My kid is currently in 10th grade taking Calc BC. She is failing the course. Seem to do well at home but doing badly on tests / quizzes. What is the impact of this on admissions. She is not interested in engineering, however this course completes her math requirement.
What math did she take in 9th grade? How did she do? Did she speak to the teacher for advice, extra help etc?
Our district does not allow BC in 10th grade.
Taking calc bc in 10th grade is extremely accelerated. Usually only kids with extremely high math proficiency / interest / motivation accelerate that much. Did your daughter accelerate too quickly? Is she perhaos feeling pressured? There is no need to accelerate so rapidly, even for STEM kids.
Your daughter is clearly quite bright; but she may not be motivated enough or mature enough to handle the leap into BC calculus.
She did take Pre-calc. Did quite well. She however liked the teacher in pre-calc. We tried to drop the course, but they said that they would not allow it unless the teacher recommended. The teacher hasn’t recommended. I think this is a paradigm shift which she is struggling with, where she needs to jump from straight forward formula application to application of multiple concepts. Well the school eventually says they won’t let her fail and will give remedial action. However I wanted her to drop the course as it would negatively affect her GPA. Anyway hoping for the best this semester and hoping she does better next semester.
Get her a tutor. Or if possible, drop to AB.
^ Both good options. It’s early in the year, so “failing” may just mean “needs to make an adjustment.” Given the student’s proor success, I’d see if a tutor/remedial we or helps, then consider dropping down.
As noted above taking Calc BC as a sophomore is an accelerated pace. If she is not ready for that class for any reason (which seems to be the case) then make a change quickly. I would have your D speak to her guidance counselor. See if she can drop down to a lower level of calc or perhaps even see if you can move her to statistics for a year and then pick up calculus next year. If a switch can’t be made for any reason then yes, get her a tutor if affordable or have her stay after school with the teacher for extra help.
When you say fail, is it a F or a C, which is today’s F?
I always shake my head when i see that someone is having issues in a second semester college course they are taking as a sophomore. Well of course! Can she drop to AB?
Not only is she moving from a HS level class to a college level class, but moving from high school pacing straight into college level pacing. In some schools Calculus BC is taught following Calculus AB, with each class lasting a year, and covering a single semester of College level Calculus. In a handful of schools, BC is taught as a standalone class, and it sounds like that is the case here. I took such a class as a HS senior 30 years ago, but I would not recommend a sophomore do so. I was technically eligible a year earlier, but was not allowed to take it because of the pace. Ask if there is an AB class, or if she can take Statistics. No matter what help they offer her, if she’s struggling now, she’s not going to have a solid understanding of the material. I would call the guidance counselor and assert your authority as the parent. She should be removed from that class - teacher recommendation or not.
I agree that she should be removed from the class regardless of what the teacher says.
Skipping calc AB is a very bad idea. Calculus is very key to a LOT of what most STEM students are going to take going forward (at least for the TEM part of STEM, plus physics). I wouldn’t worry about her GPA. I would worry about her having trouble with math for years to come based on not having the right basics.
I would get down on my hands and knees and beg the school to let her take AB rather than BC. If that doesn’t work, dropping the class and taking Calc AB next year might be a reasonable alternative, but it sounds like even that might be hard to get the school to allow.
^ I don’t know that AB Calc is necessarily a prerequisite to BC. At somes schools it is taught that way, at others not. When I was in high school (decades ago, admittedly), at my school students took either AB or BC Calc. I accelerated into BC and had no problem with it, and don’t feel that there was any loss of basics.
Each kid is different, and there is a difference among schools. Struggling the first 2 weeks of a new class does not imply that the entire class will be way too hard. I agree that an adjustment is needed, but “drop down to AB Calc or she’ll have trouble with math for years to come” seems a bit precipitate without knowing the student in question, that might end up being the right answer.
Thanks for all your help. The school gave a makeup test. And she is starting to get high B’s in the latest tests. I got some tutoring for her in addition to my help. I guess it took some time adjusting to High School learning to College learning.
That happens quite often as Calc is quite different from previous Math courses. My D’s friend took the BC is junior but struggled and ended up getting a 3 or 4 in the exam. My D took it in senior and got a higher placement in college than her friend. Don’t let the overambitious course rigor lower the GPA.
Some AP teachers seem to set the bar very high with plenty of kids failing the first exam. Its a wake up call. Do not fret. One of the keys to calculus is understanding trig backwards and forwards. Each kid is different. I would not try to compare.