Next year, I’ll be a Senior and I have been given the choice of taking Statistics or Pre-Cal. I have no interest or talent in mathematics, but I have to fulfill one of my requirements. I am not necessarily looking for the easier class, but I need a class that won’t tank my GPA. Which class should I take next year?
Precalc will probably be easier. But ask some current seniors to see if that’s how it is in your school.
hey there! I am a current senior in H.S, and for my school, we only have:
AP Calculus AB
Stats regular
Pre calc
Since I had already taken Pre cal Honors as a junior and had gotten a 99% in the class, I only had the choice of AP calc or regular stats as a senior. I chose to take AP Calc at first, but then I decided to drop out and turn to regular stats due to the same reason as yours, “to not tank my gpa.” Do I regret not taking AP calc? No. Do I regret my school for not having a regular/honors calc class? YES.
Now for your case: Are you planning to apply to college (s) that is competitive? if so, pre calc is probably the ‘better’ route for you because in college you’re gonna have to learn calculus anyways. It’s even better if you decided to take honors pre calc. Warning: pre calc is a mixture of algebra, geometry, and real world applications and sometimes it can be confusing. If you’re not applying to a competitive college/ or even go to college, stats is REALLYYYY easy! You basically review elementary math and applying it to real world situations. Examples: MEAN, MEDIAN, MODE, RANGE, BAR GRAPHS, PROBABILITIES.
So, if you’re MORE WORRIED about your GPA, Stats > Pre calc would be your best bet. If you wanna impress colleges, Stats < pre calc.
Good luck to you!
^^^ That varies TREMENDOUSLY from one school to the next.
Both “pre-calculus” and “statistics” are pretty vague terms. Each school can pick and choose which topics from those disciplines to include in the coursework as long as it’s not an AP class.
I stand by my advice-- consult with the current seniors to determine the lay of the land in your own school.