How hard is college?

How hard is college-level precalculus? Would you recommend going from intermediate algebra to precalculus?

• I am going to community college. I have scored in the ninety-eighth percentile on my freshman mathematic assessments, (MAP tests, not sure if you heard of those), during high school. And when I took the math assessment for community college, I scored in the sixty-first percentile on the entrance exam. Although I was close to being placed into college algebra (sixty-fifth percentile), I had to take intermediate algebra instead. The class was on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, it was my first semester in which I got a job at my local movie theater. Because of the scheduling, I failed it despite my abilities and am retaking it. This semester I am taking it five hours a week at a slower pace, when it was a three credit-hour class. I genuinely enjoy math, in the same sense that I enjoy working with a sudoku puzzle, and I like doing trigonmetry equations in physics during my senior year of high school. However, I'm not sure whether or not I should go into a) precalculus - a five credit-hour mix of advanced algebra and trigonometry condensed into one semester or b) take college algebra after intermediate algebra and then trigonometry, over two semesters, in order to get into calculus. I have aspirations of becoming an engineer, but I'd imagine going into precalculus would be significantly harder and faster than taking the two courses separately. However, if I were to go into precalculus, what grade would you recommend earning in intermediate algebra to get into precalculus?

• Answer:

  You need to talk to your adviser because you may not have an option due to prerequisites. At my college intermediate algebra is a remedial class and college algebra is the required next step - the first math that actually counts for college credit. Then you can take trig, then precal, then calc 1, etc. Since you failed a remedial level class, I wouldn't recommend skipping any classes even if your school allows it.