<p>1012mom - what about for a humanities kid who hasn’t had Calc? would you still recommend Stats? our HS only offers AP Calc AB, and only once a day. D can’t fit it into her schedule so she will have to take her senior year math online - I was thinking AP Calc, but now am wondering if AP Stats might be better. I now it’s not a “core” AP, but I’m wondering how it will look to adcoms if they understand that AP Calc “live” wasn’t an option…? it just seems that Stats lends itself better to online learning.</p>
<p>Another IB student here…so it’s all HL classes, many of the same teachers. She loves the program, it’s a great fit for her, so she’s happy.</p>
<p>My son took calc last year, and is currently taking AP Stat and an independent study math course. Initially, he took stat because it was the only math class left at his school and he supposed it would be a gpa booster. He loves the class and the material. True, it is full of seniors avoiding calc, but he actually gets a kick out of them and they offer a different perspective, which he likes. The instructor is a great teacher and she makes an effort to challenge him separately. He’s learning a lot and glad he took the class.</p>
<p>He’s planning to take multivariable calc and linear algebra next year at a local university. Is this a bad idea looking ahead to college? He’s really left with few alternatives and he is anxious to forge ahead in math topics.</p>
<p>@PRJ</p>
<p>It is an interesting question about Stats vs Calc for the humainities kid. My '12 D is a humanities kid. She plans to take Calc AB senior year in the hopes she will not have to take it in college. Her plan would then be to take Stats in college if she has a math requirement.</p>
<p>But taking Calc (particuarly the first level) on-line seems very unappealing to me. Calc has such a theoretical component it is really good to be able to talk to someone and ask questions. Even my math kid went to extra help sessions for Calc, I can’t imagine my very verbal humanities kid trying to learn it remotely. Maybe if you have a tutor once a week or so to have someone to ask questions and help grapple with particular concepts.</p>
<p>I know Stats is seen as an easier AP math, but I don’t think everyone at selective schools has taken Calc in HS. Particularly if that is not where their interest lies.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I have a S who is hs class of 2012, but his older sister is now a sophomore in college. She attends a selective lac. She did not take calc in hs. She is NOT a math person. She took Algebra, Honors Geometry, Honors Algebra II, Honors PreCalc/Trig in hs (8th - 11th grade) and then took College Algebra at a local university while in high school during the summer between her jr and sr year. </p>
<p>Her sr year she could not fit math into her schedule. Since she had taken 4 yrs of hs math plus the college class we decided that was okay.</p>
<p>Her selective lac has a math requirement. Her College Algebra class did not transfer because the minimum college math class they will accept is Calculus.</p>
<p>At orientation she had to take a math placement exam at her lac. She was placed in what would be called the “remedial math” level, which was fine with her, since she knows that’s her weakest area. She took that her first semester (got an A). That did not count toward her math requirement but cleared her to take a regular math class. </p>
<p>She ended up taking a probability and statistics course. They have a distribution requirement and need to take either 1 math and 2 sciences with a lab, or 2 maths and 1 science with a lab. She is going with the 1 math and 2 sciences option, and is finishing up her 2nd science with a lab this semester.</p>
<p>I’m sharing this just to give those who are not “mathematically inclined” hope. She is doing great at this very rigorous school.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom,
My son took many math classes at the local U, as did a peer in class below. This seems to be a common route among techies.</p>
<p>Good morning everyone!</p>
<p>My 2010 son did and my 2012 son is taking AP Stats. Neither of them liked it a whole lot, but they’re both glad they took it and like having the knowledge it gave them. It has more homework than my 2012 son would like (read: it has homework ;)). </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oldfort - I agree. Some kids do fine skipping Calc I and/or Calc II in college due to AP credits, but some kids do it and find it a struggle. My 2010 son took Calc AB so he could have gone into Calc II in college, and it kind of had me worried. He ended up signing up for an honors calculus series that didn’t allow skipping Calc I no matter what you tested out of, so the question never really had to be dealt with. I don’t think the students should avoid the high school math classes that they want to take at all - take them, but just think carefully about whether or not you really want to skip Calc I when you get to college.</p>
<p>Taking math courses online is tough. My S is planning to do one next year - I hope he has the self discipline to stick with it and get it done!</p>
<p>Our school only offers 5 AP classes, and DS is in two of them as a jr. We are struggling to create a sr schedule that appears rigorous to adcoms, even though there are no more honors courses available unless he takes another year of foreign language. So far he will not do that based on that particular teacher. He plans to take the required gov/econ this summer so that he can “get it over with”. That frees up yet another period. He needs 8 classes and has chosen the following
AP Calc AB
AP English
AP Psychology
Senior Gifted and Talented workshop
Honors Biology II
Senior Capstone Biomed PLTW
I suggested AP Stats online, but the GC will not sign off on any student to take more than 3 Ap courses a year, (or more than 2 AP and one off-campus college course). So we are left considering Chorus, Academic Internships or a non-honors envionmental science class to fill the extra hours. His friends in the senior class had the same dilemma, which is why so many of the parents want to add AP courses, but the school can’t handle the extra cost at a time when they were put on academic probation. If he was artistic, I would suggest an art class, but he won’t risk his GPA. What to do?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses on the Stats vs. Calc question. college_query, your response was particularly encouraging. her GC has suggested that she can participate in the after-school math help sessions, even if she is taking an online class, and we can always get a tutor if necessary. </p>
<p>MizzBee - what is Academic Internships? I am always in favor of anything that gets HS kids out of the classroom and into the real world, as long as they are learning something of value.</p>
<p>My son took AP stats last year as a sophomore (at the same time as he was taking Precalculus). Although he is a “math kid”, he didn’t breeze through it since it is different than the type of math that he is used to. He did enjoy the material (and managed to get A’s…with some extra study). This year, he is taking AP Calculus AB (next year he will take AP Calculus BC, the only math left at his HS). He is on the Mu Alpha Theta math competition team and incidentally, this year he is competing on the Statistics team! I will say that Calculus is more difficult for him this quarter and 3 weeks in he has a solid B (he got an A last semester). Regardless of his current difficulty, he is adamant that he wants to take BC next year. </p>
<p>DS has no intention of placing out of Calculus in college (even if he does well on the exam). Calculus is one of those subjects that you get something new out of it everytime you study it (it is my husband’s favorite math subject and he says this all the time…he was MIT class of '79).</p>
<p>For non-science kids, what could be a disadvantage of placing out of Calculus in college if they can? I do see that for science math kids, they should not place out math science courses.</p>
<p>iglooo - I can’t think of a disadvantage for non- math/science kids. If a student’s AP credit can meet their gen ed requirement it sounds like a great idea to me! A lot of that depends on the college’s policy on AP credit and gen ed requirements.</p>
<p>Ah, Seiclan, my D has no intention of every taking calculus again. There’s some chance that she’ll need to repeat MVC, and Analysis is definitely on the agenda, but given her interests and goals, first year Calculus would not be a good fit. </p>
<p>I think a lot of schools have a freshman math class for kids with strong math interest who have shown mathematical talent and have completed first year calculus. It’s a nice thing because it gets that group of math kids together early on.</p>
<p>Any suggestions on what math my son should take next year? He thinks that it should be linear algebra and multivariable calculus. Is he better off taking two semesters of calculus? I imagine that at most colleges, he’ll take math placement tests anyway, or if he attends the university where he’ll take the classes next year, they’ll give him credit. I guess the question is, what do engineering majors take freshman year? </p>
<p>Looking at the course catalog, intermediate calculus for physics and engineering seems to be the next course - it’s next in line after advanced placement calc. I cannot imagine that he’d take BC calc again since he completely mastered the material and received a 5 on the test.</p>
<p>At this point, my daughter doesn’t know what college she will attend nor what her eventual major will be, so there is no telling what will be required for mathematics. Will the school award credit for AP tests? What are the core requirents of this unknown school? Will a student’s AP Calc test fulfill the requirement for a poli-sci major? What happens if she opts for another possible major such as psychology? So many unknowns.</p>
<p>What my daughter, husband, and myself do agree is known is our belief that all people, without regard to college specifics, benefit from a knowledge of statistics. (Even a quick wade through the daily coverage of news stories nearly always shows how much that knowledge is needed and, so often, is lacking.)</p>
<p>That’s why my daughter chose Stats over Calc for her senior schedule and why hubby and I agreed with the choice. No matter what happens later, the material is information she needs and that she wants to understand.</p>
<p>I just had to fill out and sign a field trip form so that my son could miss three of his classes next week to spend the time doing an AP Chemistry lab. Has anyone ever heard of that? Usually, they do AP chem labs during the early release days but I guess that there weren’t enough of them on the calendar to get in all the AP chem labs. And how weird is that…a field trip form (with our medical insurance information and emergency phone numbers on it) just to go to the chemistry room where he goes every day?</p>
<p>MVC is the third semester of Calculus. Linear Algebra is completely reasonable to follow MVC, or Differential Equations. A course labeled “Calculus for X” is typically a substitute for Calc 1 &2 (ie., BC)</p>
<p>I’m a little jealous of you all posting your course selections for next year. My daughter’s school does course selection very late in the semester and even then it will only be for the fall semester, not the full senior year.</p>
<p>Here’s our best guess, so far, though (Kids have to take 7 academic classes, plus PE):</p>
<p>World Literature (only English class offered for seniors)
Western Civ (only History class offered for seniors)
German 2
Genetics
Modern Physics I
Data Structures 2
Real Analysis (if it’s offered)
Special Topics in Math (would be an independent study)
potentially, a mentorship, preferably in mechanical engineering</p>
<p>Of these, the Lit, History, and German classes will continue in the spring. She would take Modern Physics II in the spring, as well as Electrical Circuits. Math and Computer classes would require negotiation with the school and individual teachers. I don’t see her taking Operating Systems or Networking, so I think the only computer option will be an independent study. </p>
<p>We’re in the camp of “not taking single-variable calculus again”. 
She could be persuaded to revisit multi if the school has an honors version.</p>
<p>Hi, fellow 2012 parents. Since I also have an older daughter and this is my second time around, I wanted to share with those of you who are first-timers about a wonderful resource/opportunity. There is an organization called QuestBridge that can help high achieving students who come from a family with an income of $60,000 or less (income can be higher if there are special circumstances that constitute a financial hardship).</p>
<p>They just announced their College Prep Scholarship for current hs juniors. Here are some of the scholarships currently available:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Anyway, no one at our hs knew about QuestBridge, even though we are an urban public hs with a lot of free and reduced lunch students. We received a letter amongst the mountains of college mail we received and I looked into it, and when I asked about it at the hs they thought it was a scam. It’s not (there is a separate forum on QuestBridge on College Confidential) and for some students it could be an incredible opportunity. I also found that hs staff kind of assume that the top students are from wealthier families, which due to the economy and unemployment and life in general may not necessarily be true.</p>
<p>Great tip college_query - Questbridge is a great program.</p>
<p>As far as testing out of Calc or repeating it in college - I think it all has to do with the kid and with the college, so no worries. Once all the acceptances are in (in a year and a month!!!) and college choices are made (in a year and two months!!!), some of our kids will have an obvious course of action and some will wrestle with whether or not they should start with Calc I, II, or use their AP credit to jump ahead. I just remember reading on the HS 2010 thread some parents talking about their kids struggling with Calc II and wishing they had started over with Calc I, so it’s something to think about.</p>