Advice on Honors Pre-Calculus, please?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I am struggling; as in, doing very, very poorly no matter what I do. I knew it was going to be hard because I’ve heard atrocious rumors about the teacher (only one teacher in Honors Pre-Calculus), and most of the work would be self-study. I thought I was prepared for that. The first two tests, I received Ds, despite studying a week before everyday and going in whenever I can for help. The third test, I received a C.

What did I do to get that C?

I hired a tutor that costed $120 in total, I went to a nearby university to meet up with an engineer major to help me, I went to my high school’s tutoring program after school everyday, I went to the math club at my school to receive help every other day, and I stayed up until 3 am almost everyday trying to understand the concepts. The end result: I did understand. Every question I understood on the test; thing is, I didn’t get to finish because of the time limit. Those questions I didn’t get to finish, dropped me down to a score of 76% on that test (each question is worth 5 points).

All this work, just to get a C.

I did very well in my previous math classes. I got high As in both semesters of Algebra 2. I have never received anything below an A. My GPA is well above 4.0. This is why I’m in tears because I’m finding it so difficult to raise my grade before the end of the semester to AT LEAST a B. I’m planning to apply to some competitive colleges (like Berkeley), so a C would literally ruin all my efforts and chances.

I have the option to go down to on-level Pre-Calculus, but everybody, including my own counselor, has told me that the teacher for on-level Pre-calc is worse or just as worse as Honors. So that means I would still struggle, but not get Honors credit.

May I please have some tips? Is it really okay to get a C (I probably already know the answer to that)? I just want that B. My grade currently is a 72%. Should I still drop to regulars in hopes it might get easier?

My junior year course is this so far;

AP Lang - A
APUSH - A
AP Stats - A
AP Chem - A
Honors Pre-Calculus - C-
Newspaper - A
Sociology - A

Extras; President of a club, MUN, tutoring for science, dance, studying abroad for business and economics, first generation American in family, six years involved in a Youth-to-Youth organization (leadership community that leads events for middle school students on alcohol and drug free topics), SAT 2100 (want to bump it up this year), I run a small online business, and I am in a medical internship. Worked for a year and a half.

As you can see, I’m doing very well in all my other classes (I always thought AP Chem would be my worst class, but so far, I’m enjoying it very much), and have some experience under my belt. Will this class ruin me?

2 
A general rule my teacher for pre-cal and physics uses is that if it takes him X amount of time to finish a test that he gives us, then we get 2X amount of time minimum to complete the test. So when he writes the test he keeps in mind how much time it should take to finish. Your teacher sounds like they're completely oblivious to how much time it takes a student to work. I would ask the teacher how long it would take them to finish the test, and then double that amount of time to give the students to take it.
3

I feel you. In my AP Physics class last year, my teacher, when going over quizzes would sometimes take fifteen minutes to do a problem and still screw it up. We used to get fifteen minutes for ten problems. Have you tried talking to your teacher about the timing issue?

4

Unfortunately, my teacher is not that reasonable. I have talked to him (right after the test actually) about the time limit, and even how to improve my test taking skills. His response was to “just do better”, and “just don’t take too long, then” (exact words, actually). The fact that we didn’t get calculators and were forced to do all arithmetic alone slowed us down, too, but that never affected the time he gave us. Unfortunately, we would just have to deal with it.

5

How is everyone else doing in the class? You sound like you’re a really good student, but are there still people in your class that are meeting these unreasonable time limits and still pulling A’s?

6

The people around me are getting similar or better. I know I am towards the bottom of the class, however, I do know others who are getting 90s and 100s. But my friends who are in the class are struggling. My school has the reputation of having the hardest Pre Calc program for our district because of the teachers. I don’t want to blame the teacher or class entirely for my bad grades, but I know those are big factors pulling me down. One straight-A student is getting a D, so it’s just a variety of average or below average grades, with an occasional high grade. :frowning: I just feel so trapped because of that . . .

7

You should just go back to the basics and speed up your arithmetic skills while keeping in mind how to apply them quickly to pre-cal problems on a test. Talk to your peers who are doing well and try to mimic their approach to the test. Not much else I can say.

8

You’re right :slight_smile: That’s probably going to be needed desperately. Thank you very much for responding and advice.

9

I might try asking him how he determines the time limit for the tests. Chances are, he won’t have a good answer for that. If that doesn’t prompt him to change, then I’d get your parents to schedule a meeting with the principal and, depending on how confident you are that he is being truly unreasonable, possibly the teacher.

10

If other people are getting 90s and 100s, the problem isn’t the teacher.

11

I took honors pre-calc last year and struggled a lot as well. I found that watching videos on youtube really helped me improve my grades. Don’t stress one bad semester grade. There is always a chance to do better on the next test!
Go on youtube and type in Profrobob Precalculus and he has a whole playlist on it. He is super informative and it helped me out a lot. I highly recommend!

12

Why, thank you bodangles, for that very helpful comment and making me feel inadequate :slight_smile: I realize part of the reason is my fault; I don’t see the reason for your comment. Though I do find it strange that the average last year for the grade was a 71%. The fact that the teacher is known to tutors all the way out two cities from mine raises a question as well.

Thank you, littlet4lks! I will definitely try them. Thank you so much for your input!

13

I think @bodangles is right; if other people are scoring 90s and 100s then you should have the capability to do the same (don’t use “X is a math genius” as an excuse!).

I recommend solving lots of practice problems, not just watching YouTube videos of others solving them. Perhaps find some more challenging pre-calc problems. If done right, this should improve your speed.

There might also be problems that you correctly solved but missed a much faster solution. In this case, trying a couple viable approaches and determining which one seems good, before doing all the calculations, can also save you time.

14

And yet why am I getting comments where I am excusing myself? Have I not explained that I don’t want to blame the teacher entirely, and that it was my fault? Sorry, I just wanted some advice on how to get through the class or my next options, because while yes, it is ME that is struggling (while I usually do well in math, it is my weakest subject), the teacher is not helping (which I was prepared for).

Thanks, @MITer94. I totally see that happening (me using the slower method rather than the faster method). I’ve been solving the more harder problems from the textbooks (that involves fractions and roots), but I’ll keep at it to improve. This was definitely helpful, thank you.

15

@luvskat I understand that the teacher may (or may not) have a part in this. I never said you were excusing yourself; I was just advising you not to.

Reading post #3, those are definitely the most helpful responses a teacher could give. If I was given a response like that, I’d probably walk away and google “how to improve math test-taking skills.”

16

Can we talk about the material?

“Precalc” is an incredibly vague term. What material is giving you trouble?

If it’s basic arithmetic that’s slowing you down, then you know what you have to do: lose that calculator that you’ve been holding since you were 7, and relearn your math. Practice your times tables. Religiously. Every single day. It’s work I’ve done with my math classes forever, and it ALWAYS pays off. Once you can master 1x1- 12x12, move on to your 13 and 14 times tables. I promise, it will help.

For other material: first and foremost, go to extra help. As often as you can. Hit both PreCalc teachers, as well as the one who teaches Calc in your school. (Nope, you don’t have to be one of his students. I’ve given help to lots and lots and lots of kids I wasn’t teaching.)

Take a look at videos. I’m really NOT a fan of Khan Academy, I find them way too dry. But lots of people disagree with me.

I prefer either www.teachertube.com or www.educreations.com Take a look at what’s there.

17

@bjkmom That’s the thing. I’m not sure what is making me struggle so much because the first three tests were really just review of Algebra 2 (which I did extremely well in) with a few new concepts that took it a step further. Arithmetic is a problem; I suppose I have become too dependent with my calculator. I will try as you say and practice it more often!

I’ve never thought of going to the Calc teacher, but it seems like a good idea. I’ll try approaching her, soon, and I’ll check out those sites. Thank you for giving me several resources and answers!