I’m a sophomore currently, one year above my grade in terms of math (if you’re a sophomore in IB, you either take Algebra 2 or Pre-Calc/Math Studies. Anyways, I’m not very interested in math and am planning to not have a major regarding that. I like writing, journalism, criminology, psychology, etc, so I don’t know if Pre-Calculus is for me. The teacher is very bad too so I don’t feel very prepared. If I did take the Math Studies route, I would have a good teacher and would also go down to take AP Statistics down the road. What should I do?
While either Math Studies or Math SL will prepare you for college calculus, Math SL is more serious math. You could, at the same time you take the SL exam, take the AP exam and possibly skip college math altogether. And take AP stats senior year.
I pretty much subscribe to the theory that if you don’t expect to need lots of math in college, you should get as far as you can in high school math without killing yourself. If you don’t like math now, it’s not going to be easier in college, so shore up your base now.
The issue of the bad teacher complicates the decision. But I wouldn’t start stepping back now unless you feel you have holes in your fundamentals that need to be addressed.
At my school, you can take IB Math Studies after taking Algebra 2. You can also take IB Pre-Calculus after Algebra 2. If you are getting A’s and B’s in math currently, and you think you have the time to put in the effort (since you said the teacher isn’t very good), I’d recommend taking IB Pre-Calculus after taking Algebra 2. I don’t know how IB works at your school, but after taking IB Pre-Calculus, you can choose to either take IB-SL Calculus (Math SL) or IB-HL Calculus (Math HL). If your teacher isn’t very good, I’d recommend taking IB-SL Calculus if your school offers it since you would have already learned some of the concepts for the test in IB-SL Pre-Calculus. From what I heard, Math Studies is an easy course, and most colleges know that. Also, at my school, it is not weighted as much as other IB classes because it isn’t very difficult. I would look into this because you may not want to take the class if it hurts your GPA.