Math progression

You are so young. Don’t do all this to yourself.

I absolutely am sure that the reason you’re doing this is that you’re already concerned with college- that’s why you’re here. I have news, though- students who just take 4 math credits also get into prestigious colleges.

If you’re STEM-oriented, join a STEM club! Math club! Robotics! Anything! You don’t need to overload yourself like this. Take a summer class if you really want to in your junior year or something.

I can promise you one thing, though: You have no idea what HS is like. That isn’t meant to be rude or mean- you just don’t know yet. It’s a lot, and you sound like a student that will have a lot on your plate. I’m rooting for you, but don’t rush before you’re even in the building. Focus on building a strong resume outside of just the classes you’re taking.

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Since they are year-long, take the classes in natural succession. If the school had block scheduling, it makes it easy to double up and take pre-calc 2nd semester freshman year for AIG (gifted) students. Be aware some colleges do not accept DE math classes for stem majors; you need to check with each individual college. There is more to taking the classes than just doing the calculations; stem careers are dependent on critical thinking and problem-solving. Those are the steps you miss by rushing through classes. Having said all that, this is not something you need to focus on now. There are some red flags in your post that lead me to believe you/your parents are trying to create the misperceived perfect college app of 15+ AP/DEs. Hoping I’m wrong. A well-rounded student will take the skills learned in classes and put them to use in their ECs. What do you like to do outside of school/classes? What are your hobbies and activities?

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Don’t accelerate for the sake of acceleration, which isn’t going to impress the most elite colleges. To these colleges, math acceleration shows your love for math, but it doesn’t really demonstrate exceptional ability in math. If you do have that ability, you’d be better off showing the depth of your problem solving ability (e.g. by qualifying and/or medaling in national/international math Olympiads) rather than the breadth of your math knowledge. You can also channel your energy into another subject, either related or unrelated to math, to demonstrate to these colleges your intellectual prowess.

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I took to long to explain lol. I am NOT and NEVER whatsoever going to take any course, especially a whole subject of math in 24 days and call it sufficent. Thus I have been studying the subjects that I wanted to accelerate months in advance just incase I take the course. Taking the course is just to say that I took the class but my actual knowledge will not come from taking that class. Thank you for your advice!!!

Thank you very much for everyone’s advice. Just to clear something up, I am not planning on taking any course for 24 days and have that knowledge as sufficient for myself. The only reason for taking it was more for gpa reasons because the exam doesn’t give honors credit. I wanted to take the CTY courses or fusion academy courses which are about 150-200 days long. I have studied these topics much in advance and much in depth. Again my “studying” is more of keeping up with information that I am not using in school due to the current math course that I’m in. My school allows you to double up on any subject that you would like, and many people in my district do this especially because of the credit requirements for out STEM academy (6 math creds and 5 science creds which must be honors weighted).

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My district also offers up to MVC

I’d be talking with your Guidance Counselor.

At our school it’s common for advanced math kids to have Alg I and Geometry in middle school, then start with Alg 2 in 9th grade. Or they can do Alg I in 8th and double up on Geometry and Alg 2 in 9th. We also have Block Scheduling, so more can be sequential afterward if kids want to max things out, but it’s still not necessary to get beyond Calc to get into a top college. Our school actually ends with Calc BC. Since yours goes further, ask your guidance counselor.

I think I will test out of geometry because my counselors and the STEM academies advised it because geometry is a bit less foundational than other math topics and I would learn more Trig in algebra 2 and pre calc. I have been studying for this Geometry exam for about 5 months and have another 4 months to the test. I have been studying for the Algebra 2 exam for about 3 months with another 6 months to the exam. I think It would be fine if I took alg 2 next year with this prior knowledge of the subject and I would be able to do other things that I would like to do.

Not true

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My engineering H uses Geometry more than Calc… and tells our highschoolers that when he goes in for “Career” days.

But as long as you’re strong in Geometry from a class or self-study - strong meaning you can pass the final exam if it were in front of you - you should be fine.

I mean that standard high school geometry is less foundational to calculus as algebra beside conics and trig. College geo and comp math geo is a different story.

yeah, my friends in geo sent me their final exam practice test for semester 1 in December and I got 100 on it according too the answer sheet (had to ask an instructor to grade like 3 questions because you were supposed to make your own proof)

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Standard high school geometry is as close to high math as you can get in high school. It’s the only math class that requires proofs.

It is definitely more fundamental than Calculus, as taught in high school.

I second this. If you love math, see if you can take Honors Geometry. Once you’re in college you will most likely be asked to engage in some proof based math and having a solid background in proofs will be beneficial. An honors Geometry course will take you beyond proving two triangles congruent. You haven’t really articulated why completing differential equations by high school is an important goal to you so I’ll leave it at that.

If you want to practice for math contests I’d definitely enrich through AOPS. But do not accelerate. AOPS offers a lot of contest prep sessions.

The AOPS intermediate algebra is a monster of tough proofs. CTY geometry is easier than the harder AOPS. My kid did AOPS to prep for an accelerated precalc class and the AOPS is still very difficult.

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As you are familiar with AoPS, you really should read RR’s Calculus Trap article. He has worked with many, many students in this situation.

My daughter moved two years ahead, but then focused on AoPS courses on Number Theory, Counting/Probability, etc., to get a broader math exposure, rather than just rushing through the standard curriculum.

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I want to reinforce what @RichInPitt said.

Through my son, I know dozens of kids that made USAMO, and about 80% of them ended up attending an HYPSM or CalTech. Among them, it was rare to have someone who went beyond Calculus by junior year. These kids could have learned Calculus by sixth grade if they put their mind to it. But they were correctly guided that there was no advantage in doing so.

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