So I’m a freshman currently taking Alg2/Trig, I love learning about math and I want to be able to get to calcBC and stat. I currently have A’s in 2trig, it’s certainly not the easiest but it’s also not super hard ( did make some silly mistakes on tests so it’s not a high A either). And I think I would have to consider dropping other interesting classes/electives if I go through with taking pre-calc next year. I have time over the summer and I think I can dedicate myself to do it (not the most productive person ever, but took geometry over the summer last year and got an A+ average)
Here are some things people have said to me, a friend who’s currently taking pre-calc told me it’s a waste of time (but then he’s also super talented at math), my parents say it’s my own decision. But whenever anyone tries to ask my 2trig teacher she would say “Don’t Do It”. Some of my friends have also considered it but they eventually got scared hearing about people failing calc AB after taking precalc over the summer. So far a lot of the people I know have stopped considering it, it’s possible I might be the only one doing it. O yeah at my school you absolutely have to take precalc before AB, AB before BC (you can take stat anytime after precalc tho).
Basically, should I take the course or not? Thanks for helping, hope you all have a wonderful day!
My son did this, but because it was a summer class it was shorter. When he went to take calc afterwards, he had difficulty. He ended up getting a tutor who said there was a lot that the summer precalc class didn’t cover simply due to time. They advised him to drop calc, retake a semester long precalc class and then go back to calc. They felt it was very important to make sure that he got a good foundation in precalc. So that’s what he did. Just one story but something to think about.
I have had some friends who took pre-calc over the summer. It may just be my school/the way it’s structured, but they did not have a good time in the class because everything was rushed in order to finish it all.
I would recommend taking pre-calc during the regular school year and maybe doing a math camp or summer program since you like learning about math. But because you had a successful time taking geometry over the summer, maybe pre-calc would work for you.
If you did do pre-calc over the summer, you could take AB&BC next year and then Stat senior year, which would reach where you want to be. If anything, don’t really listen to what other people are saying and don’t let it discourage you. In the end you know what you are capable of.
Like what everyone else is saying, I’ve heard a lot of people say that doing pre calc over the summer isn’t really recommended, because there’s just not enough time to cover all the needed material. I would suggest skipping AB instead since most schools go through AB in the first quarter/semester of BC, but since your school doesn’t allow you to skip AB entirely, that might not be a great idea, since your school might not go over AB in BC at all. Either way, I would suggest asking whether people have skipped AB in your school before, and how that was for them.
If you don’t want to do that, you could always try and take Stat as an elective instead of a core math course, which would also solve your issue…
Rushing through precalculus over the summer is a bad move. You need that to be rock solid if you intend to continue in STEM.
Take precalculus sophomore year, AB junior year, BC senior year.
If you’re interested in stats see if you can take elementary stats over the summer at a local CC. But stats is just an elective, like discrete math.