@stlarenas - I used wyzant dot com to find a math tutor ( for one session only though). DS needed help with one Calc chapter. They have user ratings.
Welcome @beachham @MACncheez and other newbies! :x
@srk2017 --I second the Wyzant. You can review the tutors history and experience and find the right match.
I think D could get by without a tutor, but she says she learns more in an hour or so with her tutor than she could in 3 hrs on her own. Itâs about saving timeâwhich I think would be beneficial for your daughter @stlarenas. Plus, havenât you mentioned before that you daughter doesnât like to reach out for help? (I may have you confused with someone else so sorry if Iâm wrong!). My D used to be the same wayâsoooo stubborn about getting help with difficult concepts.
I firmly believe kids need to get over that problem NOW in high school so that in college that know how to reach out quickly and easily for help.
@stlarenas I echo the tutor, to get her through the rest of this semester. As for next semester I would think it depends on what impact it would have on her application process (she will have to update all her info) and whether that will hurt her at all. It would also depend on the planned major. Colleges may not love seeing zero math would be my only concern but I wonder if a DE semester of AB might be a better use of her time, kind of a partial do over for the poor BC first semester that gives her some foundational skills for college Calc.
But if it wonât hurt her apps and she is not planning to be a STEM major I canât imagine it will do a ton of damage, especially if there is a way to keep some math class in play. Many many kids do not have calc going into college.
welcome @macncheese - Are you related to Big MAC inventor (who died today)?
@NerdMom88 Powering through a bad Calc class because a student is going into STEM might not be the best idea. Honestly Calculus is important and if you arenât getting the material now, she will need to retake it. Might be better off waiting & retaking in in college and having a good grounding in the material.
Itâs how it will affect her applications that matter the most. IMO. If she is going into those subjects, itâs not going to look good on her applications if she drops it, even if she has to retake it again next year. If she does keep the class, perhaps donât bother with the AP test.
Personally I closely monitor the amount of stress my S17 is under. Getting a D or F in a subject can really hurt chances, or cause an acceptance to be resinded. With my kid, getting so stressed out about one class can bleed into his other. Thus for him itâs often better to back out when you can. I think this is a very personal decision, and there are a lot of factors.
@macncheeze - you crack me up ⊠like an egg! ;))
Ahhh - yes I understand now. Finals are the week before Christmas - and 20% of her grade. She had a solid B 1st quarter (40% of semester grade) but this quarter she is struggling to keep a C this quarter (40% of semester grade). So yes - we will probably need a tutor to pass the final and keep the C for semester 
She has no idea what she wants to major - she has always been a science/math kid (which is why I am pretty sure the teacher is a lot of the problem here) Leaning towards something health relatedâŠbut I am sure that will change. Either way she is sure she will need to retake Calc in college as she really feels she isnât learning the material this year.
She definitely has some reach schools on her list (we have a few 100% meet need schools on the list) but already has acceptances at 3 safeties that she would be (relatively) happy to attend.
I think math is one of the worst subjects to have a bad teacher in @stlarenas. Unless she is planning to be an engineer Iâd be inclined to let her drop it because it seems like a waste of time to struggle through the class and end up not doing great on the AP test anyway and then not get college credit. And since she is taking AP Stats it is not like she will be without math.
@stlarenas Sorry if youâve answered this already, the thread is moving fast. If your D drops BC will she graduate high school without any calculus? This seems important.
Another thing to considerâŠif she drops the class, you will need to inform all of her application schools of the change. You could try to skip this step, but it wouldnât be advisable.
As Iâve mentioned before, seniors at our school who have less than six days absence in a semester and satisfactory grades are exempt from finals. D2 has been looking forward to this since freshman year, but her surgery put her just over the limit. She tried to check yesterday to see if there were any accommodations for her situation but she couldnât get a definitive answer, so I contacted the assistant principal Iâve been working with.
He referred me to the associate principal. I emailed her last night, and she got back to me first thing this morning to let me know that there are no accommodations. However, she offered to email each of D2âs teachers and ask them to consider whether she might be allowed to skip her final. By lunchtime she had contacted me again to confirm that the emails had been sent, and that she had asked each instructor to let D2 know either way.
I was impressed with her compassion, as well as her request to let the school know if there was anything else they could do to make the rest of the school year less stressful. It made my day! <:-P
@stlarenas I just went back and looked at your original post. She is taking AP Stats as well as 3 more AP classes, and 3 other classes. Itâs already a hard full load. Then just let her drop it and fill the slot with either study hall or a fun class. In our school kids donât usually have time in their schedule to take both AP Stats & AP Calculus at the same time.
@curiositycat333 I donât see why it would be stupid to take BC after AB if you could earn AP credit for another semester of Calc.
At my Dâs school they use three text books for Calc AB/BC and the class covers the same material as Calc 1 & 2 at the State U. They just allow for a slower pace at the beginning and time for review at the end. It allows a lot of kids to knock out a year of calculus in HS,
@STEM2017 Why is it important to graduate H.S. with calculus? Itâs not important⊠Calculus is a college freshman class. Many kids donât take it in H.S. and do fine. I do have experience in helping to develop H.S. math curriculum and have listened to what college professors in Engineering/Sciences want. Most schools (maybe not Cal Tech or MIT) just want a kid whoâs ready to take Calculus as a freshman and do well at it. Many schools make you re-take part of it if you donât get a 5 on the AP anyway.
@NerdMom88 How is that even fair? How do teachers grade a class on a even basis if some kids take a final test and otherâs donât. What are they doing is punishing kids because they got sick? I know they are probably trying to combat kids taking off days, or skipping. But kids get sick and you donât want them in school when they are.
This also implies that finals hurt kids grades, not help them. In my case this would be to my sonâs detriment. He does very well on finals. Barely studies for most of them and it pulls up his grades.
Iâve had great luck with Wyzant. D had a great AP physics tutor last year and is now working with a great math phd for Calc 3 review before exams (online class).
@CaucAsianDad At Sâs school they donât let you, so itâs not an option. You canât get credit for both classes. AB is 2/3 of the same class, so particularly if you got Aâs in AB you would really be completely repeating the same material. Same books, same problemsâŠ
If the course sequence is designed that way⊠then thatâs not a problem. I do understand that many many schools now teach them as a two-year sequence. But you do realized that BC kids, take the AB test & the BC testâŠtherefore they would take the AB test two years in a row.
The point is you DON"T earn more AP credit. Look at colleges what they replace for each course. Taking BC will usually replace a full year of Calculus. AB either one semester, or 1-2 quarters depending on the school. You donât get out of "moreâ math in college by taking both classes in H.S.
What I did want my son to consider was taking the last part at community college, but he just couldnât fit it into his schedule. Particularly as he has been teaching himself computer languages on the side for the fun of it.
@curiositycat333 Good point re AP exam. The two year sequence would have the student take the AB test twice. Waste of time, imo.
@stlarenas â I have skimmed a ton of responses quickly so may have missed this. Has your D applied to any schools via EA or ED? If so, she will need to report the dropped class to those schools, AFAIK.
My older son dropped down in a course Oct of Sr year, but made sure to do so before the Early apps went out, so it was as though he had never been in the upper level classâother than the lower grade that traveled with him when he dropped down.
@curiositycat333 â one of the private schools around here allows the students to take AB one year with the intention of taking BC the following year, and I agree with your reasoning and do not understand why they offer that sequence.
Our school offers either AB or BC, as you described. The BC students cover A, B & C in one year and receive both an AB and a BC score from the AP exam. The students enrolled in BC in 11th grade generally move onto MV Calc. Students who elect AB Jr year will often move on to AP Stats.