Hi I was just wondering if my chances of admission will be hurt if I retake grade 12 precalculus and calculus when I already received an “A” according to most universities’ standards. I plan on retaking these courses online in preparation to self-study AP Calculus BC.
Why bother if you know the material well enough to have earned an A grade?
Also, if you have completed 12th grade, are you taking a gap year to work or some such?
If you are unsure of your knowledge of high school math, you can try these on-line placement exams:
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/rur/rurci3.cgi
http://math.tntech.edu/e-math/placement/index.html
http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam
You can then use the results to determine which concepts you need to review. If you intend to self-study calculus, you may as well self-study any needed precalculus review.
@ucbalumnus I am going into grade 12. Although my 2 math grades might be As for American universities, they are not as competitive for Canadian universities. I took grade 12 courses in grade 11 because of IB, and I ended up with a 6 in Math SL, but since I want to go into computer engineering/computer science, I want to take AP Calc BC to make myself more competitive. I received 770 for the math section of the new SAT, and will also take the Math II Exam in the fall.
Why aren’t you taking IB Math HL next year? Did you change schools? HL Math is your logical next step.
If HL Math isn’t available where you are, you need to review the content covered in SL Math and in AP Calc AB and AP Calc BC. If they do not cover the same content, then taking an online class for AP Calc could make sense.
Just take calculus BC, it’s not the same as Math SL at all.
Why not just take IB math HL or AP calculus BC or similar course with calculus content in 12th grade?
“Although my 2 math grades might be As for American universities, they are not as competitive for Canadian universities.”
I am a bit confused by this. From what I have seen students with nearly all A’s and 1400+ on the SAT get accepted anywhere they want to go in Canada, even if they have a few A-'s and one or two B+'s over their four years of high school. For my daughters this included McGill and the top ranked small schools in the east (Mount Allison, Acadia, …) – they didn’t apply anywhere west of Montreal but I don’t think that results would have been any different at Queens or Waterloo or UBC.
Thus if you already have an A then I think that you already are in very good shape. I suspect that you worry too much but are going to do very well with the grades that you have.
@happymomof1 @ucbalumnus @DadTwoGirls I am already taking 3 HL courses, so that is why I decided not to take Math HL when I was choosing the IB program. Since my school does not offer AP Calculus BC, I would need to self-study for it, which is why I am planning to retake my “regular grade 12” math courses online in order to strengthen my overall concepts. An 80 percent in Alberta, is all that’s needed for me to be considered an A grade for Berkeley, UCLA, and USC after talking with admissions, but most competitive Canadian universities want 90+.
It really makes more sense just to take a calculus course in school rather than try to repeat the precalculus course that you already did well in while attempting to self-study calculus. In the worst case, admissions readers at universities will look down on repeating a course you did well in rather than just going on to the next more advanced course.
@ucbalumnus I have already taken Alberta curriculum calculus and IB Math SL calculus, but AP Calculus BC is more advanced.
It really makes a lot more sense to take AP calculus BC or IB math HL at your school instead of your odd plan to repeat precalculus and self-study more calculus.
Just take calculus BC, it’s not the same as Math SL at all. Take it online if you must. Do not retake a class you’ve already taken as it would be looked down upon.
There is no reason at all to retake precalculus for credit. That looks like either grade grubbing, or like you have no commonsense whatsoever. You already have taken a calculus class. Taking a higher level calculus class is fine. Going backwards in math isn’t.
If there are precalculus concepts you feel iffy about, review those individually with one of the free online tutoring options such as khanacademyDOTorg or patrickjmtDOTcom.
@happymomof1 @ucbalumnus @MYOS1634 Thank you all for your input. After talking with USC admissions, they said that retaking a course will not necessarily hurt me as long as I have completed calculus by the end of grade 12. I will not be retaking my math courses in school, I will do so online, and will have a “spare” period that will allow me to self-study for AP Calculus BC and AP Computer Science A, as my school does not offer any AP, and I will have taken essentially all major academic courses offered in my school by the end of grade 12.
@happymomof1 @ucbalumnus @MYOS1634 Another one of my concerns about admission is that I will have my first “spare” period during high school in grade 12. Will this hurt me, if my reasoning is that since I have already taken the most advanced, english, social studies, 3 major sciences(chem, bio, physics) , and second language courses offered at my school, that I use this “spare” to self-study for 4 AP Exams that I plan on taking?
These AP Exams are:
AP Calculus BC
AP Computer Science A
AP Physics 1
AP Physics 2
Note: AP Physics C is not offered in any of the school in my area so I do not think I will be able to write this exam.
Will your guidance counselor indicate the “spare period” will be used for independent study?
Also, you seem to want to apply to us colleges: have you run the npc? what’s your budget? (For instance UC’s will coat 60k a year with no financial aid.)
It will still look silly and wasteful to retake precalculus (online or otherwise) after IB math SL.
If you really feel that you need to review some precalculus topics, use the placement tests in reply #1 to determine which topics you actually need to review, and then review them on your own. If you really did earn an A in IB math SL, then retaking an entire precalculus course will be a waste of time.
What’s wrong with just taking IB math HL in your otherwise-empty period to get more calculus coverage? With the aid of a teacher, it will probably be less work than self-studying calculus.
@ucbalumnus They do not allow us to choose to take IB math HL going into grade 12 at my school, since that decision must be made when initially choosing the IB courses offered at my school. Although based on grade conversions, an 80+ is an “A” for Alberta when compared to American schools, universities in Canada such as University of British Columbia want 90+, so I want both my Alberta marks and IB marks to be competitive for Canadian universities still.
Canadian universities are wise to students retaking courses to increase their grades. Don’t count on new grades being valid.
When I spoke to Berkeley admissions two years ago, they differentiated between a Canadian 83, 84, 85 etc etc.
@bouders I have also spoken with Berkeley admissions through an email on January 17, 2017, but they told me that they wouldn’t distinguish between a Canadian 80+ as those are all considered “A"s. These are their exact words, " We do not consider the difference between an 82 or 95 as they are both an “A” grade.” U of T and Waterloo will unfortunately not accept my retaken grades, but University of British Columbia, which is one of my top choices in Canada does.