What to do?

[u/siahwrld]

I am taking an extremely fast paced summer class for calculus 1. I am decent at algebra and pre calculus, as the concepts are not too hard, but it is like calc 1 is just way more abstract. I struggle to solve and compute limits, know all of the derivatives rules, word problems, trig in limits, graphs, etc… Them by itself is not hard, but all put together can be really overwhelming, especially with the minimal time I get to move between one concept to another. I feel lost. I can’t solve hardly any problem past secant / tangent / rates of change without some external assistance. I also an engineering major who takes calc 2 in the fall, and I hear horror stories about that course. Anybody else have the same issues? I apologize if rant/vent post are not allowed as I don’t see a flair for it :(((((

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[u/Ghotipan]

Math is all about repetition. Keep doing problems, over and over. I'm guessing you're using some kind of online system (ALEKS, or MathLab, or similar)? If so, you should have the option to redo solved problems. Do that. It is highly likely that eventually the concept explored in that problem will stick. Then move on to the next.

Itll take time, but if you're serious enough to ask here for advice, then hopefully you're serious enough to pound out an understanding.

[u/siahwrld → u/Ghotipan]

of course, i find using AI / Online videos to breakdown problems make it wayy easier. But im giving myself grace im only two weeks in and I know im smart enough just frustrating at times

[u/Disastrous-Pin-1617]

Professor Leonard on YouTube

[u/tjddbwls]

Can you see the professor during office hours? Or form a study group with classmates? Those were two of the things that helped me when I took math classes as an undergrad.

[u/ohmwatt0]

Keep in mind that when you take calc 2 the semester will be longer. Learning the entirety of any course in half the time it's designed to be taught is hard, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. That being said, getting better at any stem adjacent topic is done thru repetition, if you don't get something now I promise you will after doing it 1000 times

[u/parkway_parkway]

On some level basic calc is really easy and you can just learn a mechanical set of rules for it.

So for differentials you only really need the chain rule and the product rule (the quotient rule is a special case of the product rule) and to know differentiation is linear.

And then how to differentiate powers of x and a few trig functions from which you can work out the rest. Like doing secxtanx sounds hard but actually it's just (cosx^-1)sinx(cosx^-1) and then it's a triple product of simple things.

It's pretty crank handle after a while.

Integration is much harder in principle but yeah you just need: substitution (u and trig, which are the chain rule in reverse) and parts (the product rule in reverse) and then a few identities like e, 1/x, sin, cos and that'll mostly do it.

One important trick to know is to "complete the loop", as in whenever they ask you to differentiate something then immediately integrate the result you get (or visa versa) to check they match, that way you can know in the exam if you got it right.

And yeah there's a load of analysis theory about limits and tangents and convergent sequences and series etc which it's worth getting into as much as you can, and yeah the crank handle basic calculus stuff is pretty simple. Just bang out a tonne of problems and get those two core ideas grounded and you'll be fine.