H Algebra 2 harder than H Geometry?

bjkmom
Sun, 14 Jun 2015 02:41:19 +0000

Algebra and Geometry are completely different animals. It’s like asking whether ice cream tastes better than steak-- there’s no real basis for comparison.

Some kids who struggle in Algebra suddenly find themselves with an A in Geometry, and their heads spin as they wonder what the fuss is about. Others, who have always found themselves acing every math course they’ve ever taken, struggle with Geometry, not even knowing what to ask.

Kids who excel in geometry tend to be the kinds of kids who enjoy puzzles, who enjoy letting the problem lead them. You don’t always know exactly what approach you’ll be taking; you start with what you know and see what you can pull from that. Some kids love the challenge; others hate not having a definite set of directions.

Algebra tends to be more straight forward: “if it’s a quadratic, you set one side to zero, factor, and set each factor equal to zero” kind of thinking.

That said, I think you’ll eventually need to know some geometry. So I don’t think that dropping the course on the basis of a grade of C is necessarily the wisest approach. It’s OK to struggle sometimes.