# Taking Calc 2 in the summer - good or bad idea?

Hi,

Has anyone taken calc 2 at a CC in the summer? I'm thinking of doing it so I can get to calc 3 faster. I'm worried that it might be too fast and I won't be able to absorb the material which will prepare me for calc 3. If this is too vague, I'll elaborate ;).

Thanks,

S

How many weeks will the class be?

I did, wasn't too bad, got a B. Half the tests were take home though. I don't think I learned the material that well, and I probably couldn't tell you if a series converged, or how to do more complicated integrals. However, I feel like those two topics can easily be looked up, and I just use matlab to do my integrals now anyways.

Don't worry about calc 3, it really doesn't build off calc 2. Calc 2 is all about series and techniques of integration. I'm assuming the class is 6-8 weeks.

Staff Emeritus
What I think RugbyEng means that at his school, Calc 3 doesn't build on Calc 2. There's a great degree of variation in what is taught when.

Hi,

Has anyone taken calc 2 at a CC in the summer? I'm thinking of doing it so I can get to calc 3 faster. I'm worried that it might be too fast and I won't be able to absorb the material which will prepare me for calc 3. If this is too vague, I'll elaborate ;).

Thanks,

S

I think you'll be okay. I had an easy professor for my calc II class the fall before last, and I didn't absorb much from the class. I'm in differential equations now and I don't find myself needing anything from calc II, except integration by parts, integration by partial fraction decomposition, and some familiarity with infinite series. Everything to do with calculus in parametric coordinates was retaught in my statics class.

But at least in my experience there's little overlap between calc II and calc III, except the integration techniques and the familiarity gained by exposure to parametric calculus.