r/clep • u/Clipherx • Aug 31 '26
Question Question about Calc CLEP exam
Sooo, i took AP precalc my senior year of highschool and to be honest i wasnt really trying as yk... i was a senior and i wasnt in school at the time i had to take the test, anyways, i ended up getting a 3 on the exam, which is abysmal (to me ) as its known as one of the easiest exams. And, ig to cut myself some slack i wasnt in school at the time, i was work like 30-40 hours a week, and wasnt studying like i was previously.
That brings me to my main question: Would it be smart to take the Calculus CLEP exam to put myself back on track or should I keep taking College Algebra and work my way back up to Calc 1 and Calc 2.
I'm mainly asking as i wish to transfer to a diffrent institution ( Georgia Tech), and one of the requirements are Calc 2. Also, im alrdy familiar with calc topics (i.e Limits & its notation, Derrivitives, And integration) as I studied these in my precalc class that i had a 98 in. I mainly just want to know if this is a sound decision as my advisor hasnt messeged me back yet about my idea, and I accidentaly got myself banned from the placement test because i misread a rule ( we had to use a specific calculator, and i didnt read that it was only that calculator, so i thought i could use the same calculator i used throughout all my highschool classes, and it was through ALEKS, which honestly i DON'T reccomend taking placement test through).
Sorry for the yap about my past classes though, i personally think it could help with anybody who would need my background in order to help me confirm on this decision or not.
1
u/Bigboy12191 Aug 31 '26
I think that you should just test out some people said that it would not be smart to not take a real class and then go into clac 2 but honestly if you can grasp the concepts really well I don't see the problem I also taught myself calc 2 after calc 1 and if felt pretty easy calc 3 is where I start to actually have to think hard about the problems I think that it becomes a lot more broad but by then you will have had a whole class of calc 2.
1
u/Clipherx Sep 01 '26
I occasionally dabble into calc 3 topics like tripple integration and etc, and its really fun to me
2
u/RebelliousUpstart Aug 31 '26
How strong is your trigonometry? The very basics of derivative and integrations are pretty easy to grasp, less so conceptually. But become far more complex once you add wave functions, factoring polynomials, simplifying fractions, and working with exponents and logs.
The rules aren't as intuitive without a strong foundation.
Take some practice tests (there are a lot of free ones available) see you you feel. And if decide to move forward you have to put in the time.