Are you ready for Precalculus?

A free, no-signup trigonometry readiness check tells you where you stand in about 15 minutes — then a clear 4-week plan to close any gaps before precalculus makes them expensive.

Why precalculus struggles usually start in trig

Most students don't struggle with precalculus because the new ideas are impossible. They struggle because trigonometry never got solid — the unit circle was memorized and forgotten, the graphs blurred together, the identities felt like a pile of formulas. Math is cumulative, so one shaky trig foundation quietly becomes "I'm bad at precalc" a semester later.

From the outside it's hard to tell which gap is the culprit. Grades say "math" without saying where the problem lives. Worksheets feel random. Tutoring is expensive and slow to diagnose. The first useful move isn't more practice — it's finding the specific gap.

The skills a trig readiness check should test

"Ready for precalculus" isn't one skill; it's a short list of trigonometry foundations (on top of solid Algebra II). A good readiness check looks at each of these directly:

• Right-triangle trigonometry — SOH-CAH-TOA, finding missing sides and angles with inverse trig.
• Radians and the unit circle — converting degrees and radians, reference and coterminal angles, exact values.
• The six functions — sine, cosine, tangent and their reciprocals, evaluated in every quadrant.
• Graphs of sine, cosine, and tangent — amplitude, period, midline, phase shift, and asymptotes.
• Identities — Pythagorean, sum and difference, double- and half-angle, and simplifying.
• Solving trig equations — on an interval and as general solutions.
• Applications — the Law of Sines and Cosines, triangle area, vectors, and periodic models.

A gap in any one of these is normal and fixable. The point of a readiness check is to name it precisely so the next few weeks of practice actually target it.

How the ClearMath readiness check works

1. Take the 15-minute placement check. 30 questions across the seven trigonometry areas above. It's not a graded test — it's a routing tool that finds where to start.
2. See exactly which topics need work. A clear, readable gap report shows what's solid and what isn't, with no jargon and a recommended starting point.
3. Follow a 4-week repair plan. Lessons sequenced in curriculum order, targeting the actual gaps. Print it, download it, or copy it — the plan is yours.
4. Practice, review, and build. Each lesson includes practice and a checkpoint. Missed problems flow into a Review queue so nothing slips. An optional AI tutor offers hints when you get stuck — never the final answer on a quiz or checkpoint.

What you get — and what we don't claim

You get a specific gap report (trig topics named one by one, strong areas, weak areas, a starting-point recommendation), a 4-week plan you can keep, and free access to the full lesson library. Progress saves locally on your device, and you can export it as a file for a backup.

What we won't promise: a readiness check is a snapshot, not a guarantee of a grade. It tells you where to start, honestly. There's no signup wall and nothing to buy to see your results.

If the check shows gaps: where to go next

For homeschoolers planning the precalculus year

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if I'm ready for precalculus?

Precalculus leans on solid Algebra II and a working command of trigonometry — the trig half is where readiness gaps usually live: right-triangle ratios, radians and the unit circle, graphing sine, cosine, and tangent, the identities, solving trig equations, and the triangle laws. The fastest honest check is a placement diagnostic that tests those skills directly rather than relying on a single grade. The free ClearMath check does this in about 15 minutes.

What should I know before precalculus or trigonometry?

Fluency in Algebra II (functions and graphs, factoring, rational expressions, exponents and logarithms) plus core trigonometry: SOH-CAH-TOA, converting degrees and radians, the unit circle and exact values, graphs of sine and cosine, the Pythagorean identity, and solving simple trig equations. A gap in the trig foundations is the most common reason precalculus feels hard.

Is the readiness check really free?

Yes. The check and the 4-week plan are free — no account, no email, and no credit card to take it and see your results.

What happens after the check?

You get a readable gap report naming the specific trig topics that are solid and the ones that need work, plus a recommended starting point and a 4-week repair plan you can print, download, or copy.