<p>My daughter loves her algebra II class and has a high A. Her teacher wants her to take calculus senior year, but her schedule does not allow her to take pre-calculus next semester, so she will not be able to take calculus next year. Should she take pre-calculus next year or should she take AP stats instead?</p>
<p>If your daughter is applying to competitive colleges, particularly if she is going to major an an area that requires math, she needs to take precalculus in high school. Is there any possibility that she could self study precalculus outside of school and take some placement test at the end of the year this year, so she could take calculus next year? AP statistics is definitely a useful course, but the 'basics' of precalculus are probably more important.</p>
<p>It probably depends on the school, but several kids in our school took precalc over the summer. My son says of all the math courses he took in high school it really covered the least amount of material and he wished he'd done it in the summer because the pace was so slow when spread out over a whole year. Of course she might have better plans for her summer!</p>
<p>Our school does not offer pre-calc over the summer. And I know she would not be able to do it on her own. She will major in elementary ed in college. So which class would be better? If she did well in AP Stats, it would be worth more for her gpa. Is that a good reason to take it? Is pre-calc a worthwhile class on its own without taking calculus. Would it help for math classes in college?</p>
<p>if she is a soph- she may still change her mind about majors
My D was planning on majoring in graphic design- even as a senior- she graduated with a degree in biology from a college where the lowest math class was calc & she needed both calc and stats for her major (she took a year of precalc in high school as well as a semester of stats)</p>
<p>Why does your daughter need pre-calc in order to take calculus? If she's good in math, I bet she could get by without it.</p>
<p>You might also investigate Stanford's distance learning EPGY courses. Here's a link to pre-calc: <a href="http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/M013/%5B/url%5D">http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/M013/</a></p>
<p>In some cases school districts even pay for these courses.</p>
<p>My daughter is a junior. Her school is very strict about pre-reqs, so you have to take the pre-calculus class.</p>
<p>Candace..your PMs are full..could you clear some space? thanx</p>
<p>I cleared some, sorry</p>
<p>If she wishes to major in elementary education, pre-calc would be very good. She may not need calculus, however.</p>
<p>Thanks. I wish we had decent guidance counselors. She has a different one every year. I have never even met one. I have spoken to one on the phone, but it was not helpful at all.</p>
<p>candace, </p>
<p>Every district is "strict" about some things. And they all have provision for exceptions. If you found a policy, such as this one, getting in the way of your D's education, IMHO it is time to see the principal. And if that did not work, maybe the super.</p>
<p>You, as a parent, are ultimately responsible for your D's education, as well as the school. </p>
<p>FWIW, I think a lot of the "rules" are in place to protect the students, often from overzealous parents. You don't sound like one of those.</p>
<p>if she's planning on an education, even pre-calc is not necessary. Take the Stats class bcos it'll be more useful in general life, IMO.</p>
<p>I think that the problem was that I was not a better "guidance counselor" when she signed up for sophomore classes. My son skipped integrated math class that my daughter took as a sophomore. Now she needs to take pre-calculus or AP stats next year. My son was able to take both. So, she just needs to decide which one would be better.</p>
<p>thanks blue bayou. That is the way we are leaning.</p>
<p>thanks newsmassdad, but my daughter does not like to make waves. I think AP stats is the way to go.</p>
<p>I'm not as well-informed about math as some of the other parents on this board. But judging from my daughter's disastrous experience with pre-calc, I would say that pre-calc varies quite a bit from school to school. At my daughter's high school, a math and science magnet, the pre-calc textbook is more than 1,000 pages. The course lasts a whole year and covers a lot of territory, very fast. Your daughter's school may be different, of course. D got stuck with a very unsympathetic teacher who thought she was the world's biggest slacker. With peer tutoring twice a week for about four months, my daughter managed a 75, the first and only C on her transcript. (You can tell I'm still bitter.) </p>
<p>Anyway, she decided against taking calculus senior year and is now doing fine in AP Stats, enjoying the real-world practicality of it. Take what you will from her experience. (By the way, the CC parents were a huge help when all this was going on, and for that I am grateful.)</p>
<p>thanks, macnyc, I think we will steer clear of pre-calculus. We have block scheduling, so precalc is one semester. AP Stats is all year, so it is more spread out. I think that AP Stats does seem more useful as well.</p>
<p>Sorry to add another element to the discussion, but you might look at it from the angle of what will happen in college. She can undoubtedly take either statistics or calculus at college. And, at college, there are many statistics classes specifically for social science and other majors. But, they will be less likely to offer pre-calculus. Also, calculus is a pre-requisite for many college science/math classes, and she may discover when she gets there that some of those classes could be interesting. So, she may be closing more doors by not taking pre-calc.</p>
<p>Majors and career goals do change. Even if she does decide on education as a major, for example, she could decide she might like to teach junior high or high school.</p>
<p>Oh, I was afraid of this. Both sides could be argued.</p>