<p>I'm currently a freshman at a rigorous private school. I've been placed in the three honors classes that are offered for freshmen: honors algebra 2, honors foreign language, and honors science. I'm an straight A student, and all of my classes other than algebra 2 are just fine so far. Unfortunately, algebra 2 is KILLING ME. I constantly get in the 70s on tests and quizzes. The material is just so, so hard to understand :( .
My school also offers a non-honors program, which I have heard is pretty easy. I am considering dropping to this class in an effort to not kill me GPA.
Another possibility I was thinking of was to try to take the CTY online course and get credit for that. Does anyone know how this would work?
So, would being in standard math ruin my chances at an elite college (duke)? I know that you may think 'Oh, she's a freshman, and she's just acting crazy,' but honestly this is huge for me. I intend to go into the global health field FYI (again, I know I'm young, but this is my dream).</p>
<p>I will warn you now, don’t take Algebra 2 online EVER if you are struggling with the materials.
Well, if you intend to go into a health field, then math will be very important.
If you want to do better and stay in the class, get extra help, do more problems, take you time on the test, look through the material thoroughly, participate in class etc. It will help you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice @livelaugh7 ! I’m pretty sure that my school wouldn’t settle for the online course anyway. </p>
<p>Are you having trouble in your other classes? Are you able to give appropriate time to studying math without suffering in your other classes?</p>
<p>What steps are you taking in order to alleviate the low test scores and quizzes?</p>
<p>Have you considered getting a tutor or consulting your teacher outside of class for additional help?</p>
<p>The first step to fixing a problem is realizing there is one, and it seems you’ve found that out! Now, we need to get you on a right track to help your grades. Math is an important subject and if you aren’t able to fully grasp what’s going on now you may struggle in the future.</p>
<p>@clairedr3 Not a problem. I did Algebra 2 online in 8th grade and my school a) didn’t count it and b) didn’t line up the material for the honors class at the high school resulting in me having to retake it. I didn’t learn the material that I should have online. </p>
<p>I don’t know how hard honors classes are for you, but as an all honors/AP student, I can tell you that the smallest things you look over while studying will show up on the test. Make sure you know how to do EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM from the homework. Don’t listen to music while doing math (I learned this the hard way. I got so used to the music that during the test I couldn’t deal with the silence).</p>
<p>I never found that extra help was helpful for me. I don’t know about you though. I found that it was better to sit with a friend in that class after school and work through the problem together. This is much more effective; I do this now with physics.</p>
<p>Lastly, hand in your paper at the end of the time limit. If you have extra time, re-do the problems on the test. Yes I know, weird suggestion. You would be surprised how many points I have saved doing this. </p>
<p>I’m at a B+ in Honors Pre-Calculus as a sophomore. I’m a terrible test-taker and tests are 90% of our grade. So that is where I am focusing (and where you probably should to).</p>
<p>If you don’t understand the material then that is a different story.</p>
<p>Well there are two different things I can tell you.</p>
<p>I know how you feel, you are getting grades that seem really bad now. But after awhile getting a 70% on a test won’t seem so bad anymore. (I’m only half kidding)</p>
<p>But seriously I recommend watching the videos of a guy named PatrickJMT on YT he is very helpful with math problems especially around the algebra 2 level. Ohj and If you want to go into the health field that will require that you take much more advanced math classes so I wouldn’t recommend dropping the honors math class because it will hurt you more in the long run.</p>