<p>Ohio Mom,</p>
<p>The Honors Analytic geometry offered the semester after trig is the same as precalc.</p>
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<p>It’s both. A HS chooses to offer Calc over two years, or not. The sequence at a typical Cal HS is Alg, Geom, AlgII, Precalc/Trig, Calc BC. AB is generally not offered as as standalone, which IMO makes sense. If a student is advanced enough for Calc as Junior, might as well take the whole course, not ~half of one. </p>
<p>Look at it another way: colleges don’t offer Calc over two years, and if AP is supposed to be college-level work… :)</p>
<p>It seems strange to me that they would deny kids in the “honors” math class the ability to participate in math contests.</p>
<p>If he gets stuck in an inappropriate for him math class (or even if he doesn’t, but really loves math), then I’d certainly look for a Math Circle in the area and start letting him do non-school math. </p>
<p>If he has time and interest, classes through Art of Problem Solving won’t get you credit (they’re working on accreditation, but don’t have it yet) but will help keep him mind from going numb. If you can’t swing the cost of the classes, the books are cheaper than the class and are good. </p>
<p>Does your school do the AMC-8 exam? There should still be time to register for it. If the school doesn’t participate and there’s no college or Math Circle near you that offers it, I think you should be able to participate on your own. </p>
<p>If he really enjoys math, then I’d look at a summer math camp like Math Path, Awesome Math, Math Zoom, or Idea Math. Camp will let him find other students who enjoy math like he does and will expose him to a variety of math beyond what’s taught in the classroom.</p>
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<p>I had the same experience. Son was always at top of every math class, 99th percentile on every standardized test, even won several math competitions. Then, at the end of 6th grade, his test scores dropped as well as his grade in the class. I talked to the principal, who agreed to put him into the advanced pre-algebra class anyway. He did okay - nothing stellar - something in the low B range. He finished with pre-cal in 11th grade and had zero interest in taking calculus in 12th grade (though it was available to him). He was a NMF and scored a 31 on the ACT and similar results on the SAT, so he’s a good student. Has an A in calculus in college right now, planning to take Cal II next semester. We thought he was going to excel in math because of his math prowess in grades 1-5 but higher level math is very different from what they get in elementary school. It’s really hard to know what path someone is going to be on all the way through HS based upon their performance in elementary school. </p>
<p>I think the OP has a right to have someone from the school sit down with him or her and explain the placement test, their child’s score and the scores of the other students as well as what things have been observed in class that would precluded his or her child from taking pre-algebra. You might be able to over-ride the decision - parents did it all the time at my son’s private school (though usually not with the best of results - the school generally knew what it was doing in terms of placement). Good luck.</p>
<p>^It really depends, it was clear from the time my kid was four that he would be a math whiz. He figured out multiplication looking at a clock. He did problems from the Sideways Arithmetic Books (that are basically algebraic puzzles) at 6. He started computer programming at 7. He read books about math theory for fun. He went through 5th though 8th grade math via EPGY in fifth grade. Unfortunately due to careless and boredom he didn’t get a 99th percentile on the math standardized test going into middle school and I had the hardest time persuading them that he should get accelerated into Algebra 1. Finally I had him take a final exam from 7th grade math - he did well and they believed me. When he got the second highest score in the school on the AMC8 (only one 8th grader did better), I was finally vindicated. I did indeed know better than the teachers. Eventually two other 6th graders were also accelerated and they all did just fine with our schools standard top math sequence which is (now) Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Trig/Precalc (which a number of students took in the summer to skip ahead), and then Calc BC or Calc AB or AP Stats, depending on how confident one feels about math. All the juniors who took Calc, took BC and they all went on to take Linear Equations as seniors.</p>
<p>All this is to say, your child may be ready or may not. My son was miles and miles ahead of everyone in elementary school, not just a good math student. The school didn’t know about half the stuff he did at home however, so I can’t entirely blame them for being skeptical - lots of parents do push their kids too fast. (We did it with our youngest in chemistry - or at least we pushed him into a class with a bad teacher who apparently was prejudiced against all the freshmen in her class.) In any event starting Algebra in 7th grade should still enable a kid to be taking Calculus as a junior, so I am not really seeing the problem here if it were only about getting to Calculus by senior year, of course if he will be bored out of his mind next year that* is *an issue. I do think you have a right to know your child’s score and what the cut off was. I’d also find out if last year’s teacher could go to bat for you.</p>
<p>We’re hanging with you MathMom on kids that stood out. </p>
<p>My daughter took Algebra I early and we’ve had to piece together math for the last 3 years of high school. However, it’s been extremely worth it for her.</p>
<p>The funny thing is, that among her math-y friends (mostly from out of state) she thinks of herself as, at best, low average.</p>
<p>We’ve tried to strive for Richard Rusczyk’s quote: “If ever you are by far the best, or the most interested, student in a classroom, then you should find another classroom.”</p>
<p>Not being in the highest class in 6th grade does not spell the end of a child’s high school career. The parents in my town all want their kids in the highest class but the school is pretty firm about the test score cutoff. Every year 7th-8th they can try to test again for the accelerated section. Kids that don’t make it and still want to prove their mettle in high school can double up on geometry and advanced algebra II freshman year (eg., in place of an elective), and then be at the exact same place as the accelerated kids at the start of sophomore year.</p>
<p>I used to get bent out of shape about these things when my kids were younger too but have gotten some perspective on it.</p>
<p>True I always felt sorry for my first born…so much angst heaped on that kid over every little thing.</p>
<p>To me, the worst isn’t that he won’t be in Algebra I (as others have pointed out, there’s nothing wrong with not taking Algebra I in 7th grade), but that he’ll be denied access to the math competitions that he likes and is good at and that his mom thinks he’ll be bored in the honors math class.</p>
<p>my son was tracked to take algebra in 9th grade…i switched him to public school and he did calc bc then calc 3 before graduation. sometimes a particular school is very resistant to pressure. also he did a lot of cty which really helped. i think you should advocate for him and get him into the higher class… the math competitions are so much fun and i would hate for him to miss out…</p>
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<p>A one year trigonometry and analytic geometry course offered in high school to students who have completed geometry and algebra 2 is normally what may be called a precalculus course in some schools. Following completion of that course, the student should be ready for calculus, either in high school or college. Colleges generally do not offer slow-pace calculus, so a student who completes precalculus in 12th grade will have to take full speed college calculus; it does not make sense to have students two grades ahead in math, completing precalculus in 10th grade, to have to slow-pace calculus, since those students are supposed to be the better-at-math students.</p>
<p>If the teacher says that “Honors Trigonometry/Honors Analytic Geometry” course being offered is not adequate preparation for calculus, then what is? Or is the teacher implicitly saying that the math instruction at the high school is grossly inadequate?</p>
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<p>Better transparency can be given without violating the other students’ privacy. For example:</p>
<p>If placement is based on just the test score, the OP’s student’s test score and the cut-off test score can be told to the OP.</p>
<p>If placement is done holistically, then the criteria can be explained to the OP. The OP’s student’s test score can also be told to the OP without compromising other students’ privacy.</p>
<p>Lack of transparency merely increases the suspicion that something corrupt is going on behind the scenes.</p>
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<p>Easy way to free up teacher time is to dump the practice of forcing students who are two years ahead to slow-pace calculus. Why have students and teachers waste a year teaching calculus over two years when those students can handle it in one year. Calculus AB can still be offered to those less confident in math (probably mostly one year ahead students), but the two (or more) years ahead students would probably just go straight into calculus BC and do well.</p>
<p>“Or is the teacher implicitly saying that the math instruction at the high school is grossly inadequate?”</p>
<p>I’m certain he is not implying that. I honestly think, because many area schools, even larger ones, only offer Calc AB, that they believe they are doing quite well. Since they have never offered BC to juniors they really do not know how they would perform. In this situation (requiring AB then BC) it’s possible to be a combination of some students having been pushed ahead while others are suddenly slowed down.</p>
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<p>The question is, do they even offer BC to seniors as a standalone course? AB is nothing but the first half (or 60%) of what is traditionally called Calc BC. In other words, a standard Calc BC curriculum covers the material in “AB” by semester break. In essence, most high schools that offer AB as a standalone course are teaching AB one year and the second half of BC the following year. (It would be like teaching APUSH over two-years.) While teaching AB over 10 months is probably a good thing for the ‘slower’ math students (slower in quote since they are still advanced in the traditional sense), it makes no pedagogical sense for those who are really accelerating, i.e., ready for Calc as a Soph or Jr.</p>
<p>Calc AB and BC have different definitions in different schools. In some places, AB simply means first semester and BC second semesters. In other schools, the easier year-long sequence is called “AB” and the harder one is called “BC.”</p>
<p>So when talking about AB and BC, it is best to define what you mean by it.</p>
<p>collegealum314 --</p>
<p>Calc AB and BC are defined by the College Board. Individual school districts can define the amount of time it takes to cover the curriculum, but the curriculum itself is defined. The only way to pass an AP audit for the course is for the course curriculum to meet the College Board standard.</p>
<p>D had math issues also. So, we had her take the CPT placement test at the local community college and she was allowed to take college algebra there in the summer and onto calc without difficuly. Our elementary school provided no math accelaration so she went that route.</p>
<p>collegealum:</p>
<p>according to Collegeboard, the maker of the tests:</p>
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<p><a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board;
<p>Of course, teachers and high schools may “enrich” the curriculum with other math topics, but such topics are not part of the standardized curriculum nor covered on the test.</p>
<p>The squeeky wheel gets the grease. Go raise a storm. Personally, I wouldn’t let the schools limits limit my kid. There are always other outside activities he can do espeically when he gets older. Taking Community College classes to double up wouldn’t be a problem and might e a real ego boost. But if it means missing out on Mathletes, then that is a problem. I wouldn’t put the focus on Calculus in the future. I would put the focus on the math competitions that will be happening this year.</p>