Yes, it’s all been pre-approved. Honestly she doesn’t need the class to graduate anyway. She already has enough math credits and overall credits to graduate HS. This is really more for college prep. Getting the HS to approve it does have the advantage of having the course printed on the HS transcript though, so she doesn’t have to have a separate transcript with one class sent to colleges.
I would still be concerned about the depth of her understanding in such a short time frame. Calculus can take some time for the depth of knowledge to sink in. Even though she does not think it is significant for her major, it is. Amazing how calculus is an integral part of so many science, as well as engineering, classes. It is the understanding of the fundamentals behind the problems that is important.
Agree. This is similar to the reasoning from my D’s high school (D also “needed” a summer school to advance due to prior overseas schooling) that she do geometry rather than an algebra year that way, because algebra isn’t something you want to short cut. Calculus is the same.
Also beware that if you are hoping this might get her credit when she goes to college, that might not be the case. Colleges handle “dual enrollment” credits differently. Some won’t give credit if it’s on your high school transcript. Others might not give credit if it is at another college and not approved. It doesn’t sound like that’s why she’s taking it, but I wanted to give you a heads up.
My D took AP Calc BC junior year and did very well. Her senior year she took the next level Calc at a local University as a dual enrollment class. She thought it would make calc easier when she entered college. It was still hard. Amazing that she was one of the best students in the class at our local University while still a high school student and then found the same level class really hard at her current school. But I guess it might have been even worse had she not already taken it!
Yes, we understand all of that. Basically the situation is this:
She has a full schedule of regular AP classes next year plus marching band. She very much wants to take AP art and engage in her more artistic side but there is no room in her schedule unless she drops band which she doesn’t want to do.
She is in:
AP English (English credit is required to graduate)
AP Comparative Government (she needs another social studies credit to graduate)
AP Spanish (this is elective but she is exploring her Hispanic roots and wants the language)
AP Physics (this is elective as she has already met her science grad requirements)
AP Calculus AB (this is elective as she has already met her 4 years of math requirement by doing online Geometry summer of her freshman year.
Symphonic/Marching Band
The three possible classes she can drop to add AP Art are AP Spanish, AP Physics, or AP Calculus. She really wants the Spanish as she intends to do a year abroad in Chile or Spain. That leaves Physics or Calculus. Between the two, math classes seem to better lend themselves to doing online rather than physics. So she thinks calc is the better class to take online this summer.
So why even take Calculus this summer? She doesn’t need any math credits to graduate and plenty of kids head to college having only taken math through pre-Calc. Basically she is just looking for something academic to do as summer jobs are going to be unlikely as is her original plan of studying in Chile over the summer. And she thinks (and I agree) that having Calculus on her transcript can’t hurt if she is applying to selective colleges. Especially science/STEM programs that might be looking to see that a student has taken Calculus in HS.
None of this is to get college credit. It’s mostly just to make sure she has a rigorous looking portfolio, especially if so many schools are going test-optional for 2021 admissions. She will have a bunch of AP credits but neither I nor her really care about getting college credit for any of that. She isn’t trying to graduate college in 3 years or anything like that. If having a bunch of AP classes allows her to advance more quickly into more interesting higher level classes then fine. But everyone seems to have AP these days so I doubt it much matters. When she gets to college I expect her to re-take Calculus, or at best, start with Calculus 2 if she feels confident enough.
So basically she wants to take online Calculus this summer together with her best friend for “fun”, and because it might look good on a college application. And there isn’t much else to do in a pandemic. Nothing more complicated than that.
I currently have a daughter who’s taking CC courses as a high school student because there was not enough coursework available to her at our local high school. She is currently taking Calc 2 (amongst other things). Two things:
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CC Calculus 1 covers more material and goes more in depth than AP calc AB. AP Calc AB covers some accelerated pre-calc and the first 3/4 of College Calculus 1. AP Calc BC covers the last bit of College Calc 1 and most, but not all of calc 2. That’s why a lot of higher tier colleges and universities require high scores on the AP tests (no 3s or lower) and require you to repeat Calc 1 at their school if you don’t have appropriate scores. Calc 1 won’t be a cake walk, it’s definitely harder and faster paced than AP calc (I’ve had two older kids in AP calc AB and BC). Since it’s a summer school course it will go even faster because she will essentially be covering a year-long high school course plus some- in one summer. That said, it’s doable. My daughter did just fine.
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VERY IMPORTANT POINT: All coursework taken at a Community College (or any College or University) will go on her permanent college/university transcript. If she decides she wants to go to grad school or med school that Calc 1 grade will be factored into her college GPA (unweighted!) and any application she submits, regardless of the fact she was still in high school or that she wasn’t degree seeking. So be certain she can hold her own before you jump in and if it looks like she’s in the slightest bit of trouble, pull the plug. A drop won’t affect her, but a “C” will. Even a “B” could be a problem if she’s considering graduate studies. Any AP classes, on the other hand, will disappear as soon as she graduates high school (so it’s a safer bet). One of the most nerve-wracking things about sending my daughter to the Community College at such a young age was knowing that once she stepped into those classes there were no free passes (and the professors don’t care how old you are). College is college and the stakes are high.
Good luck!
She should consider dropping the AP physics altogether. She doesn’t need it to graduate. It isn’t a subject she sees as important to her desired major. Why take it?
FYI: AP physics is calculus based and so AP calculus is required, either as a prerequisite or concurrently.
OPs decision is already made but for others reading with similar dilemmas, my $.02 is that we are often faced with hard decisions about what classes we would like to take vs what we should take academically. Core courses should not be sacrificed for electives. They are much more able to be continued as ECs. If you are aiming for competitive college admission, even more important to focus on you core courses during the school year.
@Camasite just so you know even if a college class is printed on a high school transcript you still need to have the official college transcript sent every time you need transcripts sent. My daughter had to order an official signed/sealed college transcript to give her high school guidance counselor to put on naviance somehow and for schools not using naviance she had to have an official copy sent to school directly. Your high school transcript is not an official college record unfortunately. You also can’t skip it at least when applying to colleges on the undergraduate or graduate level.
Not true. There are actually four separate AP Physics tests. AP Physics 1 and 2 are Algebra based. AP Physics C (which has 2 parts) are calculus based. Most students do not take AP Physics C without having first taken AP Physics 1. https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/course-index-page
If she enters with a college calculus 1 course completed, or a high enough AP calculus AB score, she can try the old final exams for her new college’s calculus 1 course to check her knowledge against that college’s expectations, so that she can make a more informed placement decision.
I am corrected. Non-calculus based AP physics didn’t exist when my kids were in high school.
Looking at the link to college board listing I’m not sure why one wouldn’t just go with the calculus based class and skip the algebra based class. It looks like they are covering the same material. I started with calculus based physics as did my kids.
Calculus based physics in high school is more logistically difficult, since calculus based physics in college commonly starts after one semester of calculus (= calculus AB in high school), and the course with E&M commonly has a corequisite of multivariable calculus. So the AP physics C courses are somewhat watered-down in math in order to be taken concurrently with AP calculus.
Typically what happens at big high schools is that most students progress through AP Bio AP Chem, and AP Physics 1, or maybe just two of the three. However there is always a cadre of super STEM Engineering kids who accelerate through math and physics faster and want a higher-order STEM class to take their senior year in prep for engineering school. These kids usually take AP Physics 1 their junior years and then go on to AP Physics C their senior years. At a typical HS you might have only 20% of the kids who take Physics 1, move on to Physics C their senior years and it is mostly just the hard core engineering type kids who are doing the robotics teams, software engineering, that sort of thing. If they teach the full AP Physics C curriculum to prep for both tests then the class has to proceed at light speed to get it all in so already having algebra-based physics is a huge help.
My son took the mechanics one year and and the electricity and magnetism the next. Both calculus based with no prior physics classes. Just the way his school did it. My daughter only took the mechanics class. This was about 10 years ago, so it could have changed on the interim.
“having Calculus on her transcript can’t hurt if she is applying to selective colleges. Especially science/STEM programs that might be looking to see that a student has taken Calculus in HS.”
It’s not a nice to have for the more selective colleges, it’s a requirement if the hs offers it. Adcoms will look for this class to see if the student challenged themselves. If you ended up in pre-calc as a senior because of how the math sequence works out, that’s ok. But if you have a chance to take it as senior, you should, in the high school, not online.
“she has a rigorous looking portfolio”
Then she has to take Calculus in hs if it’s offered, and it looks like it does. That’s the gold standard for rigor along with APUSH. This is a tough choice because the reasons for taking AP Art and AP Spanish are good ones, but you won’t get rigor without Calculus.
Didn’t read the entire thread. But I wouldn’t have my kid take an important subject like math in a hyper-fast, not in-depth Summer class. Even the good online ones aren’t going to cover the same amount of material and thinking. Calculus takes time to digest and also time to explore. So if you want to get the “benefit” it’s best to take a full year class. Students can take a Summer class to boost their understanding/get a head start/feel more solid but one doesn’t replace the other.
We also consider Math and English to be the prime subjects with science, history and languages almost equally important categories. Even excellent electives aren’t replaceable for these subjects ( and I am in the arts).
The kids who are several years ahead in math/science ( this is the most common subject area where students tend to be years ahead) often have more time for very advanced subjects or even electives.
For “fun” what if she hates it? As someone who has been in college since Fall 2014 and now two semesters away. I learned my lesson not to take courses for fun. Now my CC transcript is ruin especially the last three semesters where I took very hard courses just so I can be with my friends in class. Please don’t do this. She will regret it. I’m a student at SUNY Albany and I graduate in Spring 2021.
How is she liking the class?
I know this wasn’t aimed at me, but my rising senior decided to take online Calc BC with the first semester during the summer and the second semester in the fall. The class is far easier than Calc BC at her school, so I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who plans to do STEM in college. I would recommend it for someone who wants BC on their transcript and doesn’t mind studying for the AP exam.
I wasn’t planning to explain my D’s situation, but the above probably doesn’t make sense without some background. She is doing the IB diploma and had SL math junior year and will have HL math senior year. Her school accelerates SL and HL so they actually squeeze in 3 years of math in the 2 years. This all gets explained in the counselors letter. About 25% of Calc BC isn’t covered as deeply, so IB students will often take BC senior year for an easy A. Whew! that’s confusing!