To an extent it depends on what you want to study. Business calculus isn't as difficult as the regular calculus that most applied science majors need to know, but you would still need a foundation in pre-calc to understand it, and taking precalc in college would probably be harder than taking it in high school.
That said, I'm not sure if pre-calc would be redundant with the Trig class you're currently taking, because a lot of schools combine Trig and pre-calc. Maybe talk to the person who teaches pre-calc and ask them about it? For poly sci on the other hand, stats would be more immediately useful, and colleges won't look specifically for calculus knowledge—just that you took four years of math. So I'm afraid there's not a completely solid answer since you sound split between both.
Even though business and polysci seem very similar, the math that goes into each is actually quite different. My rec would be to either take the track you're leaning more towards, or try to hedge by going the AP Stats route but trying to take pre-calc if you can fit it into your schedule.
In either case though, there's no need for AP Calc. Thank you! Unless you go to a trimester school. In some sense, the prerequisite for Calculus is to have an overall comfort with algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. After all, each new topic in math builds on previous topics, which is why mastery at each stage is so important. Precalculus is especially important because it provides you with the building blocks that you will need to learn in the higher up courses. If you are not able to keep up with the lessons that are being taught in your precalculus course, you may run the risk of falling behind the rest of the class.
It is Algebra-based and adds on new concepts in addition to Algebra concepts. You see, Calculus is really just one additional step beyond algebra and trig. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Is Pre-Calc required for college? Ben Davis May 31, Is Pre-Calc required for college? Is it OK to skip precalculus? Is Pre-Calc a prerequisite? Is Pre Calc hard? Should I take pre calc or college algebra? Is college algebra harder than pre-calc?
Whats harder pre calc or statistics? Do you have to take calculus before statistics? Even the high school where I work offers different levels of Pre-Calc. One technically can learn everything they need on the fly in math classes, but the brain tends to know things better when it sees them once, then sees them again later.
Alg 1 can seem tough at first, but as one uses Alg throughout later courses, one wonders how they ever thought it was difficult. That takes a dedicated student. Be sure any Calc class is also one for engineers. Even many 4 year schools offer different levels of Calc for engineers, math, or physics majors vs non-heavy math majors. Not all CCs offer the tougher version. If your lad is good at math, he can self study the extra Pre-Calc topics Kahn Academy can be a good source, but there are also others with videos for free online.
Spend some time on Google searching for syllabi for each course and comparing to what he would get in the courses at CC. His HS class may prepare him for his college class. My son took both AP stats and AP calculus his senior year, then went on to the honors math sequence in college still got that AP calc credit. He did not study for the SAT 2 math test like he should have because he said that fall they were reviewing the precalc math.
I suggest finding out what is covered in both the HS and local college versions of the math courses.
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