Junior Year math courses for UC

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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Question for my younger who has a goal towards one of the UCs…we are in state. I saw this in another forum.

I. AP Stats or Pre cal…junior year? Which is better to get another AP in junior year or take Precalc. (likely not a STEM major in college). Then another Math Senior year…which is ideal?

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My recommendation would be Pre-Calc Junior year (Honors if available which gets the extra honors weighting at most HS’s) and Calculus either Regular/Honors or AP Senior year or AP Stats Senior year. Majority of the UC’s require at least 1 quarter/1 semester of Calculus or a Math general ed course regardless of major.

How is he doing in his current Math course?

How many AP’s does he have scheduled for Junior year?

AP Stats is considered a “light” AP so this one class will not make a huge impact for rigor but Pre-Calc would be the natural math progression as a HS student. If he plans to take Physics Senior year, Pre-Calc would be far more helpful than Stats.

For the UC’s, even though he is not considering a STEM major, a year of Biology/Chemistry and/or Physics is still recommended to be competitive.

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Junior year he will have 2 AP’s and one APUSH this summer that will count to UC capped/weighted. Grades are good and bio and chem are already taken, so check and check! He has an A in Algebra 2… looking ahead he likes Math, but not what he wants to major in. No interest in Physics and really wants to take AP Environment…next year, so maybe physics senior year? Trying to get the AP points/GPA up junior year is important I know.

We follow the A-G requirements, but it seems there are classes not on the A-G that are kinda the “norm”. Like the 4th year of a language.

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LOTE year 4+ is still an (advanced) a-g course, though it is beyond the minimum requirements. Strong applicants will have more than the minimum requirements in at least some a-g areas.

While the a-g minimum math requirement is only geometry and algebra 2, continuing on to precalculus and calculus will keep options open later. Statistics can be taken as an additional elective any time. Some social science majors would benefit from taking calculus-based statistics in college.

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OK, what do you think would be the ideal coursework AO would like to see Soph and Junior year …just curious obvious depends on what is available…

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  • English: the courses specified for 10th and 11th grade at the high school.
  • Math: progressing through the algebra 1 / geometry / algebra 2 / precalculus / calculus sequence.
  • Science: progressing through the biology / chemistry / physics sequence.
  • Social science and history: the usual ones taken in 10th and 11th grade at the high school.
  • Foreign language: progressing to higher levels.
  • Art: may be taken during this time.
  • Academic electives: to fill out the schedule. May include statistics, environmental science, additional science or social science, additional art.
  • High school graduation requirements, if normally taken during 10th and 11th grades (e.g. health, PE, etc.).
  • Honors / AP options for any of the above: chosen according to student’s academic strength and interest in each subject. Obviously, more selective colleges want to see “A grades in harder courses”.
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