I am a freshman in high school taking accelerated Algebra 1. I made the mistake of dropping out of Algebra 1 during 8th grade and now I regret it. I feel like i’m so far behind in math and need to catch up. My friends are taking Algebra II and
pre-calculus in their freshman years. Algebra 1 is somewhat easy for me, and am confident that I will get an A. However, I am not at the point where I can just jump into Algebra 2 just yet. I need to catch up and take AP calculus before I graduate high school, preferably before i’m a senior. My biggest worries about my future all revolve on math, I’m already at honors levels for all other subjects, doing very well.
I have really thought about this, and I am willing to do any amount of study and work in order to make it happen.
I was thinking about doubling up and taking Accelerated Algebra 1 and Honors Geometry during my freshman year. (Is this possible?)
Then, I would take a Honors Algebra II course over the summer, perhaps study some Trigonometry if it’s ultimately necessary. Do summer ‘honors’ classes even exist?
I have heard about people skipping pre-calculus and heading straight into calculus. Is that a possibility for me? In my sophomore year I could take AP calculus AB or AP calculus BC.
I think that calculus BC is the same as AB but with a few more topics and faster pace.
Does this all seem impossible? Should I not take calculus during my sophomore year? Is there a better route than I proposed? Will my GPA take such a serious dip that its not worth it?
I want to prove to my peers and to myself that I can do it. I absolutely must get accepted into an ivy league school.
If this is all not feasible, how could get accepted into an ivy league school?
Then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. They all have rejection rates close to 90%.
NO, don’t take calculus sophomore year if you’re taking algebra 1 the year before! Ask your guidance counselor about doubling up. If you can double up on alg 1 and geometry this year, then sophomore = alg 2, junior = precalc/trig, and senior = calc. Easy peasy and not doomed to failure like trying to rush through your math foundation would be.
Going to ditto bodangles:
NO. Your best friend will be a super foundation in Algebra. Bodangles has a doable solution. There are other good variations of schedules on the theme but don’t head to calculus without a solid background.
“I want to prove to my peers and to myself that I can do it.”
What you need to do is focus on goals not based on others opinions. It’s not a race. Do not try to skip steps in order to get ahead–it’s a great recipe for failure.
" I absolutely must get accepted into an ivy league school."
Don’t understand this one at all. Good luck but it’s a pretty shallow goal in my opinion.
This sounds like such a terrible decision. The jump from Algebra I would be so traumatizing in my opinion, just take it slow and stick with your current track or possibly take 1/2 classes over the summer.
Nope, nope, and nope. There must have been a reason for you to drop out of Algebra I last year -what was it? You said yourself you do not feel ready to jump to Algebra II, which does not bode well for being in calculus a year from now.
I do understand your goal of taking calculus by the time you graduate, though. I would recommend taking Algebra I this year, doubling up on Geometry and Algebra II, Pre-Calc/Trig your junior year, and then take calculus.
Also, if your future goals require high level math, you may find yourself wanting to retake those classes in college anyways. I have college credit for Calc III from my junior year, but I am considering retaking it in college. Despite doing well in the class, I truly have little understanding of Calc III. But I am going to set the math portion of this post aside, and respond to what I think is the biggest issue in your post.
“I want to prove to my peers and to myself that I can do it. I absolutely must get accepted into an ivy league school.”
Number one, don’t take any classes to prove anything to your classmates. I doubt they even care or judge that much, if at all. Your classes and educational choices have no effect on your classmate’s lives, but it does have a profound effect on you. Number two, I admire your ambition to push yourself, but your plan is too extreme and stressful. Number three, please {please} drop the “I absolutely must get into an ivy league school” philosophy ASAP. You are month into your freshman year, and setting yourself up for four years of disappointment.
Math is a subject that probably more than any other subject what you will learn next week is based on what you learned last week and last year, and what you are going to learn next year is going to be based on what you learn next week (and last week and last year). As such, you do not want to skip ahead, you want to take things at a correct and normal pace.
There have been posts on CC about students who took calculus as a high school sophomore and failed, or at least got a bad grade. This put them into a bad place. A LOT of what you will study in the future will be based on algebra and probably (depending upon your major) also on calculus. You need to get a very solid basis in these subjects through thoughtful study over a period of years.
Also, the Ivy League represents 8 very good universities in a country with hundreds of very good universities. Harvard, MIT, and Stanford all have strong math programs, but two of them are not Ivy League and taken together (along with the remaining 7 Ivy League schools) they don’t have a monopoly on calculus, algebraic topology, stochastic processes, linear algebra, special or general relativity, or anything else. There are LOTs of other very good schools.
As one input: I did not take calculus in high school. I got a very solid foundation up through pre-calculus in high school, then took calculus in university. I still got into top universities, and ended up being a math major at a very highly ranked university. Having a solid foundation was much more important than skipping ahead.
If you must, double up on Algebra II and Geometry. You need Algebra I for both those subjects. The rest are sequential and I would advise doing them one by one.
Why did you drop out of Algebra I in 8th grade? If it was too hard, why would math suddenly be 100x easier now? You say Algebra I is somewhat easy. If you were a good candidate to accelerate in math it would be incredibly easy, slow, and boring.
Why do you “need” to get to calculus before senior year? Are there higher math classes at your school?
99.99% of colleges only require up through pre-calc (I think the exception is Caltech?). So, don’t worry about it. If you want, double up on Algebra II and Geometry in 10th grade, but that’s the only thing I would recommend doing.
Maybe not your sophomore year but perhaps your Junior. I was in a very similar position as you were. I was in Algebra I freshmen year, took Geometry my sophomore year and only after that did I decide to aim for Calculus. In a senior now and I’m taking (both semesters) Calculus II, III, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra (along with calculus-based physics).
Here is what you would need to do: double up on Geometry and Algebra I your freshmen year, take Algebra II during the summer, and then Precalculus your sophomore year. Then, you can take AP Calculus BC your junior year.
However, that’s only answering to how math could be taken as quick as possible so you could take Calculus. Yes, you could also study trigonometry the summer you take Algebra II but again, it’s not recommended at all. I would highly, HIGHLY consider what the others have said before me. Do yourself a favor and take into consideration what the others have said. Don’t rush yourself. Good luck, man.