My daughter is starting 6th grade. she took an advanced math placement test and did not get in. She will be placed in basic 6th grade math. This is very depressing. Looking for ideas to prepare her for the test. Will be able to take the test mid year. Also looking for resources to prepare her for ISEE test, beacause the discussion is also based on the ISEE scores.
also how important is it for students to be in an advanced math class in sixth grade. The school is offering basic 6 th grade math, advanced 6 th grade, and pre algebra. Will not taking advanced classes diminish her chances for getting required subjects in high school
@HYousuf are you saying she didn’t wvennscore well enough to be placed in the middle class…the advanced? If so, I would be more concerned about what she is missing in her math understanding…than her actual place,went next year. Clearly, there were some holes in her math competency or she would,have scored higher. What are those holes?
In my opinion…having a solid foundation in math is far more important than being accelerated in math…at any point in time.
Your kid does not have to take pre algebra in 6th grade to take a full sequence of math courses in HS.
As a point…our kid WAS recommended for accelerated math for 8th grade. We graciously declined the offer. We were the very first parents to ever decline accelerated anything at the school…and they were shocked.
Our kid was a strong math student…but she worked very hard to get the grades she got.
She never took calculus in HS but did so in college. Her undergrad major was engineering. Imagine that. She took tons of higher level math courses in undergrad school…and loved them…and did well. She had an excellent foundation for math learning.
Some teachers may let the kids to move on advanced math classes after 6th or 7th grade. My kid had the highest math score in 5th grade but did not pass the district advanced math placement test although his score was higher than the passing score. The reason was he scored less than 50% on one problem. However in 7th grade, his teacher let himself study algebra and geometry in class because he was bored. He took Stanford EPGY algebra 2 and pre-calculus and the first part of calculus in 8th grade.
How important this is depends on your school district. Some schools districts are more flexible than others. Sometimes schools districts become more flexible over time. What @coolweather’s son did probably wouldn’t be allowed in my school district when I was attending, but would probably be allowed now.
For the most part, your daughter should be fine. But not taking advanced courses in middle school can affect what advanced courses are available in high school. The best place to get this information is from your school, and keep in mind that this can change. What is available and possible one year might not be so the next, and vice versa. My school district must have changed the curriculum for middle school (that is, what advanced classes were available for middle schoolers to take) at least 3-4 times in the span of 10 years. Recently they’ve made it much easier for students to take classes online.
It is not important to be place in advance math in 6th grade…I would say your goal would be to have your child be able to take Calculus senior year if at all possible. So that either means algebra in 8th grade or doubling up on Alg 2 and Geometry.
If you want her to have extra math perhaps a Kumon or Mathnasium type scenario would be helpful.
You should look back at previous standardized math test results to see if this was an outlier. If it was an outlier and she does fine in 6th grade math then maybe she can step up a notch for 7th (get a teacher recommendation).
It is much more important to learn the math than to speed through it. A solid foundation will make a big difference with more advanced math courses. Our school district had some 8th grade algebra students repeat algebra in HS as 9th graders because they found they really needed to know the material. Better to really know the material/thinking than to flounder later.
I’ve taught so many kids over the years who were pushed ahead when they didn’t have the basic skills. They struggled and struggled because of the lack of a solid foundation.
“Not advanced” is NOT the same thing as “Behind.” There’s absolutely nothing to be “very depressed over.” Please do not give your daughter any idea that there’s any cause for concern. Don’t let her guess for a minute that she has disappointed you because she’s on grade level.
There is really no need to take calculus or even precalculus unless your child wants to major in math, engineering, CS etc. And it is kind of early to be worrying about high school classes. I mean, he can always take a summer course and skip ahead.
One of mine dropped a level in math in order to fit a music class into her schedule. She learned SO much more math that way, particularly in teaching others who didn’t get it as fast. She still got into a top school.
If taking a lower math class means more time to pursue other interests, it may be a very good thing.
It’s fine to take algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2 and stats in high school. They can be honors and the stats can be AP for challenge. If he wants to do high level physics, calculus is certainly helpful but otherwise…
Not all schools will allow you to get ahead with summer courses, or offer the change to take algebra 2 and geometry in the same year. It is important to be on top of the options and pathways available, and to keep in mind that these can always change. Your daughter’s middle school are saying they will offer the change to move levels in the middle of the school year now, but they can very easily change their minds later.
My daughter who still does not have her multiplication facts memorized is somehow in advanced math. She was in 7th grade math while in 6th grade, 8th grade math while in 7th grade, and this fall will actually be at the high school taking Algebra 1 with freshman and other upperclassman who need to take it. I was worried that this meant she would have to take calculus or trigonometry when she’s a junior or senior and I don’t consider her strong in math. I am just really shocked she has done so well being a grade level ahead the last two years. If your daughter isn’t advanced in her math skills enough to pass the placement test I am wondering why you want to push her?
It is best that your D gets the math foundation she needs to be successful down the road. You need to talk to people in your school system to understand if or how her 6th grade placement will impact her math/science sequence down the road. There is no one answer that is correct for every school district.
Honestly if you have a happy and healthy D then I don’t think missing out on 6th grade advanced math is something that should be considered “depressing.” Take a moment and count your blessings.
This! We couldn’t believe that our D18 didn’t have multiplication tables completely memorized by MS. She has a great memory so that wasn’t the problem. I don’t know what they’re teaching in ES. Anyway, even though she took AP Calc AB as a junior and in AP Calc BC as a senior I still think she’s a little slow on the basics (she’s better at calculus than the basics, imho).
@3js3ks - please have her work on those times tables!!
When she hits factoring in Algebra I-- an important topic!!!-- she’ll need to find, say, two numbers that add up to15 and multiply to 56. Even if I give her a calculator, she’s going to struggle if she doesn’t know those times tables!!
I spent a few years fighting the in vogue kind of math that disdains learning math facts (and long division, in fact, arithmetic in general). Our principal actually told us that students didn’t need to learn math facts because they have calculators.
Have some of you missed this direction in elementary school math? Let your elementary principals know about the consequences down the line.
Basics are needed to work on higher concepts. They have it backwards.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it. We purposefully chose to put youngest into regular math in 7th grade. She’d struggled a bit with math in the past and I didn’t even have her test for an advanced class. She ended up getting about a 99% average for the year and by teacher recommendation moved up to advanced math for 8th grade. Sometimes it’s a slow build to get them where they need to be.
I was the kid who had “trouble” in middle-school math. I use the word trouble in quotes because all it really means is that I struggled just enough not to be in the advanced group and I didn’t get to take algebra 1 early. I took algebra 1 in 9th grade, I doubled up on geometry and algebra 2 in 10th, and made it to calculus my senior year. I took an honors calculus class in college. I made A’s in the rest of my math classes (all of which were honors BTW) despite getting those B’s in 6th and 7th grades and was in Mu Alpha Theta. No regrets. As others have said, getting a good foundation is important.