Advice needed - pre-calc. (making my daughter take it as a senior)

Hi all,

My daughter is a rising senior in H.S. and I have to decide what math class she should take for her senior year. She is currently taking Algebra II (regents NY) and is in the 80s (she has to work very hard to get that grade) . She loved Algebra I & hated geometry. I want her to take pre-calculus because I feel like it will look better on her transcript (things being so competitive as they are). There is an easier finance math class she wants to take because she does not love doing trig. functions right now in Algebra II and she is intimidated that they do not let you use a graphing calculator in pre-calculus where we are.

Should I let her have an easier schedule her senior year?(she is taking one AP class and the rest will be general ed. classes.) She is going to be an elementary education major so I don’t think she will have to take calculus in college. I have no idea how much more difficult pre-calculus is than Algebra II. I don’t want to stress her out but I just went through all this college applying with my son this year so I know how competitive it is.

Thanks for any feedback!

Have you looked at the math recommendations for the kind of colleges she is interested in? If they require 3 years to algebra 2 as a lot do and are not overly competitive, and if you are sure she won’t need to do calculus (check any math gen ed requirements) she will probably be ok. But will it look as good on her transcript as precalc? No.
You may also want to look at the description of the financial math class. In our district, it is clearly labeled as a terminal math class that does not prepare you for further math study. If that’s the case she may want to rethink it, but again it depends which colleges you are thinking about.

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Pre-calc is basically advance Algebra review. It is supposed to be the last Math course in HS for regular Math path. But for students applying to selective colleges, they usually follow plus 1 or plus 2 Math path. It depends on what college your daughter will apply. In CA, UCs only require 3 years math in HS. But most applications have taken at least Pre-Calc, doesn’t matter what major. For STEM majors, they should have at least Calc AB. You are in serious disadvantage if only taken Algebra 2. Selective college AO want to see a well-rounded student, they may see student avoiding Pre-calc as a “red” flag. Good Luck.

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My son was a music major. He never took precalculus. His senior year, he took statistics one semester, and economics the second…to fulfill the fourth year math requirement. He did NOT need precalc…at all.

Our daughter did take precalculus as her HS senior year math course, but not because it “looked better”. She actually loves math. She took a LOT more math on undergrad school…a lot.

Math, in my opinion, is a sequential course of study. You really need a good foundation to continue to higher level courses. In my opinion, if your daughter doesn’t feel sufficiently prepared to take precalculus, she shouldn’t take it. Take another one of the math options. But that is my opinion.

Check the math or quantitative reasoning graduation requirements for the colleges she is interested in.

An elementary school teacher needs to know that math being taught to elementary school students, but students who reach precalculus or calculus by 6th grade (+6 or +7 track) would seem to be quite rare, even in the context of these forums where some seem to think that +3 or +4 is ordinary in their schools.

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Speaking as someone who hated geometry, I enjoyed my advanced math class significantly more (which was 1/2 trig and 1/2 algebra III, or similar), and the trig portion was actually my favorite.

How involved is her counselor at school? Can she ask about her chances at the colleges she likes and what they want to see for math? And she should check for any math requirements at those schools.

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Agree with others’ recommendations about taking into consideration the colleges she might apply to and requirements for such colleges.

My S25 also took Algebra I and II (and did fine), Geometry (which he also hated), and now in his last semester as a HS Senior, he is failing Pre-Calculus. In his case, the schools he applied to and the one he committed to only require 2 or 3 years of math, not 4. Did Pre-Calc strengthen his application? I guess I’ll never know. He did not apply to selective schools. But what I do know is that, in retrospect, he would have been better off with an A or B in Finance than a D or F in Pre-Calc.

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As others said, talk to the colleges of interest…and potentially look at community college if she wants the class she wants and it doesn’t work for the college of interest.

But let her make that decision after you find out if the pre calc is needed.

Good luck.

As an example, SUNY Albany says this (for admission to the school, not the major - so she’d be ok there) - do the same for each school -

four units of English or the equivalent; three units of college preparatory mathematics including Algebra I, geometry, and Algebra II or their equivalent; two units of laboratory science; four units of social science, including one of U.S. History; at least one year of foreign language; two years or more of foreign language is strongly recommended.

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In addition to looking at requirements of potential colleges, I’d also recommend your D ask her current math teacher for guidance in selecting next year’s course.

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Is Statistics an option for her? Given that she is going into elementary education I don’t think pre-calc would be especially helpful, unless it’s going to boost her GPA. I would let her take the more practical math class, if her counselor thinks it’s a good idea. It will definitely be more applicable to her major. (I’m an elementary school teacher, FWIW.)

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As an elementary educator, I see no reason why a student preparing for that field needs pre-calc.

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