<p>This was just something that popped up when I realized our school's math curriculum is pretty much behind every other school in the state, yet we still do well academically in other areas.
The normal curriculum goes as follows:
9th Grade: Advanced Algebra II
10th Grade: Pre-calculus I
11th Grade: Pre-calculus II
12th Grade: AP Calculus AB/BC</p>
<p>It's such a waste to cover pre-calc over two years! I did pre-calc over the summer and managed to do AP Calc BC in 11th grade this year, but only two kids did this.</p>
<p>I don’t think listing classes necessarily sheds light on how great a math curriculum is. For example, I know kids who only did like integrals and easy regression in PreCalc whereas my teacher taught dynamical systems and chaos.</p>
<p>We have 2 math tracks. If you didn’t do Algebra 1 in middle school, then you start out with that then go up but other than that this is the first progression(you start out with whatever class is next depending on what you took in middle school): </p>
<ol>
<li>Geometry/Geometry Enriched</li>
<li>Algebra 2</li>
<li>Math Analysis</li>
<li>AP Calc AB (or AP Stats)</li>
</ol>
<p>In my opinion, awful. Fastest track ends with BC calc in 12th grade. Only electives are AP Stat and AP Comp Sci. Don’t learn ANY combo, number theory, proof techniques, problem solving techniques, or really anything interesting at all. No support for math research or competitions. And this is a public school typically ranked in the top 300.</p>
<p>The fastest progression at my school is:
7: Algebra 1 Honors
8: Geometry Honors
9: Algebra 2 with Trig Honors
10: IB Math HL I
11: IB Math HL II
and then you’re screwed senior year and have to take a bus to a different high school or go to a community college for math.</p>
<p>The fastest I’ve seen is
Geometry summer before freshman year
Self study ALG 2 and take Pre-Cal freshman year
and AP Cal as a sophomore. Then the girl went on and took math classes at a cc
she got into Stanford. Lol.</p>
<p>Usual:
Geometry > ALG 2 > Precal > and maybe AP Cal</p>
<p>Seriously, that’s behind? My school didn’t even offer Calc BC.
The absolute fastest you can go here:
Algebra I Honors in 8th grade (it’s not offered any earlier anywhere in the county I’m from)
9th: Geometry Honors
10th: Algebra II Honors
11th: Precalc/Trig dual-enrollment
12th: AP Calc AB and/or AP Stats
That’s the way I did it, and trust me as a rising senior chemistry major and math minor, it did not set me behind at all. You can still be done through calc 3 and differential equations in the first year this way. I don’t see why there’s a rush to go any faster.</p>
<p>In fact the route I took was taken only by maybe 20 kids at my high school out of a graduating class of over 500 students. For many more students than took AP calc at my school, Algebra I was broken up into 2 years (each usual semester was spread out into a full year), so that their schedule looked like this:
9th: Algebra 1A
10th: Algebra 1B
11th: Geometry
12th: Algebra 2</p>
<p>I think this system works fine in that it works for pretty much all levels of aptitude in math. Especially since dual-enrollment classes are also an option, so if you were somehow ahead you would be allowed to take calc classes at the local community college instead. This was also allowed for people who were college-bound but not in a quantitative major and would want to get their math requirement out of the way by taking dual-enrollment college algebra (only if they took regular Algebra 1 and not 1A and 1B, though).</p>
<p>Wow, that seems to be going a bit far to me. Do they then offer calc 3, diff eq, linear algebra, etc. in 11th and 12th? For anyone other than a math major you wouldn’t need much math after that.</p>
<p>Maybe not, because I know I could have handled Algebra 1 before 8th grade (instead I was in a pre-algebra class with 8th graders in 6th grade and again in 7th because they didn’t have anywhere higher to shove me). The year I took Algebra I Honors was the first year it was offered at all at my middle school. And I went to the top public schools in my county.</p>
<p>Ya, I believe they may also offer various math classes such as discrete math or number theory.</p>
<p>However, keep in mind that a lot of these schools have different “tracks” for people, which have their own benefits and disadvantages. </p>
<p>Essentially, you might go down the engineering track and thus get ahead in physics and calculus. Or, you might go down the humanities track and become a beast at philosophy and history, etc.</p>
<p>9th:Algebra 2
10th: Pre-Calc and AP Stats (depending on your grade in Algebra 2-if you got perfect math grades you could do AP Stats)
11th: AP Calc AB
12th: AP Calc BC</p>
<p>If you wanted you could do Calc the summer after Pre-calc at a local CC, and finish about a year early, but I don’t know anyone who’s done that. Probably because the Calc class is better than the dual enrollment calc class offered.</p>
<p>Geometry
Algebra II
Pre-Calc
AP Calc AB/BC (optional course)</p>
<p>Route III (my route)</p>
<p>Algebra II
Pre-Calc
AP Calc BC (few take AB, then BC as seniors)
Multivariable Calculus</p>
<p>Sadly my school has a strict policy which doesn’t allow us to get high school credits outside of actual high school classes (we aren’t even a good high school, according to rankings)…so I can’t take multivariable as a junior and progress onwards. No discrete mathematics either.</p>
<p>Fastest track puts you in multivariable by junior year and linear algebra in senior. About 10% of my year’s class is going to do this.</p>
<p>The best part is that I go to a public magnet that wants nothing to do with math; there was just too much student pressure not to add multivar/college courses!</p>
<p>Ah, my school didn’t have anything like that. The year after I graduated they had kids start picking “majors” but all that meant was you had to take at least one class in that area each year.</p>
<p>Middle school 8th grade: Honors Algebra I
High school 9th grade: Honors Geometry
10th: Honors Algebra II
11th: Honors Pre-Calculus
12th: AP Calculus AB</p>
<p>AP Statistics is an elective. Only Algebra I and Geometry are required to graduate.</p>
<p>What most people do (apply honors/AP as necessary):</p>
<p>9th: Geometry
10th: Algebra 2
11th: Precalculus
12th: Calculus (elective)
11th or 12th: AP Statistics (elective)
12th: Finite/Discrete Math (elective) (AP Stats prereq)</p>
<p>What a small, but growing minority do:</p>
<p>9th: Algebra 2
10th: Precalculus
11th: Calculus
12th: Multivariable/LinAlg (new course next year)
10th or 11th: AP Stats
11th or 12th: Finite/Discrete</p>
<p>Some people took/are taking precalc in 9th grade, so they took/will take calculus in 10th grade. A freshman and an 8th grader are taking AP Calc BC this year; that freshman is also taking AP Stats, along with the freshman taking precalc.</p>
<p>My route:</p>
<p>9th: Geometry
10th: Algebra 2 (took AoPS Precalc, then self-studied calc in the summer)
11th: AP Stats (took AP Calc BC exam)
12th: Multivariable/LinAlg + Finite/Discrete</p>
<p>My school’s classes were too easy and too slow for me after I got interested in math, so I didn’t bother taking Precalc, and the school wouldn’t let me skip into AP Calc BC. Thus, AP Stats is my only math class this year. (Luckily, passing the AP Calc exam can get you into Multivariable.)</p>