<p>Hello CCers and my fellow overachievers! (haha)
Anyways, let me get down to the point. I'm currently a sophomore in Geometry, and I can practically sleep through it, and get a high A. I'm just that good at math. Anyways, next year I should be taking Algebra II Honors. But the thing is, I don't want to. Because after taking Algebra II Honors Junior year, I'll then be taking Pre-Calc Honors Senior year. And therefore because of this math schedule, It'll be harder for me to get into Berkeley because of my lack of Calculus in high school. So, the bottom line is, although Algebra II is the basis for basically all higher math concepts, should I just self study it and skip it? I mean, to do this, I'd be taking Pre-Calc Honors next year instead of Algebra II honors. For any of those of you who know someone who have done this, or is someone who has done this, what has your experience been like? Also, would a better option just be to take the class and then skip Pre-Calc my senior year and jump into Calculus AB or BC senior year? Any comments would be useful as also any constructive criticism, thank you!</p>
<p>I’m not sure if that would even be allowed…but regardless, I would highly advise against it. Precalc is filled with a LOT of new concepts that you are not going to see in Algebra I or II. Skipping it would put you at a huge disadvantage…especially if you plan on going into any calculus in college. If you were to skip college algebra/trig/precalc and jump right into Calc…you would have a lot of catching up to do.</p>
<p>Additionally, math is not a good subject to take a year off from. If you don’t do any math next year…you might find that you’ve forgotten how to use a lot of the concepts you’ve learned so far, and spend a lot of time early in the semester playing the catch up game. Which is not a good thing, especially to go into calculus. You want to have a solid foundation in algebra and trigonometry before you start calc.</p>
<p>What I meant was, I’d either be skipping Alg II honors, OR stick with it and skip Pre-Calc Honors my senior year and go straight to Calc AB or BC.</p>
<p>Ok…I think I misunderstood you.</p>
<p>So are you saying that you would either take Algebra II and then skip precalc to go right into calculus. Or instead skipping Algebra II, and taking precalc before calculus?</p>
<p>If that’s what you meant…I suppose the more advisable route to take would be going into precalc, but you would be at a distinct disadvantage initially. Precalc relies heavily on a lot of concepts from algebra II, and moves along pretty quickly. Concepts like logarithms, conics, completing the square, operations with imaginary numbers, rational functions…all of these are concepts that barely get touched on in Algebra I. Algebra II provides a somewhat more solid foundation of these concepts…but to not really have any working knowledge of them going into precalc would definitely set you back.</p>
<p>That said, it wouldn’t be impossible. I’ve never taken a geometry class in my life, and I’m tutoring a couple people in geometry right now. The concepts from college algebra can be quite difficult at times though. So be prepared to catch up if you do decide to take that route.</p>
<p>Are you sure that this would even be allowed by your school? Math classes are typically taken as a sequence.</p>
<p>The best option would be to accelerate by taking a summer class at your community college in either Algebra II or Pre-Calculus/trig. Then, you can get all the concepts and get to take calculus.</p>
<p>Why don’t you take Algebra II/Trig this summer, if your school allows you to take it at a private high school for credit?
Yes, you would pay for the class.
Then you take Pre-CalcH junior year.
APCalcBC senior year.</p>
<p>take both next year if possible?! or wait then skip pre calc the year after algbra 2 and go straight to calc!</p>
<p>Bam! Thank you so much AmaranthineD. Great idea! I’ll just take Pre-Calc over the summer at my local community college! Great idea! That way I can take Algebra II Honors next year, then precalc (over summer), then AP Calculus BC. Wow, thank you so much!</p>
<p>Berkeley (and other UCs and CSUs) do not require frosh applicants to have had calculus in high school. (Not even for math-heavy majors.)</p>
<p>I agree that taking precalc over the summer would be the best choice. Especially if you plan to go into a math-heavy major, you don’t want to miss out on those foundational concepts.</p>
<p>@Ucbalumnus,</p>
<p>Yeah, you’re right. UC/ CSUs don’t require math past Geometry. But they sure as hell want you to go past the minimum!</p>
<p>big-
At some high schools you need a permission form/signature from your gc office to take summer math classes at cc or private high schools if you want the credit/course to be put on your transcript.
You come to your hschool’s add/drop days before school starts to take a placement test to see if you can take for Precalc junior year.
Go talk to your gc on Monday to see your options.</p>
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<p>Precalculus/trigonometry would be the minimum for the math-heavy majors (so that you are ready to take calculus as a college frosh). Sample eight semester schedules for students in the Berkeley College of Engineering start with Math 1A, which is first semester frosh calculus. Starting in a more advanced math course gives some schedule flexibility and the opportunity to take a free elective later in place of the skipped math course(s), but is not required.</p>
<p>[College</a> of Engineering Announcement ? UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/announcement]College”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/announcement)</p>