How much Math ?

ophiolite
Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:42:16 +0000

I’m just seeing a major issue of him taking only half of Algebra 2 before starting Pre-calc/Trig. I would have personally struggled in Trig without having a full Algebra 2 course under my belt and have to work extra-hard to have done decently in Trig. Also, there is a major issue with splitting up a course like that separated by a full calender year (more dangerous than a just a summer or academic year). The following summer he will either be: A) bored in the class and slack off because he already learned the gaps in Pre-calc/Trig, or B) forget all of the stuff from the summer before and have to play catch up again.

Seems bad all around to me…

I’m one of those who didn’t have calc in high school, only through pre-calc (and college prep, not honors at that) and placed into calc 1 first semester of college. Most of my classmates in my Calc 1 class first semester were either second year students or those who took Calc AB but either couldn’t or didn’t want to take the AP credit in college. I performed much better than most of those students who already were exposed to a calc class. Why? Because I tried harder than them and did the work instead of assuming I knew everything already.

I may have not gone to a ‘top’ school, but a very respectable school and am now at a top graduate program in my field.

So, I wouldn’t buy into him needing exposure to Calc if it isn’t his thing before college.

I had only planned to take Calc 1 and leave math alone. But after having it my first semester, I ended up going through Calc 3 plus a course in Differential Equations. Personally, I think it’s much better to experiment with classes as an undergraduate instead of in high school.