I am an eighth grader in the US. I took Precalculus-H last year, and got a 94% overall, A+ on both semester and final exams. This year I’m taking AP Calculus BC, I currently have a 99% and since I already studied calculus during summer, I can likely guarantee a 5 on the AP exam. The only math classes remaining that my school offers are Multivariable Calculus and AP Stats, both of which I can complete next year. Then, I’ll have no math classes left at my school for 10th to 12th grade. So, I’ll have a few options:
Take online classes on platforms like AoPS or online classes at some college.
Use the class as a free class to take other classes. Having an extra class would be pretty helpful, I could use to take have an extra study hall or have more electives, AP’s.
I’m wondering if choosing the second option may make it seem like I’m not devoted to math.
I would recommend NOT taking 2 math courses next year. You are already far ahead of 99% of students. You should take a math course every year of high school, whether that is through AOPS, CTY, another online provider or your local community college.
I was in a similar position to you back in the day. Took Calc BC as a freshman (5 and A’s both semesters). My high school didn’t offer multivariable, so I started taking courses at a community college, which was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Super fun and insightful look into college life and rigor. I would strongly recommend you take classes at CC vs taking them online via AoPS or whatnot. I took courses in vector calculus, linear algebra, statistical methods, differential equations, and partial differential equations after taking BC. Because I chose to take them at CC, I am now almost a senior credit wise even though I am just starting my first year at UCLA.
Whatever path you choose, you’ll do amazing given how bright you are. Best of luck! : )
Many colleges, including private colleges, will allow a high school student to take one free class a semester, for credit, if warranted. Eventually you might even be able to work this to your own advantage by taking one free class a semester at two or even three local colleges, simultaneously, but that’s for later on in high school if you want it. Math and Physics brains develop early, and often do their most important work early in their careers, so there’s no reason for you to wait on this. Go ahead and take next year multivariable Calc and AP Stats (which is easier, not really on the “hard math” track), if you can fit it in. Plan for taking college classes in math at a nearby college, preferably a 4 yr college, for the rest of high school. I’d start looking into this in the spring of 9th grade, planning for fall of 10th. If math is your true passion, you could even consider taking college math classes during the summers. If it’s not, then I’d push AP Stat off for 10th grade, so that it doesn’t look like you’ve quit math, and that kicks the college math can down the road to 11th.
Please make sure that you involve yourself in other activities and classes, too. College applications aside, you need literature, art, history, music, and other enriching subjects, to come out as a broadly well-educated person who is equipped to enjoy many aspects of life.
I agree, if you were to complete multivariable calc and AP Stat at your high school in 9th grade, and stop taking math, it would look a bit odd to colleges. Kind of ironic that someone who will have finished in 9th grade more math than most people (other than math majors) complete in college, could be viewed as being somehow deficient in math if they choose to stop taking math after 9th grade, but you are right to think of this.
Thanks for all the comments! They’ve been very insightful. Here’s a mini-update: I’m doing fairly well in my BC Calculus: 97.6% for first quarter, 98.5% for the second. Mainly I make little mistakes that cost me a point or two on tests. I’m doing mostly fine in all my other subjects. I’m taking my grade-level (8th grade) in other subjects and am mostly a straight-A student.
There’s a sophomore in my BC Calculus and as they will finish math by junior year, they’ve planned to go to the state university which is a 10 minute drive in their senior year. I think I’ll try tag along with him for my 10th grade year. If it ends up not working for whatever reason, I’ll probably take some online course.
Here’s some mathy background info about me for anyone that wants to read (maybe for parents who have gifted children — there seem to be many around here):
up to 3rd grade: my parents taught me some math to supplement what I was learning in school and “prepare me for next year”, but it was only 1 or 2 grades advanced. By 3rd grade I think I was doing arithmetic with fractions, learning how square-root worked, basic prealgebra, etc. I was pretty much “the smart kid in class”, but not much else.
4th grade: My parents discovered AoPS, so I started doing Alcumus on it. In about a year, I had mastered all the Intro topics (all except Inter Alg and Precalc). I also got a personal tutor to help me.
5th grade: I took the AoPS Precalculus course online since the Inter Alg wasn’t running. To be honest, I understand very little and asked for help on just about every problem either on the community board or with my tutor. However, it made learning precalc later a lot easier later in life. I also scored a 91.5 on the AMC 10. My real score was ~70, however I somehow randomly guessed like 4 out of 7.
6th grade: I took the AoPS Inter Alg and I understood it a lot better. I also took AoPS Inter NT. I scored 103.5 on the AMC 10, 17 on the AMC 8. My AIME score was 3. Since I was still in elementary school, I couldn’t take advanced math so my teacher let me skip math class and do my own math instead.
7th grade: Since I was in middle school, I initially wanted to take Algebra 2-Honors, however my teacher suggested that I take Precalc-Honors. It was a lot harder than I expected. I failed a test and a few quizzes, but I was eventually able to bring my grade up to a 94 by the end of the year. For competition math, I mocked a few AMC 10’s and AMC 12’s as practice, but didn’t have much time to study. I scored 90 on the AMC 10A, and 100.5 on the AMC 10B, and a 23 on the AMC 8. My AIME score was 5. I also tried MathCounts. I got first in my state, and got 47th at Nationals.
8th grade (now): During the summer, I tried AwesomeMath online. I took Algebra 2.5, Geometry 2, and Combinatorics 3. It was really hard and tiring (~4.5 hours a day of lecture, group problem set and HW), but I think I learned a lot. My AMC 10A score was a 114 and my AMC 10B score was a 111. I hope to get a 8+ on AIME, but obviously no guarantees.