Hi,
a question from a soon to be 9th grader’s parent–my DS qualified for an advanced math track at school. Algebra I was relatively easy for him but geo/trig honors has been hard!! He will take A II/ Precalc in 9th but there is an opportunity to step back a bit (take Calc AB rather than Calc BC) in 10th grade. I see his peers taking regular courses and easily getting scores in the top 90s whereas he has to work really hard to maintain close to 90 in his math class. DS said it is better to score decently in a harder course than a high score in an easier one…is that true?
Thanks for all your insights…this site is a wealth of information.
If he’s targeting selective colleges, it’s better to take the most challenging courses his HS offers.
It’s true because colleges want to see rigor.
“Better” for selective college admissions, true. “Better” for so many other facets of your child’s life, maybe not. A lot of kids are miserable and drowning in stress, and overemphasizing getting into a selective college at the cost of everything is one contributing factor for many kids.
Calc BC in 10th grade is really a very fast track. What do the kids take in 11th and 12th? If it were my kid, I’d see how he did in precalc next year and go from there.
The school offers Diff Equations/Linear funcs (I don’t know exact names) after Calc BC. DC wants to take AP Stats at some point…it is such a fine balance letting your kids take on challenges and making sure they don’t end up being super stressed and still enjoy life
What is his purpose in accelerating his math series? Is he a likely physics/math student once in college? Does his school district facilitate study of college level math beyond Calculus? If not, then he can kick back a bit.