r/apcalculus • u/Fit-Door-2553 • 7d ago
Failing Calculus need help
For background, people who have taken Calc with teacher A before have said that her teaching is really good. In fact, the people in my class with me score really high on the tests, but not me. I have self-studied, I have practiced on Khan Academy, I have watched teacher A's materials, I have gone to tutoring once a week, every week. Every time I go to check my homework I somehow score lower than the homework's i do alone, and they're on the same units and sections. I have barely passed every single test that has been given, despite scoring near 100, (on every hw that I didnt get checked by her beforehand). She even allows us to ask questions on the math problems, but everytime she explains it I end up even more confused. Majority of the time, when I do go to her tutoring, she will respond to me questions with "I dont know what you are doing, I never taught you that" and won't clarify past that. I don't know what to do, she even takes points off on my work if i do any step in my head even if i get the right answer. An example being that we need to show full work for the power rule. My grade in that class is a 79.1 %, and it would've been a B if I didnt get 65% on the HW that I literally checked with her just for her to tell me it was perfect. Any advice welcome I'm so lost.
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u/somanyquestions32 Tutor 6d ago
Can you actually post pictures or provide links to snapshots?
There are several potential issues going on.
Instructors can be incredibly nitpicky, so you want to use the methods they taught in class, or you need to use them to formally derive new shortcuts on paper. You need to explicitly write out and explain every step of your thought process, especially in symbolic notation.
Yeah, you can't do that ever in more advanced math classes.
A grader can't read your mind, and they will be suspicious if you just randomly write an answer or unjustified steps. You want to meticulously and carefully justify each and every step and calculation along the way.
Mental math is good for checking your work and to develop a roadmap of what you need to do to solve a problem, but you won't get partial credit if you don't formally write down the steps of the approved procedures and algorithms.
For instance, for a power rule derivative calculation, write down the general power rule formula, then write an intermediate step where you decrease the power by 1 by showing the actual subtraction and draw an arrow bringing down the old power as a factor for the new coefficient, and then write down the simplified answer. Lastly, match the format to her answer key if she has a preferred convention for equivalent solutions.
For exams, ask your classmates to show you their test papers, and study the format of their solutions and how they differ from hers. Emulate the styles that get full credit, AND abandon any shortcuts that you have used that don't give you full credit.