I loved math growing up. And one of my friends told me about biomedical engineering at one of the local universities. And I’m like, I want to give that a try. So I went for it!
College Vs. High School
I thought I was pretty good at math in high school. So I didn’t think to change my study habits when I got to college. In high school, I would just do the homework. That’s all I really needed to do. And it would stick.
In college, I instantly realized that something had to change because:
- I did not understand my professor at all. English was not his first language, and it was very hard to understand him.
- His handwriting was hard to understand. So I couldn’t just pay attention in class and pass the exam. I had to do stuff on my own time.
This was even more apparent after my first exam because I scored in the mid to low 40s. And I’m like, that’s not what I want. I’m an all-A student, and this got on my nerves.
The Calcworkshop Effect
So I started looking towards online resources, like Khan Academy and other stuff like that. But it just wasn’t what I needed. I needed more help. I just kept on using YouTube, and I got an ad for Calcworkshop, and I’m like, you know what, why not give it a try?
And it was the best decision I’ve made.
The difference was immediate. With Youtube, it was very hard to find specific topics that I was looking for. For example, with integration by parts, I have to watch like a full hour or so and realize it just wasn’t what I was looking for.
With Calcworkshop, I could skip directly to the part of the video I needed as Jenn provides good examples to follow along with.
I could also see when I first opened the website, there was a lot more organization. Everything was right where I needed it to be. If I didn’t know something about vectors — there was a whole section called vectors which was helpful!
In the first video, Jenn provided examples that made sense to me. It wasn’t all at once. It progressively got harder, and I understood it. So, I decided I would stick with the service since I really liked it.
After using it for a bit, I looked at my syllabus and saw what we would be learning next, checked the material on Calcworkshop before class, and then it made more sense during class.
I thought it was funny because some of the examples in the videos were the same things I saw in my homework. I thought since Jenn wasn’t affiliated with my school, it would be totally different, but actually, they were very similar.
Calcworkshop also had a nice feature where if you looked below the videos, you could jump to the part of the video that was relevant. I thought that was helpful since it would save a lot of time.
Compared to other sites I looked at, Calcworkshop did everything the best.
I remember when the second exam came around, and I got the 80, it just felt like a breath of fresh air. It was like, it’s okay, I can do this. I just needed the right resources and the right help to get there — it was just the sense of relief if that makes sense.
Once I got to Calculus 2, I was definitely above average using Calcworkshop. Everybody else was like getting like the sixties or seventies, and I was getting eighties or nineties — It just felt good, you know.
Join over 12,000 other students achieving success in their math courses
Whether you’re learning it for the first time or simply want a refresher, you’ll find all the tools you need to reach the top of your class with Calcworkshop.