I have the opportunity to either take Precalculus or Statistics in seventh grade. I’m wondering which one will be better for me…I feel like Precalculus will look better on my transcript but I’m a noob idk. What do you guys think?
Oh ma goodness @OMPursuit will probably have a good idea about this
Nobody cares about middle school transcripts. And when did you even take Algebra 1??? What middle school even offers precalc?
Ugh. I thought I was a ding-dong at math before reading this, but now… yikes.
That was a lot of rambling. Ask your math teachers and parents.
I’ve got a nasty habit of commenting outside my expertise, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt!
Statistics, from what I’ve gathered, is an exercise in using your calculator. Precalculus is/should be very rigorous theoretically, covering lots of what you’ve learned in Algebra II as well as conics, polar coordinates, the imaginary plane, induction, and maybe limits- not to mention the trigonometric functions. This is hard stuff.
This isn’t to put down statistics, but highschool stats courses in particular are severely watered down; most intro college courses in it will require some calculus. If you’re interested in STEM (as you seem to be) it’ll probably be worth holding out for those.
I don’t mean to rush you into Calc, either. Take your time. If you don’t feel ready, stats is an opportunity to try out a diverse and extremely useful branch of mathematics on for size. You’ll review what you learned last year in Precalc, anyway- meaning you won’t miss much by waiting a year to pick it up in 8th grade.
Another consideration is environment. It may be easier to start the new realm of calculus in a familiar environment, taking Calc I in 8th grade instead of 9th. I’ve heard, for example, that students entering algebra for the first time in the 9th grade tend to have more difficulty than those who studied it in 8th grade (although 8th-grade algebra-takers are clearly a self-selecting group :P).
Whatever you choose, good luck! I think you’ll be fine.
Thanks!
And to answer @awesomepolyglot , I’m in this advanced program where you can take higher courses. I’m a little worried about my transcript because I want to apply to a boarding school for high school. Thanks for the reply! :)>-