<p>Hi. I'm new here, so please excuse me if I am not doing this correctly. </p>
<p>Anyway, I'm having a bit of an issue with my schedule and it concerns what math I am taking/will be taking. My school has recently been approved for the IB program (I believe last year was their first official year), so it doesn't have all the classes that are truly needed for IB, nor does it have enough students to run multiple class periods for certain classes. I'm doing the diploma programme. I'm supposed to take IB Pre-Calc this year, but the only class period that they have it is the same time as my Chamber Choir class (which I had to audition to get into). If I drop choir (which I really, really, really don't want to do) I have to change my entire schedule around (i.e. changing from IB chem to a 2 yr science and changing my art elective from IB music to a 2 yr one like IB art or IB film). So instead, I'm stuck taking Hon. Pre-Calc. This means that my senior year I will have to take IB Math Studies. From what I've read, IB Math Studies does not even remotely cover Calculus at all. Will not taking calculus in high school damage my chances at all of getting into some of the better schools/ivies? Or will I be okay with only having taken Hon. Pre-calc and IB Math Studies? Should I drop choir to take IB Math SL/HL or AP BC Calc my senior year? My parents keep telling me that it is not a big deal, and I'll be fine, but I'm still not sure...</p>
<p>Thank you to those of you who read this and respond!
-FrayedPages</p>
<p>I’d have to take IB Pre-calc in order to take AP Calc BC my senior year b/c of IB diploma requirements. It sort of works like this:</p>
<p>IB Pre-Calc (11th) –> AP Calc BC (12th) (I think - people who took IB Pre-Calc in 10th grade are taking AP Calc BC in 11th - not sure what they’ll be taking 12th, so this is mostly a guess)</p>
<p>Hon. Pre-Calc (11th) –> IB Math Studies (12th) (according to my counselor)</p>
<p>I’m contradicting what I said before b/c I just looked it up, but I can’t take IB Math HL b/c it requires AP Calc BC. I’m not even sure if my school offers IB Math HL or SL since the program just started. </p>
<p>Also, I’m not concerned so much with getting credit for college as I am with getting experience. (However, I still want the IB diploma.)</p>
<p>Odd. When I went to high school, students who finished regular or honors precalculus in 11th grade (less than 10% of students) or earlier (rare) took AP Calculus BC the next year.</p>
<p>Based on <a href=“http://www.ibo.org/recognition/resources/documents/SLMathStudiesBrief.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ibo.org/recognition/resources/documents/SLMathStudiesBrief.pdf</a> , it looks like IB Math Studies consists of a mix of stuff learned earlier, a few additional topics like statistics, plus an introduction to differential calculus (less than AP Calculus AB). It does not seem to be as worthwhile as going straight to calculus (and then taking statistics later) – you should be calculus ready after completing regular or honors precalculus. It seems like the kind of course for someone who may not continue on in math in university but would find some basic knowledge of topics like statistics and differential calculus useful.</p>
<p>I guess I wasn’t clear enough. I’ll try again, as I have new information since the first week of school has ended.</p>
<p>I’m stuck taking honors pre-calc instead of IB Pre-Calc due to schedule issues. As a result, next year I’ll have to take IB Math Studies. I just found out that my school got rid of AP Calc BC (I have no idea why) so everyone who is taking AP Calc is taking AB. This means senior year we will all be taking IB Math Studies as IB HL Math requires AP Calc BC, and I don’t think my school offers anything higher than IB Math Studies anyway.</p>
<p>Hon. Pre-Calc (11) –> IB Math Studies (12)
AP Calc AB (11) –> IB Math Studies (12)</p>
<p>My question still remains: will not taking Calculus in HS hurt my chances at all of being admitted into the better schools/Ivies or will taking IB Math Studies be okay?</p>
<p>Seems like the best choice now after they canceled AP Calculus BC is to take precalculus now and take AP Calculus AB as a senior. Only if you really do not want to take any more math courses in the future would IB Math Studies be preferable (since it gives an overview of math concepts that are useful for general knowledge, though insufficient for in depth study in subjects that require them).</p>
<p>Okay, so it really just comes down to major, then? I’m not opposed to taking math classes - I think they’re important and sometimes even fun. But if my goal were to major in English at, say, an Ivy, I would be okay?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Huh? There’s no such course. There’s Studies SL, Math SL, Math HL, and Further Math SL.</p></li>
<li><p>I do not recommend Math Studies if you intend to do anything remotely math-related in college. If you’re going to major in something like English, taking Math Studies is fine, but I’d still recommend trying to take a more advanced course.</p></li>
<li><p>Do not take an AP Calc course if you want to get the IB Diploma. AP will not prepare you to succeed on the IB exams. No, this isn’t a matter of any IB superiority complex of AP. It’s simply a result of the fact that AP and IB have different curricula and test you in very different ways.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t drop choir and change your IB subjects just to change your math.</p></li>
<li><p>Do, however, ask what the crap the difference is between Honors Pre-Calc and “IB” Pre-Calc. Perhaps you could do a bit of extra work in the Honors Pre-Calc course and then test into SL or HL math? SL probably has a lot of overlap with Pre-Calc.</p></li>
<li><p>Ignore me if I’m saying things that make no sense at all. I went through a well-established IB program at an all-IB Diploma school, which looks a lot different from a new IB program at a regular high school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you like (or at least don’t mind) math, but are majoring in a non-math subject, you may want to take (in university) a course each in introductory calculus, introductory statistics, and logic (often in philosophy department offerings) for general knowledge.</p>
<p>Frayedpages…my son just graduated in May 2011 with an IB diploma from a school that had only had it in place for two years. He too could only take IB Math SL. He was the captain of his debate team and in order to be able to take his debate class and still finish all the IB requirements, he took classes at the local community college. Have you considered this? He is majoring in Polictical Science and it didn’t affect his college admission choices. He is currently on a full ride at a top 20 school.</p>
<p>@redseven - I don’t know how, but at my school there most definitely is an IB Pre-Calc. People who were in it last year even did a few IAs. IB Pre-calc uses sources aside from the regular honors pre-calc book, but other than that, I don’t know what the difference between the two courses are. Unfortunately, it seems that I am stuck in this math path as they offer nothing else at my school :/. Thanks for the input.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus - Thanks for the input. I’ll probably just end up taking calc in college to try to round off my studies a bit.</p>
<p>@IBWarrior - I have to agree with RedSeven. We’re only a few weeks into the school year, but I’m already pretty swamped with work. Thanks for the idea, though. I might try to do something over the summer like that.</p>