one Calc class in college, they would've done much better in following classes.

As far as minors are concerned... I think they're useless. If you need minors to support your BS/BA... then you're BS/BA isn't very strong. That's just my 2 cents (coming from a bitter engineer).

[Z3Jonathan]

Yea, I took calc in high school, but for engineering here you have to be pretty good to go straight into calc 2. So here I am, re-learning what I was taught last year...

Ah, you'll be better off because of it. I graduated in May with a mechanical engineering degree... like i said, I only went as far as Pre-Calc in high school. I wasn't any worse off because of it.

Jonathan

[rwh11385]

My HS calc teacher was excellent and great with applying concepts to other things around us. A crappy teacher, of anything, could leave a student unprepared for the next step after testing out of a class, but not the case here. I think I am better off taking Stats with my classmates and doing with it friends (I'm good in that class and help a lot of pals review) versus just doing it before, and forgetting everything by the time I needed it in 3rd year.

If you are taking courses that build on each other (i.e. math) and are coming back to them years later, it might be difficult to remember the shit you learned. i.e. I took had to think back two years in both Chem and Calc to what I learned in HS. It was tough sometimes if I had gotten rusty. But I still was able to pull it off, a lesser student might have not gotten away with it.

But if you are getting rid of freshmen requirements and making room in your plan of study, and it is staying recent in your mind when you need to use it again, I say it's a good thing. Or like my testing out of English composition. Fuck freshmen English classes. I just wish I didn't goof off in my senior English AP and got credit too now in Literature I need for the major I wasn't thinking I was going to do.


I think my major is really open to interpretation and is flexible. You can really do anything with it, or nothing. But it has a required minor which helps direct your learning. On top of that, I'm getting another minor which will teach me even more about the field I am wanting to enter, and adding onto my other courses. Because which would you rather have, a graduate of business, or a graduate of business specifying in marketing? Engineers graduate already in a major such as mech or civil or electrical, so their specialization is already determined.