Find a tutor for Calculus in Los Angeles

Is calculus hard to learn?

Calculus is not as hard as Precalculus. This is already a great start. If you are taking calculus, that means that you probably have gone through Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Trigonometry and Math Analysis. Precalculus is a mix of Trigonometry and Math Analysis. This is why Precalculus is so much harder than Calculus, the amount of information in Precalculus can be sometimes overwhelming.

But maybe you have gotten to Calculus, but all that information from previous courses is either rusty or has simply not been assimilated.

If you are struggling with Calculus, you might want to consider hiring a private tutor. Private lessons are a great way to improve your knowledge and reinforce what you have already learned.

Superprof is the platform where you can find a long list of calculus tutors who may offer their first lesson for free. The student could visit the website, find a teacher they like, have a first lesson for free and assess afterwards. If they are not satisfied, they can repeat the process as many times as they would like until they find the right calculus instructor from them.

Should I hire a calculus tutor?

Learning with a private tutor is probably the best way to learn anything. Superprof is the platform that will allow the student to contact as many teachers as they would like.

Teachers usually offer their first lesson for free. That means that the student could have trial lessons with several teachers until he or she finds the one that is a match for their needs, their personality and their challenges. Sometimes everything boils down to the student’s interaction with the teacher.

When learning calculus, a subject which can be quite challenging, students might need to choose the one teacher they think learning might be the easiest. Even if calculus might be hard for them, learning with the teacher of their choice should make the learning experience a more pleasant one.

When in school, subjects such as calculus have to be taught in a more consolidated way. Because classrooms are packed with students, the information needs to be already determined and uniformly provided to the students. Needless to say, there is little chance for spontaneity and having fun.

Everything is very much programmed class by class in school and at college. That is why learning with a private calculus teacher could be so much fun. The student actually develops a rapport with their teacher. This rapport is fundamental to feel good about learning and to know that one can make mistakes. In that environment the teacher could go beyond what is needed and try different approaches to teach the student in a way that makes sense to him or her. The calculus teacher could develop games, quizzes, little assignments or just tell the students tidbits about the fascinating world of calculus. The tutor could bring calculus closer to the student by making it more fun, more interesting and more relatable, all of these because of the fact that the teacher and the student have a less formal, structured relation.

What should I know before I take calculus?

Before starting Calculus, probably you have gone through Math Analysis and Trigonometry. Sometimes these two topics are mixed into one course called Precalculus.

Here are all the topics that Pre-calculus covers:

From Trigonometry:

• Angles and their measures
• Degrees and Radians, Arcs, Sectors and Velocities
• Unit circles and reference angles
• Trigonometric identities and verifying
• Applications of right triangles: elevation and depression
• Graphing
• Inverse trigonometric functions
• Solving trigonometric equations
• Law of sines and law of cosines, and area
• Vectors, operations with vectors
• Complex numbers, DeMoivre’s Theorem and Nth Root Theorem

From Math Analysis:

• Inverse and composite functions
• Polar functions and graphing
• Parametric functions
• Exponential and logarithmic functions: simplifying, solving and graphing
• Growth and decay and compound interest
• Parabolas, circles, ellipses, hyperbolas
• Partial fractions decomposition
• Sequences and series
• Arithmetic and Geometric series
• Binomial Expansion
• Polynomial Functions
• Rational functions
• Limits

If you feel you need to reinforce some of these topics, you might want to consider starting private lessons with a math tutor. If you are looking for one, visit Superprof and find the best Calculus teacher for you.