How much harder is Calculus 101 in college then a Calculus Honors class in HS?

Juno

Lifer
Jul 3, 2004
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the highest math level i've completed was pre calc (senior year in HS.)

i can't judge the difference. :D
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
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If you took honors calc in high school, take the AP/CLEP test and skip it entirely.
 

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
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I had AP Calc in high school but didn't do very good (got a C) and didn't think I'd pass the AP test for credit so I didn't take it and then took Calc I in college. The college class was way easier, then again the teacher was wayyyy better.
 

sjwaste

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2000
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I took calc in HS, then took Calc I for math/sci majors (4 credit) my freshman year of college. It was a really easy A. I'd suggest taking it if you have a decent grasp in HS, because a 4 credit A gets your GPA going pretty fast.

Calc II, on the other hand, was a LOT harder in college than Calc I was for me :)
 

SLCentral

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2003
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I'm looking to major in business management, and I'm in Calc Honors right now for my senior year. I'm struggling, but it's only been a week, so I want to give it some more time, but if things do not improve, I will likely drop the class in order to save my GPA. I've taken 6 math classes (including Calc) during high school, while the minimum at most schools is 3, recommended 4. I'm worried about two things:

1). Not taking a math senior year makes me look like a slacker.
2). I'll fail Calc once I get to college regardless.

I haven't put a ton of studying into it so far, but the problem is my damn teacher doesn't teach for sh!t, and I'm so boggled down with my other classes as well. Ah, we'll see.
 

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
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I had AP Calc in high school but didn't do very good (got a C) and didn't think I'd pass the AP test for credit so I didn't take it and then took Calc I in college. The college class was way easier, then again the teacher was wayyyy better.
 

Cruisin1

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
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I'm sorry about 101? that's quite a vague statement... whats the description of the classe? Is it derivative calculus or integral?
 

Gibson486

Lifer
Aug 9, 2000
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Originally posted by: Cruisin1
I'm sorry about 101? that's quite a vague statement... whats the description of the classe? Is it derivative calculus or integral?

it's 101, meaning the first class, which means derivatives.
 

wheresmybacon

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2004
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Originally posted by: clamum
I had AP Calc in high school but didn't do very good (got a C) and didn't think I'd pass the AP test for credit so I didn't take it and then took Calc I in college. The college class was way easier, then again the teacher was wayyyy better.

This is my experience exactly.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
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Originally posted by: SLCentral
I'm looking to major in business management, and I'm in Calc Honors right now for my senior year. I'm struggling, but it's only been a week, so I want to give it some more time, but if things do not improve, I will likely drop the class in order to save my GPA. I've taken 6 math classes (including Calc) during high school, while the minimum at most schools is 3, recommended 4. I'm worried about two things:

1). Not taking a math senior year makes me look like a slacker.
2). I'll fail Calc once I get to college regardless.

I haven't put a ton of studying into it so far, but the problem is my damn teacher doesn't teach for sh!t, and I'm so boggled down with my other classes as well. Ah, we'll see.

What 6 math classes have you taken? I wouldn't drop it to save your GPA. You'll be accepted to colleges based on your current GPA, not your GPA at the end of this year. It's very unlikely that they'll un-accept you if your GPA drops this year unless it drops significantly and you get arrested or something.
 

Kelvrick

Lifer
Feb 14, 2001
18,422
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Originally posted by: Gibson486
Originally posted by: Cruisin1
I'm sorry about 101? that's quite a vague statement... whats the description of the classe? Is it derivative calculus or integral?

it's 101, meaning the first class, which means derivatives.

It was different where I went. We had a 16 series calculas and a 21 series calculas. The english and other majors took 16. The engineers and probably some others took 21 series. Big difference.

I went through all of what I learned in AP Calc in HS in the first month or so.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
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i took AP calc my senior year in HS, the Calc 1 class at my college basicially did the whole AP calc year in 1 semester, deravitives integrals....

Calc 2 was series aand all that annoying BS

calc 3 was all the 3d stuff multipial integrals and deravitives
 

andylawcc

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
18,183
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did AP Calc B in HS. that pretty much took care of Calc 101-103. Still need to take Calc 104 though, but the concept (if any) is similar.
 

BornStarlet

Member
May 1, 2007
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It probably is vastly variable. I took honors calc in high school and did ok, then got a 3 on the AP so I retook calc in college (the one for science/engineering not tech/liberal arts if that makes a difference) and we had covered basically all of it in high school. I got an A in First semester B in 2nd semester without doing any work really (yeah I know a B doesn't sound great but I also had orgo and genetics etc etc...) PS. This was at Purdue

Edit: I would recommend taking it in high school because most colleges don't look at your senior year gpa too much (esp if you apply early-- I had multiple acceptances before 1st semester senior year grades came out) and struggling through it in high school is a lot better than struggling through it in college!
 

SLCentral

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2003
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Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: SLCentral
I'm looking to major in business management, and I'm in Calc Honors right now for my senior year. I'm struggling, but it's only been a week, so I want to give it some more time, but if things do not improve, I will likely drop the class in order to save my GPA. I've taken 6 math classes (including Calc) during high school, while the minimum at most schools is 3, recommended 4. I'm worried about two things:

1). Not taking a math senior year makes me look like a slacker.
2). I'll fail Calc once I get to college regardless.

I haven't put a ton of studying into it so far, but the problem is my damn teacher doesn't teach for sh!t, and I'm so boggled down with my other classes as well. Ah, we'll see.

What 6 math classes have you taken? I wouldn't drop it to save your GPA. You'll be accepted to colleges based on your current GPA, not your GPA at the end of this year. It's very unlikely that they'll un-accept you if your GPA drops this year unless it drops significantly and you get arrested or something.

Algebra I
Geometry
Adv. Algebra II
Pre-Calculus
AP Statistics

That's 5, plus Calc Honors now.
 

Special K

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
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I'd imagine it would depend a lot on the school, and even on the courses within the school. Each school will break down calculus differently, and will have their own numbering system for the courses. My undergrad university had 4 Calculus classes - one for liberal arts majors (everyone had to take a calc class, regardless of major), one for science majors, one for engineering majors, and one for math majors. As you can imagine, those were in order of increasing difficulty.
 

GoatMonkey

Golden Member
Feb 25, 2005
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Originally posted by: hungfarover
Originally posted by: clamum
I had AP Calc in high school but didn't do very good (got a C) and didn't think I'd pass the AP test for credit so I didn't take it and then took Calc I in college. The college class was way easier, then again the teacher was wayyyy better.

This is my experience exactly.

Of course it's easier if you've already done it before. How much trouble would you have with algebra now?
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
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It depends on the high school and on the college/specific professor at some colleges. I've seen students who had an A in calculus in high school end up failing at the college level. And, I've seen students who did poorly in high school excel in college. In the former case, typically they were students from a system that loves the graphing calculator and allows students to use TI89's. They get to college, run into a prof who doesn't allow graphing calculators, then fall flat on their faces because they don't know the prerequisite material - the calculator did everything for the during the previous 2 or 3 years.
 

oiprocs

Diamond Member
Jun 20, 2001
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It's not exactly harder, but there is no teacher to hold your hand through it.

Rely more on yourself to understand the material, and use the teacher as an additional source of learning.
 

fire400

Diamond Member
Nov 21, 2005
5,204
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way more homework...

what you do in a year, universities will do in a quarter.

programming classes, what a high school does in a semester, advanced college programming classes do in less than two weeks and move on.

english, yeah. you got less than a week to read an entire book. cliff notes won't save your instructor is hardcore.

it's step up. so don't hide in the basement all day.