I am on the Honors track in math, and I have heard a lot of junior, after taking Honors Algebra 2, go straight to AP Stats as senior without taking Honors Pre Calc. AP Stats is a fairly easy class with an awesome teacher. I have a natural interest in Stats even though, in general, I am not a math-minded person. The teacher who teaches Honors Pre Calc is a disaster. I have not talked to one person at any grade level who liked him. They even said to take regular Pre Calc over that guy’s class. The school only keeps him on because, as a swim coach, he has won 29 straight state titles. I have had him as an emergency sub before, and he’s the biggest jerk on campus. Would it be okay to take AP Stats over Honors Pre Calc? Do you really need Pre Calc before graduating?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. For my major, I want either International Business or Economics with (maybe???) a minor in Spanish.
I think you should do AP Stats.
@Anonymous7219 are you going to be a senior in the fall?
If you’re going to need to take calculus in college, you should not stop before precalc in high school. Look up course plans for your potential majors. If they require calculus, take precalc and even calc 1 if you can. Easier to get ahead than to catch up with remedial math later while everyone else starts at calc 1.
@Fishnlines29 No, current sophomore, but heard this at school today and just looking ahead.
Make sure.you get pre calc and hopefully calc in before college. But definitely take the courses from the better teacher, honors or not. Maybe you can take both stats and precalc non-honors next year.
I took a college algebra class over the summer and was told I could skip math senior year and use that as credit. So glad I didn’t and am in honors pre calc so I do not have to go to remedial courses when I go to college. If you are thinking about something related with calc you are probably better off taking some form of pre calc.
Take at least regular precalc bc even if you don’t go into a mathy major, being able to place into Calc 1 on a college placement test is usually what’s needed to satisfy the math general ed requirement.
You should take the Pre-Calc then - I would recommend just taking the regular pre-calc class with the better teacher as well.
My daughter wants to go into accouting so we’ve both been looking at college websites and talked to a few admissions people (she is a junior) regarding business programs. l First if your taking honors algebra 2 in 10th graders (common track for non advanced honors students here) kids take honors precalculus in 11th grade then AP Calculus AB or BC in 12th grade. Depending on the school and score in AP Calculus it could potentially exempt you from math in college for business unless your concentration requires a higher math. Often math below the calculus level in college is considered remedial math level so avoiding precalculus could mean having to take it in college for no credit in order to meet the qualifications needed for Calculus I in college. What would you take for your senior year?
Can you do any type of college dual enrollment for math or virtual high school math? For dual enrollment depending on what is offered near you there could be an option for a college algebra for business type class followed by a class called something like Calculus for Business Majors which could count as 2 high school math classes and your required college math class. You could also go traditional and do precalculus then calculus 1.
Statistics is tricky. At our high school statistics in a math elective but doesn’t count as one of the 4 math classes needed for graduation so most honors students take geometry, algebra 2, precalculus then AP Calculus. Also when talking to some college admissions for business they have said that even if a student take ap statistics In high school and gets a 5 they don’t look at it because they want a college level stats and not AP Stats that they say isn’t a high enough level since it can be taken without knowing precalculus.
I know your a sophomore but if you have any college ideas you might want to call them and ask what they think of stopping math at algebra 2 and then taking stats with no further math and if that is good for getting into a business program.
Take pre-calculus regular then, or ‘college algebra’ at a community college followed by ap calculus AB (either summer -> junior year, with AP stats senior year if you wish although as a future business major out should take calculus so as to not get weeded out from business your first year in college; or junior -> senior.)
Just recently there was a student on these boards who did this exactly and, despite great stats, was denied from his state flagship specifically for this reason (algebra2-> ap stats, no pre-calculus.)
I just found out there is an Honors Pre Calc class over the summer that, while very rigorous, gives me a high school credit and frees up senior year for either AP Calc AB or AP Stats. Thanks for the help.
No, it is not necessary if you go the stats route.