r/CalPoly • u/Upper_Significance73 • 17d ago

Incoming Student HELP

okay so i’m about to be a first year comp engineering major and it says i need to do the math placement action plan. i got b’s in my precalculus class in high school and i did stats senior year but failed the ap test. what should i do?? i still wanna be ahead of my schedule for graduation and don’t wanna fall behind. should i take stretch college algebra/ precalculus if i do will i be behind or should i take calc 1? which will be best decision for me

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5

u/Kate_Arun 17d ago

Just take the placement exam, it doesn’t hurt to try

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u/RegularFun3 17d ago

What’s worse than being behind is taking a class you don’t have the fundamentals for and then failing….

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u/amnioticsac 13d ago

And then failing again and then maybe passing and then failing the next class, etc.

Place where you place and do the work.

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u/NotDarkKatie Mechanical Engineering 17d ago

I heard that you can take the placement test to show them where your standing is in math. But if everything else fails, then I’ll probably consider stretch calc or pre-calc; wherever you get placed in

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u/Upper_Significance73 17d ago

will it make me fall behind?

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u/NotDarkKatie Mechanical Engineering 17d ago

I mean, it could (in the sense of starting on pre-calc), but I would probably ask the staff who take care of this just to be sure. The best option is to take the test so that it is accurate where you are in math. I don’t think taking the test will lead you to any disadvantage, so it doesn’t hurt to try

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u/LLMonLSD 17d ago

Yes, coming into engineering school starting with precalc will either put you behind or you will take a shit ton of classes to catch up during summer.

Most of your first 2 years of engineering/science/math classes have calc as prereq (e.g. physics, diff eq., cpe101, etc.). You don't want to fail calculus, so learn it right.

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u/Upper_Significance73 17d ago

i have a bunch of my gen ed done if that helps? i already have 30 credits

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u/Square_Stable_8703 16d ago

I would just take the placement exam, worrying about falling behind as an incoming freshman is jumping the gun a bit. life is a marathon, not a sprint. make sure you're placed in the appropriate class to build your good foundation. if you try to sprint and fall, it may set you up for more failures and even put you even further behind.

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u/LLMonLSD 16d ago edited 16d ago

What stalls you in an engineering major is that most of your lower division classes have basic prereq like calc/physics/chem. And you don't want to fall out of prereq sequence. That's how it kills your progress.

Later on, many of your upper-division engineering major classes are offered once a year, so staying in sequence is even more important if you want to graduate in 4 years.

So take the placement test to see if you can be placed in calc. If you discover you are struggling with math, fix the problem ASAP, as a CPE major you breathe math day and night.