<p>Greetings,</p>
<p>I am an 8th grader that is in a special subfreshman class at a selective high school with about 300 students (right in the middle of a college campus). The question of AP/Honor courses isnt a problem because every class at my school is AP or Honors. I am very interested in going to a great college, and my "dream school" would be MIT. I am participating in many clubs, and am doing well in my grades. BUT, the main concern I have is my mathematics. I understand that to get into MIT, I should have a very high skill set in mathematics. At my current level of math, its doubtful I will make it into the Junior pre algebra class (where most kids that get into geometry in their 8th grade year move on to..i was put into algebra I), and so I would take Calculus I my SENIOR year...</p>
<p>How imperitive is it to get into that Junior pre calculus class in order to get into MIT?</p>
<p>Arigato,</p>
<p>teatime13</p>
<p>Taking Calc Senior year is no big deal. It just shows that your school didn’t have enough funding to get you all into geometry by eighth grade. Honestly, it’s better to have an extra year anyways (brain developmentally-speaking). Just make sure you’re in the honors track and in Calc BC.</p>
<p>Your overall skill at math matters more. If you are a great math student but were put in algebra because of some error, then it’s okay (obviously, the earlier the better, but it’s still okay). If this is because of a weakness in math, then of course that will hurt your chance at MIT. You can also try to skip math courses if you want to take Calculus earlier. I know of many cases in many schools in which a student has studied Geometry, Algebra 2, or Pre-calculus in the summer or alongside their current math class to place out of the class the next year.</p>
<p>i had a few friends in high school who took math courses in the summer, passed, and placed into higher level math.</p>
<p>Two people stand out in my mind because they were successful in the Calc AB and BC tests with 4s and/or 5s.
One took Alg.2 in the summer after 8th grade and took Trig/Math Analysis/Pre-calc in 9th. The other took Alg.2 in 9th, took the pre-calc course during the following summer, and got into Calc AB for 10th.</p>
<p>Because they studied hard during one summer, they both had the chance to take Stats senior year.</p>
<p>So if I wanted to try to test out of Gemoetry/Trig next year to get into Algebra II for 9th grade, would you guys recommend just reading books and such on the subject, are there any good websites you know of? I hope to essentially “teach myself”, any suggestions?</p>
<p>It’s awesome that you’re so enthusiastic about a school before you’re in high school, but come on dude. You’re in eighth grade, live it up while you can. You have so much time until you should even worry about schools. Leave the college stress for the high school juniors & seniors. I’m sure a college won’t base its opinion of your senior year schedule off of a middle school shortcoming. And if it worries you so much, that’s part of the reason for your counselor rec.</p>
<p>Good luck in high school =)</p>