Hey CC,
Right now I’m a freshman in both Algebra II and Geometry. Last year I took Algebra I. I want to further my math learning, and I’m wondering if this is a good sequence.
-Take Pre-Calc online or at community college over summer
-Take AP Calc AB during Sophomore year
-Take IB Calc BC during Junior Year
-Take Calc III and Linear Algebra in fall and winter during Senior year at community college
There’s a few reasons I don’t know if I want to do this sequence. First, I’m not sure if community college courses show up on my transcript. Second, I don’t know if I want to be in a class with all Seniors and Juniors next year. There were a couple other Freshman in my Alg II class this year which was fine. Is this a good idea?
If your school allows taking CC classes for dual enrollment, then yes.
This depends on the person, but I’ve found out that in most cases, it’s not really a big deal.
You can definitely take that math sequence, but make sure that you are not rushing through the curriculum (e.g. don’t take calculus or linear algebra if you don’t have a solid understanding of HS algebra). The following AoPS article might be helpful:
http://artofproblemsolving.com/articles/calculus-trap
@MITer94 thanks a lot for the response. I checked and my school does accept CC credit which I’m happy about. I have a great understanding of HS math and specifically algebra so far so I think I will follow that sequence.
Follow up question to my original post; will the community college course be weighted as an honors course in my GPA?
I’m not sure; you should probably check with your school. I took a couple CC classes in HS and I believe they were weighted on a 5.0 scale.
Ugh I don’t know what to do.
I talked with my counseler today and she said that online/CC courses would count IF I take and pass the midterm and finals that my school has for the course. She also said that everyone who took the test after classes at the CC I was planning to do courses at did not pass the tests. No one has taken online courses at my school yet so she doesn’t know whether or not people pass the test after that.
After all that I’m still considering taking online courses. My thought process is that the AP programs offered online teach the same material to pass the AP exam, correct? Then I should be able to pass the test (hopefully).
I’ve completely eliminated CC courses though because she said they teach much different material too.
Can anyone offer some advice? I’m really confused right now but I also am really interested in online courses.
Hi! A few things-- if you take classes at a community college, you send the CC transcript you have to colleges you are applying to (at least if they don’t show up on your HS transcript). If you’re a full time student at your school, you might be able to take college classes without the school really even coming into it-- check on that. I’ve never heard of someone having to take a school’s exam for CC classes since usually if someone is taking a CC class, that class is not offered at their high school. Additionally, you should check whether your school has any post-secondary enrollment options laws or the like. Essentially-- CC classes may not be the right choice, but maybe don’t dismiss them immediately.
On being in classes with people older than you: right now (as a sophomore) I’m in AP Calc BC, which is mostly juniors, and AP Physics C, which is mostly seniors. At the beginning of the year, people were a little surprised at my presence, but things simmered down pretty quickly, and I ended up making five or six friends between those classes. Don’t let this reason be the discouraging one-- if you’re in a class with older kids, you have a right to be there, and generally people respect that.
Online classes can be really great. You’re right: AP classes generally do a good job of preparing you for the exam, though they can get a little pricey, depending on the provider. If you want to find good online classes, CC can help.
Here’s the thing-- from what I can tell, you are interested in taking Calc III and Linear Algebra online senior because your school doesn’t offer them. For you to pass the midterms and final your school gives you, that means your school has developed exams for these. Did you specify your situation when talking to your counselor? Perhaps this is just my school’s policy clouding my judgement (we have to take flex credit exams, a mix of a midterm and final, to get credit for most courses, but my school gives credit for college courses without the exam), but it seems odd that your school would work like this. Again, if you were clear, please disregard this misplaced sentiment 
I hope this helps!
@pseudoprimal first off, thanks a lot for the detailed response. Really, I appreciate your help. I’m not sure if I would have to take a test for a course not offered at the school but I know they wouldn’t put it on the transcript. She did say not to fully dismiss the CC courses immediately like you said because I can still list them on my application (and I’m interested in some of the engineering and other math courses from it, regardless of credit).
I’ve decided that having older people in my class won’t affect me. I already have an Alg II class of 3 freshman, 10 sophomores, and 5 juniors (oddly small class for my school) and having a class of mostly seniors and some others won’t bother me. Plus I already know some from basketball and track so I’m good.
Would you recommend taking an AP course online with my school’s policies? Honors courses too? Like you said, I’ve heard people raving about some of the AP courses that are offered online and how much they helped them on the exam. The good thing about online AP is that even if I don’t pass the school exam for credit I can still take the AP exam; I don’t have that freedom with an online honors course.
I don’t think my school would have a test for a class not at my school, like I mentioned earlier in this post. I remember she did say something about the courses not at the school but I’m forgetting at the moment.
As of right now I’m strongly considering:
- Pre-calculus - I’m looking through the e-boards/websites of all the pre-calculus teachers in my school district to see if they post completed notes. They can help a lot for the school exam along with the actual online course
- Honors French II - Many reasons, first I've had 3 teacher changes so far this year and I haven't really learned a lot. There is only ACC French II at my school but the school district (excluding my school apparently lol) has an honors class combining both French 1 and 2 so I have to see if I am able to take that. In place of the ACC French II I would take at school I can take AP Stat. On top of all that, I dislike most of the people in my class.
- AP Micro - The class is offered at my school so I can take the school exam for it, and since it's AP the material I learn online is probably the same as the material in school
- AP Computer Science - Not offered at my school but at Amplify MOOC I can take the course completely free and just take the AP exam if my school won't take it
Ok, if you don’t want to read that long text post you can ignore it, I just have one more thing to say.
I’ve been looking a lot through my school and district’s websites. I ended up finding the whole Pre-Calculus textbook with a code so I’m able to access it along with notes on some of the Pre-Cal teachers’ websites. The test on the material would be mid-July, so I would have to take the course and prep with my school’s materials up until that day. Is it worth it?
Is it worth it? The answer depends on you, @andrewoz9. You could probably do it, but that’s time that you’re sacrificing that could be spent in other ways. You said you are interested in furthering your knowledge of math, and if you’re movitated to learn Pre-Calc, I say go for it, but know that if it doesn’t work out, you’re going to have to spend the entirety of next year relearning the material. If you are just interested in learning about math, you might want to take a look at AoPS’s courses and Alcumus-- they have online courses on topics like Number Theory and Counting&Probabilty. I feel like I sound a little negative, and I don’t mean that at all-- I sucessfully self-studied A2 and it was definitely the right move-- but the decision ultimately rests in your judgement, and there’s no clear answer. My advice would be to take a look at the Precalc materials and see what you think. A lot of precalc is review of algebra two, actually, and delving into trig, so you might have a pretty good time with it. Best of luck to you, and I hope it all turns out well!