Reddit reviews Just-in-Time Algebra and Trigonometry for Early Transcendentals Calculus (4th Edition)

You're going overboard. Just brush up on algebra and trig from:

http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Trigonometry-Transcendentals-Calculus-Edition/dp/0321671031

It should only take you a month or so.

Buy the Calculus Schaum outline when you begin and you'll be fine.

So I keep pointing students to this one book, and they keep telling me it saved their asses. So I'll point you to it too: Just in Time Algebra and Trig for Early Transcendentals Calculus

It has everything you need, while remaining short and inexpensive. I know of no better preparatory book for calculus, and that includes Stewart, Sullivan, and Blitzer-- all the big names.

I've heard (more than once) that you go to Calculus to finally fail Algebra or Trig. The latter is proving true for me. I've got a copy of this book (my calc class is taught out of Early Transcendentals ... so it pairs up perfectly - check for something similar for your text if you can find it) and it's a good resource for when I can't remember how to do something.

Aside from that, figure out where your weaknesses are. Don't spend valuable time further working on stuff you're already rock solid on - target weak areas and work on them.

Khan Academy, Professor Leonard are both great resources. Wolfram Alpha subscriptions (only a few bucks a month) also has a button that shows step-by-step how they get to the answer, which is frequently useful to me.




Edit: OH! Also, don't go it alone. You've obviously found this place, which is great. Your school probably has a math tutoring center, or math lab, or your professor's office hours, or a TA you can bother or whatever. Those things are all "free" - but in reality they're not. They're included in the price of your tuition. You've already paid for them: USE EM!

Yes it is definitely possible! I was in high school 12 years ago and I failed grade 9 math 3 times and now I have a degree with a minor in math.

I started university late and so not only did I do pretty poorly in high school math (I didn't have a conceptual understanding of anything), but it had been about 5 or 6 years since I'd used any of it, in other words I was in way worse shape than you are now.

If you are interested in science as opposed to math in itself, then you will be taking a calculus course, a linear algebra course and a stats course in university most likely, and fortunately it is surprisingly easy to get caught up!

Over the course of one month in the summer I worked through a book like http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Trigonometry-Transcendentals-Calculus-Edition/dp/0321671031 and made sure I understood the concepts (not just memorized the answers). Anytime I didn't understand something I would look it up online, ask someone for help, or watch a khan video. The most important thing is working hard to practice and understand pre-calculus: doing a lot of exercises, and asking yourself "why does this work", whenever you can.

Trust me, if I can go from failing grade 9 math three times to doing pretty well in courses like calculus and proof based classes like set theory, anyone can.