Hi CC! As you guys may already know, I really wanted to get ahead in math (take precalculus in 10th grade) and was unable to do so. So as a prep for it next year, I’ve been self-studying the algebra 2 curriculum (Khan Academy + txtbook) since March and am almost done. However, I started looking through the internet recently and found out about an online high school called UT High School which offers online classes to high school students. They have a 5 month limit during which you have to finish the course and take the final exam. However, I would be able to breeze through it due to my self study. My concern was whether my high school would recognize the credit, but last week I found out that my high school actually gives credit for online courses taken through UT High School! So do you guys think it’s worth it for me to take alg 2 over the summer (it’ll cost $450 for both semesters).
Can you ask your high school if you are able to just take the final and get credit that way, someone I know did this and got to skip calc
No my school doesn’t allow a credit by exam for any core class except gov or econ. Thanks for responding though!
I would say it isn’t worth it.
In terms of college admissions, you are already on a competitive math track for virtually all universities in the country. Even if you were a year behind what you currently are and were set to take Algebra 2 in the 11th grade and end high school with Pre-Calculus, that would still be considered competitive almost everywhere, except for an exceptionally small pool of schools that cater to STEM prospects and expect calculus in high school.
If you want to accelerate further out of a desire to learn very advanced math concepts earlier, then I recommend that you see if you can dual enroll in math junior year. Since college courses are only a semester long, you could follow a progression that would go something like Pre-Calculus fall of junior year, Calculus 1 spring of junior year, Calculus 2 fall of senior year, and Calculus 3 spring of senior year. Keep in mind that this plan would probably be very challenging, since the courses are very quickly paced, and to make matters even worse, college Calculus classes are often weed out classes designed to be as unpleasant as possible so people who don’t belong in STEM programs are discouraged from continuing (or so I’ve heard). But as I said before, you are already on an acceptable math track, and trying to get further ahead will do little to nothing in terms of affecting your overall competitiveness as an applicant, so it would honestly be a waste of money/time if that’s a major part of the reason why you want to do this. I think that your summer would be better spent on extracurricular activities or perhaps standardized test prep, but that’s just me.
Thank you for responding! I decided not to do it anymore, because it would be more worth it to do SAT prep and play tennis more than waste money. Thanks once again!