The Calculus 1 & 2 Tutor Set! - 8 Hour Course! - Learn By Examples!

Last fall my son enrolled in Calculus 1 as a college freshman. I thought that, having taken calculus 40 years ago, it might be an interesting time for me to try a refresher -- so we agreed to put our heads together now and then. Since the textbook (Stewart) was none too friendly, we soon started assembling background materials to help us along. We bought several books, including "The Calculus Lifesaver" by Adrian Banner; "How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide" by Adams, Thompson and Hass; and "The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems" by Kelley. In addition to this "Calculus 1 & 2 Tutor" DVD, we checked out two of the calculus video series put out by The Great Courses, and checked out several of the many tutorials on YouTube.Now that the semester is over, I can say that this DVD by Jason Gibson is the first resource that we turned to (and got the most out of) in getting through the basic ideas of derivatives and integrals in Calculus 1. As other reviews here note, Gibson is a fine teacher, and he does a good job in making the topics clear. By comparison, we found the "Great Courses" series that we sampled to be very fusty -- more geared to an audience quite a bit older. We soon found, however, that a number of topics in my son's first-semester calculus class were not covered in this DVD, so we ended up buying Gibson's other calculus DVDs. Even then, however, some topics just aren't covered, so we also turned frequently to various YouTube tutorials. We also got a lot of help from the books "How to Ace Calculus" and "The Calculus Lifesaver." (In fact, if you are a serious student and are motivated to really master calculus as completely as possible, I would recommend the "Lifesaver" book as the most comprehensive, but still reasonably friendly, treatment of Calculus 1 and 2.)In sum, this DVD helped us quite a bit -- especially at first when we were first getting a handle on the basic material. I wish I had resources like it the first time I studied calculus back in the dark ages.

I'm an MD I don't really need everyday calculus application but I found that such stuff is a great get away for my poor medicine exhausted brain. So I took to watching math DVDs in the evening hours just for relaxation. I first got my hands on The Standard Deviants : Calculus 1 & 2 and it was very entertaining although to really grasp the point I needed like 4-5 times of watching them and still things like Chain Rule are too complicated in the Standard Deviants presentation. Still I liked Calculus & didn't want to give up. So I got Jason's DVD having already a very satisfying experience with his The Probability and Statistics Tutor - 10 Hour Course - 3 DVD Set - Learn By Examples! & The Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus Tutor - 2 DVD Set! - 5 Hour Course!.And I wasn't disappointed. I am only watching this DVD for a first time now, so I can't say yet for what's in the end but I really enjoyed the Chain Rule presentation. Made me kinda want to go apply it somewhere! What I especially appreciate about Jason's presentation of the material is that I don't need to check anything up additionally, or get busy with notes or calculations. Every tiny step in the reasoning is thoroughly explained so that even such a barbarian as I am (being myself educated in Siberia and never even heard about the existence of Calculus before a year or so ago) can follow the flow of the tutorial and feel respected and cared for by the teacher. And that, my friends, is one great feeling!One more notion. I enjoy watching Jason's videos with a music soundtrack on my computer. I mean I just turn on my favorite music like Those Once Loyal or Smear Campaign ;) in the background so that it doesn't impede tutorial appreciation and that's one great fun of a free time. I noticed that listening to tutor's voice alone in my earphones without a constant sonic background makes my ears feel uncomfortable. Kinda like watching movies on a computer screen in a dark room is bad for the eyes, isn't it?Might sound strange, but "Enjoy!" is how I'm gonna end this review ;)Enjoy!

This DVD has great coverage on derivative, which is essential for calculus I. The rest of calculus I is actually covered on the Calculus II advanced dvds, which I purchased in addition to this dvd set.The second disc begins on Integral to prepare for calculus II. It covers everything in the integral chapter.I advise to watch these videos then try many additional problems to reinforce comprehension. The video themselves are great for understanding, but achieving an A in math will require A LOT more practice.Pre-Requisite:I am realizing that Jason provides great teaching for how to do calculus, but he won't cover theoretical things behind integrals. This is fine I suppose because this is what a textbook is used for. He's just here to show you how to do these problems. BUT a theoretical understanding behind the math, I believe, is essential for long-term math success.He does not review things that you should have learned in trig or algebra, so you need to have a good grasp on these topics before touching the materials covered here.