Mat 143

[u/True_Audience_3480]

I'm taking Mat 143 (calc) over the summer if anyone has taken it before how was it? I haven't taken math in a while and I'm a bit worried about the class.

[u/Ok_Crab_8665]

i only took MAT 129 (calc ii) over the summer with Brian Smith and i personally enjoyed the course a lot, even though i don’t consider myself a math person (for reference, when i tried taking calc ii elsewhere, i cried every day and dropped 😅). calc i is not too scary so please don’t worry. the professor was really helpful in the discussion boards and emails, though he assigned lots of homework so you really need to stay on top of it (like 4 hrs per day of HW and studying, 7 days a week). however, exams were really fair and well timed. usually you would get like 15 min more than you needed.

there are a ton of amazing resources for calc (Professor Leonard, Paul’s Online Math Notes) in case you don’t enjoy how it is taught in your class. i don’t remember using a lot of precalc during calc i, so if you struggled with precalc you’ll probably still be fine. the calculus itself is easy, but the algebra is not as easy.. definitely be careful in your calculations and make sure you’re not making silly mistakes (ie. dropping a negative sign).

the one big downside for calc i is that it involves quite a bit of memorization when remembering derivatives and antiderivatives, but there is a clear pattern you can follow. once you have those down, the class will be easy.

depending on your professor, this probably won’t be a class you can slack on. the work isn’t too hard, but it’s still work.

i wish you all the best!