I’m a freshman this year, and I’m currently in Algebra 2, so 2 years ahead already, and I’m planning on doing full IB and going to an ivy league (fingers crossed). Unfortunately I’m going to be crazy busy Junior year, and the trajectory that I have now is that the busiest year is Junior year, and I have AP Calc that year, which is one of the more difficult classes. I don’t have any really hard classes next year, sophomore year, and I’ve already learned Pre-Calc on my own and with a tutor, and at the moment I’m 100% on top of my grades and bored with my math level.
So the question is how hard are college level math classes past Calculus (e.g. Linear Algebra, Probability, Number Theory etc.) and is the work load too much for a Junior in high school?
Your logic doesn’t really make sense. If AP Calculus is going to be hard junior year, getting on a faster track will only make junior year harder. Why not stay on plan and be assured of doing well? You can take a college math class in the summer before senior year if you want to try it.
Upper level classes in any discipline are more advanced, and for some students, more difficult. The difficulty depends on the individual students. However, a post-calc class is unlikely to be less time consuming than calc, so if your goal in accelerating math is to give you some breathing room as a junior, then your logic is flawed.
I’d say post AP Math classes (so far I’ve taken multivariable calc and ordinary diff eqs) are about the same as AP Calc BC taught in one year. I didn’t have a problem in any of those 3 classes tho (took BC in 10th grade, and the other two in 11th). If you have to go to a college campus to take those though then scheduling and the commute might add stress to your junior year.
Like the above poster, I took Calc BC in 10th grade; as a junior, I took Multivariable Calc and Linear Algebra (school doesn’t offer diff eqs). I’d say it depends a ton on your school. I feel like most schools don’t offer upper level math classes at the school, only at colleges…at mine it isn’t the case, but if you have to dual enroll, it might be a hassle just for the one class and add more stress.
For me, Multivariable and Linear Algebra were self-study classes and the courseload was like 100x lighter than Calc BC. The material is not necessarily easier than Calc BC, just we didn’t have HW and took only a couple of tests per semester versus nightly HW, pop quizzes each week, and big tests after each unit. Calc BC is the hardest math class at my school and I’m very glad I took it as a sophomore; it really eats up a lot of time, creates stress, and can kill your GPA if you aren’t careful.
HOWEVER.
Self-studying calc in my opinion (from personal experience) can be a horrible idea unless you love math and are very very good at it. I had nearly perfect marks in Pre-Calc but failed several tests in Calc BC in the beginning because I had a somewhat weak background in Calc AB from self-studying.
It’s going to be a tough decision. Your best bet would be to borrow a calc textbook and start selfstudying. Get a tutor. If you still are confused, don’t advance out of calc. Even if you self study over the summer, it can’t hurt you, only prepare you really well for calc in the next year.
Good luck!
When you say ‘full IB’ do you mean the IBD? If so, what will you do for the IB math requirement? I’d figure that out first, as IB requirements aren’t real flexible for accelerated students.
You probably plan to do Math HL for IB, so all you need is precalculus honors and (perhaps) AP Stats sophomore year. Math HL is very complete, advanced, and thorough - one of the hardest HS math classes there is.
HL math kids here are at least AB calc as sophs here, HL math IS accelerated by any common math pathway.