After completing the 1st trimester of AP Calc, I have mixed feelings about the class. I enjoy the actual class, and the method of teaching that is used, however I don't like the actual calculus part. I feel like I struggled with a lot of the concepts, and they didn't really click with me until the moment of the quiz. Sometimes, they still didn't click! A lot of the time when I finally understood a concept, it would be from really thinking it through on the quiz. The class itself is pretty enjoyable! The environment isn't super strict or anything, so I feel like there's no one judging you for asking "dumb" questions or not understanding a concept. Who knows, maybe a question you had might be one someone else had too.
Certain concepts were a lot easier to grasp than others. Derivatives and Implicit Differentiation seemed super confusing at first, but now they're the easiest part of a problem. It's weird to think that (what is now) such a simple concept was so difficult for me. I liked how the whole 1st trimester was algebra-type problems. Now, we are starting to look at story problems. I absolutely hate story problems!! They are confusing and use words to play tricks on your mind. I have no patience when it comes to story problems, so this trimester is going to be a struggle for me. We already started looking at a few basic types of problems and I feel like it's way over my head. I guess I just don't understand why you would take the derivative, and why you would do certain things. We're just told the steps, but sometimes it's more complicated than following a 4-5 step process. Overall, I think the 1st trimester went really well and I like the challenge! I'm glad I have this class to look forward to in my school day.
Certain concepts were a lot easier to grasp than others. Derivatives and Implicit Differentiation seemed super confusing at first, but now they're the easiest part of a problem. It's weird to think that (what is now) such a simple concept was so difficult for me. I liked how the whole 1st trimester was algebra-type problems. Now, we are starting to look at story problems. I absolutely hate story problems!! They are confusing and use words to play tricks on your mind. I have no patience when it comes to story problems, so this trimester is going to be a struggle for me. We already started looking at a few basic types of problems and I feel like it's way over my head. I guess I just don't understand why you would take the derivative, and why you would do certain things. We're just told the steps, but sometimes it's more complicated than following a 4-5 step process. Overall, I think the 1st trimester went really well and I like the challenge! I'm glad I have this class to look forward to in my school day.