<p>I always wanted to know how prevalent taking multivariable calculus by senior year was. I'm also curious to know peoples opinions on whether high school math curricula should continue to be accelerated in the future past the point that it is today. </p>
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<p>There certainly aren’t a lot of people who do. I took it though the first semester of my Junior Year.</p>
<p>People have learned the BC exam on their own, which in a sense proves they are capable of acceleration and can do whatever math that follows in college… Just putting it out there, I know an 8th grader that self-studied it and took MVC as a freshman…</p>
<p>Throwing out an opinion based on my college: Differential Equations is a better course to take than MVC because it’ll cover prerequisites to lower division engineering courses. But MVC is still a great course (it’s not hard and I feel is much easier than DE’s) that I wish I had in high school because scheduling it messed up the order I’m supposed to take classes in the first 3 semesters.</p>
<p>My school recently squished the BC calc class into one semester and added dual-enrollment MVC second semester. It’s half seniors, half lower than that. My observation is that students have accelerated mathematics more.</p>
<p>In fact, it’s gotten to the point that my school district, which is a magnet school district, just completely axed 8th grade math and replaced it with algebra I. I presume 7th grade math was adjusted accordingly though.</p>
<p>I do agree that it’s probably time the high school curriculum just made calculus standard. At least in the same meaning precalculus or trigonometry is “standard.” That is, not necessarily for poets, but for STEM oriented students it should be an expectation.</p>
<p>Not to mention that, from a humanistic point of view, calculus is a sufficiently important trait of our intellectual history that it deserves attention well before college. I’d just axe the whole “algebra 1, 2, geometry…” thing and keep math integrated. Much more could be learned efficiently in 4 years.</p>
<p>Some people at my HS take multi-variable calculus in HS (I did), but not many.</p>
<p>I definitely feel that the mathematics curriculum should be more accelerated than it is now. However introducing advanced courses such in HS such as abstract algebra, topology, and class field theory is not the best idea unless the student is mathematically mature enough. More emphasis on discrete math topics (logic, number theory, combinatorics) and proofs should be introduced, IMO.</p>
<p>Very, very few. Even on here I only see it once in a while compared to Calculus BC, and people on here are crazy. This is partially because most high schools don’t offer it, and a kid who wanted to take it would have to take it at a local college. I did this, but I doubt if anyone else at my school ever has because we don’t even have Calculus AB. </p>
<p>(For an idea, last year there were ~80,000 kids who got a passing score on the AP Calculus BC exam. Most kids who take multivariable will have taken the BC exam, but almost everyone just stops at BC.)</p>
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<p>No (most kids don’t even do all that well with the math they’re taught now), but I think there should be more opportunities for individual kids to take college math classes if they finished what their schools offer.</p>
<p>Quite a lot in my area. Even the kids who want to be lawyers who don’t even like math take it.</p>
<p>Only 8-10 people in the entire county take multivariable calc in high school every year in my area, and these people are all seniors. Only one teacher teaches it at my dual-enrollment program I’m involved in, and honestly I would probably knock myself out with the textbook before taking it lol. I personally am very happy with the one variable calc that I will be taking as a senior next year.</p>
<p>I think about 10 kids are advanced beyond calculus as a senior (which is already advanced where I live) each for each graduating class. Its an medium sized high school. If they’re really advanced, they take math classes at a nearby university. We have an elementary gifted and talented program that really pushes kids further or faster than they should be. Lots of kids end up with holes and have to repeat math classes. Other kids end up 5 years ahead of others (but usually they should be ahead!) We do have quite a few smart professor’s kids where I live, though.</p>
<p>I’m taking MVC in the second semester of senior year as a part of my school’s dual-enrollment program. </p>
<p>There are only two students in my area taking MVC so far; both are seniors. It is uncommon for students to be taking the course in my region, but I suppose I would have an advantage, then! </p>
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<p>As opposed to what? Pretending to take MVC?</p>
<p>My 8th grader is in honors alg 2 (special accommodations had to be made and she is basically self teaching but having to follow the HS curriculum and pass all their assessments-which she is-97% average). I don’t even understand the difference between Calc A, AB, B, BC, linear, MVC, DE. Can anyone suggest a reasonable course for her to follow from where she is now? Is she likely to get to MVC or to DE?</p>
<p>I pretty much agree with everything halcyonheather said. It’s rare enough for students to get to Calculus BC - and the vast majority of those students are seniors. MV Calculus is really not a common math course in high school. I would be surprised if 1% of seniors made it to MV Calculus - and that’s a fairly liberal estimate. </p>
<p>The math curriculum really not should NOT advance much further in high schools. There are few too many students that struggle with basic algebra - there is no reason for students to move onto calculus when they don’t understand more basic stuff.</p>
<p>At my school, Calculus BC is about 60% seniors, 40% Juniors - the majority of those Juniors will either take AP Stats their senior year or they will abandon math altogether, even if they are planning on pursuing a STEM field in college. We even have a partnership with the local community college where we can take multiple courses for free at our school (which is a satellite campus for the CC) and still, not many students advance onto college-level math beyond BC. I know of just two kids (both of whom are seniors) that are taking Calc III at the college, and that’s it. They’re high achieving, much more so than the typical high achieving student, so they’re definitely anomalies.</p>
<p>I know that in my state there are two paths the advanced people take
Fresh Soph Jun Sen
Geometry -> Precalculus -> AP Calc AB -> AP Calc BC OR
Geometry -> Precalculus -> AP Calc BC -> MVC II</p>
<p>But I know one freshman who’s taking precalc now and may take MVC III in Senior year</p>
<p>At our local non magnet public hs, ~50 students each year take MV & DE, mostly seniors, a handful juniors, and 1 or 2 sophomores. The course is mostly about MV, very light in DE, though. </p>
<p>@grandscheme, after alg2, she will take pre calc, then BC, MV & DE, and linear algbra. If her hs doesn’t offer LA, she will need to go to CC or a university to take it.</p>
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<p>I’ve never heard of Calculus A or Calculus B. There’s AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC. </p>
<p>AP Calculus AB = Calculus I = single-variable calculus
AP Calculus BC = Calculus I and II = Calculus AB material with additional stuff, still single-variable. Since BC covers AB material, you generally don’t need to take AB before BC.
Calculus III - multivariable calculus</p>
<p>After AP Calculus BC or the equivalent, you can take multivariable, linear algebra, or differential equations in any order you want or at the same time. It’s very uncommon for high schools to offer the last three courses. I think it’s common for college students to take multivariable before the others, but usually there’s no specific progression you have to follow like with high school math.</p>
<p>There’s about ten people in multivariable at my school.</p>
<p>I took multivariable sophomore year; it was fun</p>
<p>MVC at my school is like some extremely elite class. Everyone who takes is gets into HYPS(mostly S)M. Correlation, not causation ofc.</p>