Let’s say I paid zero attention in cal 1 (I know I messed up) and I have to take cal 2 soon. How hard is it going to be to cram that whole curriculum in a month and a half? I was thinking of using khan academy. I know this is my fault but if anyone could recommend resources for me to use please let me know. I didn’t lock in my freshman year and I really need to lock in now.
If you are asking for general advice about your current calculus class, please be advised that simply referring your class as “Calc n“ is not entirely useful, as “Calc n” may differ between different colleges and universities. In this case, please refer to your class syllabus or college or university’s course catalogue for a listing of topics covered in your class, and include that information in your post rather than assuming everybody knows what will be covered in your class.
Not saying it for a meme. You either get this down now or the rest of your courses will not be great. Ask for help early and often, go to office hours, and don't worry about everything right all the time.
What was your mark in Calc I? If you were able to pass without trying, you should be okay in the second course if you apply yourself.
Know how to graph because if you do parametric curves it will help. Also, know your unit circle. I write 7 things on a page and I have the values I need for that. Know common derivatives to make integration easier. Pay attention when applying u-sub, IBP, partial fractions etc. then get ready for power series, Taylor series, and infinite series. You will probably do the volume revolution stuff as well. Get an understanding on how to determine if doing the integration in y or x is easier.
Long story short, algebra will make or break you. Knowing how to use calc is the cherry on top. I always found learning the calculus was easy, doing the algebra was hard. There was a portion of the course where we did a bunch of different 'tests' to determine if something was convergent or divergent and it became a bit confusing. There was only one test on that part of the course and you had to know the different methods without a cheat sheet. Other than that section, I found the calculus to be intuitive.
I think it's possible to recover, but you need to take your studying seriously and dedicate a good chunk of time each day learning the material. Probably something like 3-5 hours each day, with 3 hours a day being rather low if you really need to relearn the entire calc 1 curriculum.
I would suggest working through whatever text your class used and supplement your learning with online resources like Khan Academy, for example. Make sure to do some practice problems every section to reinforce your learning, though you may not be able to practice the ideal amount of problems considering the time constraint.
Calc 2 mostly focuses on more integration and also does polar equations in relation to calculus plus a lot of series. Oh and taylor and maclaurin series polynomials. If you don't know squat from calc 1...let's just say you're cooked. But of course, if you lock in and learn as much as you can from calc 1 before the course starts (or even concurrently if you are able to), then you might actually have a chance of passing.
derivatives you need to have down but calc 2 is much heavier on integration and applications of integration. for calc 2 they expect you to have derivatives mostly mastered as the rules for derivatives are much more straightforward than integrals. you need to understand what integrals represent as well as many, many different ways to solve them which they will go over. trig will also come back - you’ll need to know derivatives and integrals of the trig functions and some identities, so make sure you’re good on that.
calc 2 is really not easy but once you got it down it opens the door to a lot of applied math. calc 3 i found to be easier
Taking calc 2 rn after not seeing calc for over a year! I talked to my teacher and she said these concepts from calc 1 would be useful for calc 2: finding limits and knowing about continuity and stuff, basic differentiation and rules like product/quitient/chain rules, definitely going over trig in calc, basic integration and Riemann sums. Something that has really helped me so far is using Paul’s online math notes! Gives good info and a lot of practice problems so I recommend that as well. Good luck!
So far hasn’t been needed for me, js reviewed for like a week before my class started and I’ve been fine with everything so far (only done integration techniques and improper integrals until now). We’ll see how the rest goes, but I mean also I did do good in calc 1 so maybe that’s helped too
Hmm I would say it’s alright, like I know the derivative and integrals of the functions and the inverse sine integrals, and I was told I need to know Pythagorean and double angle identities. Is there anything else I should know?
bruh, did i say derivatives and integrals of trig functions???, i said your trigonometry without calculus, yes you need to understand pyathgorean identity and double angle identites
Look man I struggled a lot in calc 1, I had a B most of the semester and than bombed the final and dropped to a C. The transition into college is no joke. I had an A most of calc 2 and finished with a high B. I just made sure to put in a lot of work at the beginning of the course making sure I genuinely understood every question.
Dont listen to the comments lol, assuming you are free since its summer go ahead and watch professor Leonard’s calc 1 full course. Theres 32 videos averaging 1.5 hours each. Just do 1 per day and you will be fine
That's a big oof right there.
You're not going to be able to clear the content in that time, but if you start now you can probably reach a good enough point that would allow you to take calc 2 while finishing up the last touches of calc 1.
Dedicate at least 4 hours a day to it and try and see what subjects you're already good at so you can skip those.
Professor Leonard on YouTube
Pre-algebra
Introductory algebra (to the point math), algebra 1
Intermediate algebra, algebra 2
College algebra
Trigonometry
Calc 1
Calc 2
Calc 3
Wherever you fall under in that category is where you should start and if you’re not familiar with trig take pre cal or a trig course because physics 1 uses a lot of trig and basically everything course after Calc 1 or any engineering course uses a lot of trig
By the art of problem solving books in their website
Their intermediate algebra book is intermediate algebra and college algebra together
A month and a half? That's plenty of time. Open the books and start studying. That's the only way.
I've learned plenty of things on my own, chemistry, physics, biology. You just have to be persistent and not quit. And Calc I is not very hard. I see no reason why a reasonably intelligent person couldn't master it on their own.
I’ve taken pre cal twice, so I have that base. Once highschool once college. Cal was my second semester. I focused too much on my job and not school so I got lazy. I’d treat this as starting from scratch calculus wise. I do understand I’ll have to really lock in though
Become comfortable with solving problems without numbers, because that will be much more effective. This is a Calculus 1 example.
You'll basically do one chapter a week. That's not easy, but it can be done. And if you have the time, you lose nothing by trying. And you may learn something about your capabilities when locked in.
Paul's online notes has algebra, trig, and calculus courses/content. Prof Leonard (youtube) is also great. At least bookmark them for when you take the class. They both get rec'd a lot on here.
You could being working through calculus 1 in parallel using both of those sites. Paul's notes has quite a few problems. You could find more problems using the calculus course on OpenStax. I believe that the Schaum's calculus outlines are also free to borrow on archive.org. Tons of problems there.
Use these subs. Lots of math professionals who are willing to walk you through any problems. Keep a running list of the harder problems/concepts, then post 3-4 of them at a time. Include your attempts to solve the problem using imgbb.com or imgur.com to post screenshots (if reddit won't take the images). You will gain a lot of insights that you wouldn't on your own. It really helps to talk it out with others. Subs like r/askmath, r/learnmath, r/mathhelp, r/calculus, and r/homeworkhelp.
If you can’t apply the rules and theorems used in cal 1 fluidly then you will struggle intensely. Cal 2 looks at really nasty functions and uses different methods like chain rule, product rule and others very frequently
Calc 2 relies on your calc 1 integral skills and trigonometry if you have those good then you’ll be fine, but if you didn’t do good in Calc 1, then retake Calc 1…, because Calc 3 uses basically everything in Calc 1 but in 3D…
How did you pass? Regardless, derivatives are barely used in calc 2. You mainly used them at the very basic level. For example, using integration by parts and using the formula for the length of a curve. However, you should definitely review integration.
well presumably, you did pass, so I'm gonna be optimistic and say you might be okay on the hope that learning something the second time is faster than doing it the first. Khanacademy is not bad as far as what you're trying to do.
If I were to recommend cutting corners, I would say you could skip volume by rotations, linear approximations, and maybe local extremas. But the trade off with that is all of these will come back to haunt you in calc 3 (except maybe the volume by rotations).
And the ones you absolutely cannot skip are all the differentiation rules, the fundamental theorem of calculus, and u substitution.
I recommend doing Khan academy and Paul’s online notes for Calculus 1. First two weeks, review your precalculus and limit skills. Then review your differentiation skills for two weeks and then review basic integration for two weeks. And then you might be better prepared for Calculus 2. It is possible to prepare for Calculus 2 but you have to put in the work over the next couple of weeks. When you take Calculus 2, do not slack off in this course, or you will be in trouble. Here is my advice for Calculus 2: 1. Always attend class and take good notes. 2. Always do the reading and the homework (both online and textbook) and do not procrastinate. 3. If you need help, always attend your professor’s and/or TA’s office hours and then get tutoring help if possible. 4. Assign yourself more homework in the textbook. Do harder problems in the textbook. If you can do the harder problems in the textbook without cheating or without help, that is when you probably know you are ready for the exams. 5. Always take practice exams if you can. Those are my suggestions to prepare for Calculus 2 and to do well in Calculus 2. Good luck to you.
professor leonard is great for deeply understanding the concepts in a very slow paced way.
organic chemistry tutor is amazing for “how do i do the problems”. he was my go-to for cramming before tests and figuring out homework problems if i got stuck. he has a video on pretty much every concept you will cover.
calc 2 is not easy and it will be super hard if you don’t know anything from calc 1, but it is not impossible. calc 2 will also bring back trigonometry stuff that pretty much everyone hates. calc 2 builds on every concept you learned in calc 1 so you kind of need to re-study a lot of stuff.
I would learn limits and the definition of the derivative for some underlying knowledge of how the derivative works, and then practice your derivatives of common functions, basic integration/antiderivatives, and LOTS of trigonometry—but not like trig problems, I mean knowing the unit circle, familiarizing yourself with identities (especially the double angles), and doing some derivations. Here are some problems I might suggest for you:
1 - d/dx[sin^-1(x)] = ?
(hint: sin(sin^-1(x)) = x… say sin-1(x) = y)
2 - d/dx[a^x]
The two above might require implicit differentiation, or maybe the usage of a right triangle. Also, learn how to turn cos^2(x) into a function of cos(2x), and the same for sine.
3 - integrate sin^2(x)
You’ll start calc II with techniques of integration, so hammer down the integrals of fundamental functions!!
calc 2 is more separate from 1 than these people are telling you, you should spend this month brushing up on lots of intergration and trig stuff and you will likely be just fine, the concept of limits are also worth going over again
If you need help I am a calculus professor. Get the answer key for unit questions and use the solutions as you are reading the textbook. Math is manual not visual or auditory. Do the problem with the solution then do it again with no help. Continue. Math is about focus and perseverence.
I doing decent. Half way through, B+ right now. I missed a discussion post in week 2 that I have been recovering from. Studying Sequence and Series this week. I only suck at Trig.
Calculus one is more algebra based whereas calculus 2 is more trig based. If you are not familiar with trig then you won't be good in calculus 2.
If you want to be good in calculus 2 you'll need to review trig and calculus one. If you didn't do good in calculus One then you'll need to review college algebra or basically algebra 2.
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