daijobu Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 How much precalculus is needed for successful enrollment in a calculus course? If a student had a so-so precalculus course and might want to review this summer, what would be good preparation? What are the key topics that need to be mastered? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 I don’t know the answer exactly, but my ds did a month of Aleks after Teaching Textbooks Pre-Calculus and he did fine with Calculus. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 (edited) Depends on the approach your calculus course takes. Much of typical "precalculus" courses is material that isn't actually necessary as a prerequisiter for calculus. Trigonometry is very important in its own right, but much of it isn't needed until calculus 2 when you need sophisticated trig identities for integration techniques . Sequences and series are a must if the calculus course follows the traditional order and begins with the epsilon-delta approach; however, many new calc courses omit that strict approach to the concept of the limit and delay it until calc 2 and introduce the concept of a derivative in a different way. The most important skill for calculus success is actually algebra 1. Edited May 31, 2020 by regentrude 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 It depends on what you mean by "success." If you mean in terms of passing the class, I was successful in Calc 1 and 2 with only having mastered the first semester of Algebra 1 (essentially I could deal with linear equations and functions, but nothing beyond), geometry, and very basic right triangle trig. I don't recommend this approach. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 I've wondered about this, too. Listening in... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 My impression is that those "pre" courses review old material and introduce new material and as regentrude wrote, they are not necessarily things that are prerequisites for the Calculus course, but they reinforce old material and provide exercise for the brain with new material and are very useful IMO. You might explore what is available on KhanAcademy and it is FREE. This is their Home Page for Pre Calculus: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/precalculus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 For a review, these are free right now: https://www.thinkwellhomeschool.com/collections/essential-review-courses 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Lanny said: My impression is that those "pre" courses review old material and introduce new material and as regentrude wrote, they are not necessarily things that are prerequisites for the Calculus course, but they reinforce old material and provide exercise for the brain with new material and are very useful IMO. I disagree with this when it comes to precalculus. There is a lot of new material introduced in precalculus as compared to every Algebra 2 course I've seen (including honors). In fact, in the remedial intermediate algebra texts I've used/reviewed, they push quite a bit of the more conceptually difficult off to precalculus. Edited June 1, 2020 by EKS 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 12 hours ago, EKS said: I disagree with this when it comes to precalculus. There is a lot of new material introduced in precalculus as compared to every Algebra 2 course I've seen (including honors). In fact, in the remedial intermediate algebra texts I've used/reviewed, they push quite a bit of the more conceptually difficult off to precalculus. Thank you for the correction. In retrospect, I believe that you are correct. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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