My daughter took Algebra 1 in 8th grade and ended up with a B grade. I want to find out how will this affect her later as she is interested in taking up engineering in college. Does it make sense to repeat it through an online course in order to improve her grades.
It will unlikely affect her much at all. No need to repeat because of a B, especially if she was able to grasp the material. A grade of B here and there won’t prevent admission to college.
Another thing to find out is if both grade and credit will appear on her high school transcript or just credit. When my daughter took high school courses in middle school, only the credit appeared on her high school transcript.
No, it doesn’t make sense to repeat it. She got the grade no need to repeat. Tell her to go over the material she was struggling with and go from there. Is she going to take geometry or Algebra II in the Fall? The only time repeating a course is necessary is if you got D or lower.
Not necessary to repeat the class for a grade, but make sure she knows what she doesn’t understand so she can work on that. The math classes are only going to get harder from there, and if she wants a shot at engineering, she’ll need to be on top of the math.
No effect whatsoever. It doesn’t even indicate that she won’t do well in math classes in HS - my D even got a B in pre-Calc, but she still got an A in AP Calc BC (and a 5 on the AP exam) the very next year.
However, If your keep getting Bs in the more challenging math classes, she may want to reconsider going into engineering. Not because of her chances of acceptance into an engineering program (though that may also be a problem), but because it may be difficult for her to succeed in engineering. In any case, those Bs are fine for most science majors.
If it were my student esp with engineering the focus, I’d want to know why she got the B. Was it due to petty errors, but she really knows what she’s doing? In that case, no big deal. Does she only sort of know what she’s doing and HW grades brought her up to a B? In that case, repeat the course.
Look online for both Alg 2 and Geometry readiness tests and have her do those. If she scores well into the ready stage I’d go ahead with whichever one is next. If she’s near the edge or under it, it’s far better to repeat the class.
Even in Calc, our experience as teachers is most mistakes come from a poor Algebra foundation. If she wants a math heavy major, be sure this isn’t starting.
She isn’t even in high school yet? Right?
Frankly, this B grade won’t matter assuming she understands math well enough to do well in her upper level high school courses, and then math courses in her possible engineering program.
I would not suggest retaking this.
But I guess the question is…was a B showing her best effort? Did she understand the material presented? Did she seek extra assistance from the teacher if not? Did she turn in homework on time?
As a rising 9th grader, I would suggest not really putting any emphasis on a potential college major.
No need to retake. My D got a C+ in Alg 1 in 8th grade. Our high school doesn’t show it on the transcript. And she went on to a solid A in geometry and an A- in Alg 2 this year. I think some of it depends on the teacher too.
The only reason to repeat the course is to be sure she has learned/understood the material and that is her best way of doing so. Math builds on prior knowledge so it is important to build a good foundation so future classes won’t be on a shaky skill base. Discuss this with her. What does she prefer- self study or formal computer work? Or nothing this summer.
Do not worry at all at this stage about her adult future or college major. I still recall telling my parents I was only going to take the required two years of HS science and then did an honors chemistry major in college. Our gifted son had trouble with first grade arithmetic flash cards and got an honors college math (plus CS) degree.
At this age you do not know the direction your child will take for college, much less beyond (our son is an example with his post college life).
I’ll bet if you could survey all successful engineers about their middle and HS math and science you would be surprised.
I am kinda surprised at some of the answers. Always interesting on cc. She’s in 8th grade…
Let her start high school. When she starts her math class and if your so inclined, email the teacher and let them know your concerns. Let them look out for any obvious errors or things she can improve on. She can do a review before school starts like Khan academy or the like.
Engineering is not just being good at math. Many students drop out yearly that are merely good at math. It’s having an interest to solve problems and going deeper. Math should be at least interesting. If she is doing math for math sake then there might be a problem.
Also many kids get lower graded on the basic math and start to excel at the higher math courses. Sometimes more indepth math classes are just more interesting.
I wouldn’t delete a career based on a few classes. Are there programs in school that are based for pre engineering students at her school. Clubs etc. My son hated to do the coding classes in high school. Just not his thing but he’s in college and a junior in engineering. Look at summer camps for engineering or the like. Many colleges have like week long program that are not badly priced and can get financial aid /scholarship for. This is really how we found out my son really wanted to do engineering. It also motivated him more in school.
My kid got an A in Alg 1 in 8th and was completely stymied by Alg 2, the next school year. Nothing wrong with just taking a review online, to ensure her foundation is good. (Or what creekland suggested.) There are courses you effectively audit or do self-paced, so this doesn’t need to be reported to colleges (or the hs.)
So 8th in Algebra I’m assuming means geometry in 9th, so she’s set to reach Calc as a senior, which is good for engineering, if you’re talking college admissions. Kids change a lot from middle to high school, so I would see how Geometry and Alg 2/Trig (or whatever she takes in 9th/10th) goes before making any decisions.
My daughter got an A in Alg I in 8th grade. We moved before she started high school and she chose to repeat it as Alg 1 honors. BEST decision ever (and it was all her decision). She had a great teacher for it in 9th grade and she really got a solid base for all future math classes. She then took the classes in order and never doubled up, so didn’t take calc in high school. She was in a calc I class in college and at least 1/2 the class had had hs calc but my daughter hung in and got an A. She said a lot of the others thought “Hey, I already took this” and they just didn’t pay attention.
She was in engineering. She was really happy to have that solid base in algebra I.
That’s not the way for everyone but it worked for daughter. She just didn’t think the 8th grade teacher covered enough.
It will only affect her in that it may correlate to future performance in math classes and ability to navigate the complexities of advanced math. Or not. If she simply is a B math student, that may indicate challenges in a rigorous engineering education. If it’s just a blip and she fully succeeds at future math levels, then it was just one of those things.
My older D had challenges with basic multiplication in elementary school and we had to push to have her in the advanced math path. This summer she’s taking Partial DiffEqs at a top-10 engineering program. Everyone’s different.
As a grade, it’s irrelevant - 8th grade grades don’t go on high school transcript and/or are pretty much ignored if they do, IME.
“Repeating” can mean different things. It wouldn’t hurt to review Khan or other on-line sources as a refresher - that’s very different from actually enrolling in the same class for a grade at summer school, which isn’t needed, IMHO.
Getting more basic, it’s not the grade that is any sort of problem. It’s knowing if the knowledge of Alg 1 is solid.
Alg 1 is the foundation for all the rest of math regardless of any future major. If the B is due to petty errors, no biggie. If the B was gained due to a great notebook, HW turned in, and helpful team tests, it is a big deal.
We have no way of knowing based upon a “B.”
Readiness tests for the next course are the best predictor. If looking for a math heavy career (or even thinking about it as a possibility), you want a high score on the readiness test. Pending school, either Geometry or Alg 2 could be next. If Alg 1 should be retaken, then Alg 2 and Geometry can be taken at the same time to be able to reach Calc in high school if desired.
I got a B in Algebra 1 in seventh grade. My parents made me retake it. Of course, I thought it was the end of the world at the time.
Other than enduring the sheer boredom of retaking a class, I didn’t suffer for it. I got great math scores on standardized tests and am headed to T20 for STEM on a merit scholarship in the fall.
A B in Algebra 1 is fine. If your daughter is worried about missing some essential content, I’d encourage a little bit of summer study with Khan Academy, but don’t stress too much. It’s eighth grade.
This. I have a kid who got good grades in HS math, but not all A marks. Her highest math class was precalculus because we did not elect to accelerate her in math. She got accepted in college…and majored and got an engineering degree.
She was WAY more interested and excited about differential equations than algebra anything.
YMMV.