inc from (-1,0) (1,2)
dec from (0,1)
critical points: x= -1, 0 , 1
infl pts: x= -1/(squareroot of 3),+1/(squareroot of 3
conc up: (-1,-1/squareroot of 3), (+1/squareroot of 3, 2)
conc down: (-1/squareroot of 3, 1/squareroot of 3)
you find 1st and 2nd deriv. set both equal to zero. the zeros of the 1st deriv will be your critical pts and the zeros of your 2nd deriv will be your infl pts. plug in numbers between the infl and critical pts to see if +/-. if the numbers are positive for between your infl pts, that means its concave up and vice versa. if numbers are positive for between your critical pts, that means its inc and vice versa.
hard to explain through text. i took AB calc last year and got an A and a 5 on the AP exam.