So I’m about a week in to honors pre-calc and it is killing me. I’ve always been in the regular classes and done well. It was easy for me and I didn’t have to try to get an A. I ended Algebra II with a 98 in the class so I felt that I was ready to take an honors class to challenge myself more. Honors pre-calc is so much more fast paced and I have trouble catching up. Everyone in my class previously took honors algebra while I took regular. THERE IS SO MUCH HOMEWORK. It takes me about 2-3 hours finishing it.
Anyways, I’m struggling right now but I know I can’t drop out because I need this class to prepare for AP Calc next year. I knew what I was getting into but I was wondering if this class would get any easier? Would I get used to the workload as I go on through the year? My school got on a block schedule this year so everything is condensed into half a year, meaning that there is less time = a faster pace is needed to fit everything. I only really need to survive this class until January so that one good thing.
Have you tried asking the teacher for extra help, or sought out a tutor, or another student who took the class last year?
I would also suggest looking at Khan Academy videos for extra help.
Definitely talk to your teacher. Nobody else knows exactly how your class is set up and paced. You should discuss the kinds of problems you’re having and what kind of extra help you can get. When you get lost in class, raise your hand right away and ask a question. If possible, find a study-buddy or two to do homework with.
A couple other math websites that may be helpful:
Patrickjmt.com for videos (I personally like his presentations better than Sal’s)
Edready.org - technically, this is a prep website for community college math placement tests, but it might be useful to do some assessments to understand your strengths and weaknesses.
Talk to your math teacher although generally courses start easier and get harder so I would expect that to be the case. See if you can get some additional help to catch you up. Are there free peer tutors? Can you get additional help from your teacher or additional problem sets?
I’d also second the Khan Academy suggestion. They’re very good about going step-by-step in video format to cover math problems and concepts.
If you’re struggling with honors pre-calc then why not consider regular calc? AP Calc will be a lot harder than honors pre-calc. If math isn’t your strongest subject why not pursue other APs?
I’m not sure about your state but here algebra2 is about half pre calc and trig, so people say pre calc is like a review. I’d reccomend dropping it for another honors class if you can.
^I actually recommend against dropping pre-calc, as OP said he wishes to take AP Calc.
@gembarrassing I really highly doubt your homework requires 2-3 hours/night to finish. It’s possible that you’re overthinking some problems (I’ve done this early on in some courses) or you are otherwise not working as efficiently as you’d like. If you find yourself spending too much time on a problem, stop and ask yourself if there is a topic you don’t understand, or if there’s a faster approach.
As others have said, use resources (teachers, textbook, online) wisely and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Your teachers aren’t there to make you fail, they want to teach you and help you succeed. Maybe see if you can come in before the school day starts or during lunch with the homework problems you had the most trouble with to work them out with your teacher there. Khan Academy is okay but I have to say that a lot of their videos confused the heck out of me (trig is my weakness) and I ended up just googling a lot of stuff and taking notes from PurpleMath and the like.