Should I skip precalc or algebra 2/trig? Math acceleration, help me choose!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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Disclaimer: Sorry if you’re fed up with my constant posts about this, but there are so many decisions and I’m indecisive xD

Background: Freshman in geometry, nearly 101% in the class, strong history of acing math classes throughout middle school.

So, I guess I should outline the three main options I have, and I’d really appreciate if you could help me decide :slight_smile: Any information/opinions/suggestions would be highly appreciated!
Also, sorry about the length.

OPTION A (suggested by math teacher):
Sophomore year: Take algebra 2/trig, get an easy A, use free time (?) to study precalculus.
Summer between 10th and 11th: Take an official precalculus course for credit
11th: Calculus
Pros:
-Easy A next year
-Not having to teach myself something with so much information/fundamentals
-Fewer potential problems with acquiring credit later on
Cons:
-I’m not sure I’ll still have time to teach myself precalc throughout the year, this year I have a lot of free time because I’m only a freshman and I don’t have very much work (first semester geometry had barely any homework!). I’ll be taking my first AP next year as well. I guess it isn’t totally necessary to study throughout the year but it would be nice.
-Algebra 2/trig is considered a hard course at my school, and I haven’t really had issues with learning the math so far, but even if I know 99% of the material, I could still have a heavy workload. Having a ton of homework is certainly easier to manage when it’s easy, but the time commitment remains.
-Being bored. If I greatly underestimate and say that I would be proficient at 70% of the material and at least familiar with 90%, that translates to an awful lot of class time being bored. I know that boredom is sort of a minor concern but I feel like I’d be really frustrated in that environment.
-Studying more advanced topics is a little intimidating to me, I definitely don’t want to be missing anything vector-related because I plan on taking two years of physics.

-Also, this may be unfounded, but it does sort of intimidate me to be jumping straight into calculus from there.
-If I’m not mistaken, the SAT II subject test for math is usually taken right after precalculus (if not, there’s another test this applies for), and I wonder if taking precalculus over summer could affect my ability to do well on that.

OPTION B (suggested by counselor)
Sophomore year: Double up in precalc and algebra 2/trig (this should be fine difficulty-wise because I’ll have enough of a background from teaching myself to handle precalc).
Pros:
-I’ll get all the courses officially through my school
-Boredom will still be a problem but at least I’ll have a more advanced class to focus on and draw connections with.
Cons:
-In order to add another math class, I’ll either need to drop PE, but I still need more PE credits to graduate so I’d be forced to take PE as a senior, and I really would rather not do that.

OPTION C (currently my preferred plan, though not by enough of a margin to be certain about it)
Summer between 9th and 10th: Take algebra 2 trig over the summer
Sophomore year: Precalculus
Pros:
-I won’t need to worry about being extremely bored in an algebra 2/trig class
-This is the fastest way to ‘get there’
-I definitely have enough time this school year to devote to it, and between preparation this school year and the summer course I should be well prepared
Cons:
-The summer course might only be algebra 2 without trig, and I’m not sure if this has any impact on transcript problems. It seems like the online option for the course doesn’t have trig but the in-person version does. I’m not sure if the in-person version is something I could do, for a variety of personal/scheduling reasons. I’m pretty solid on trig so I’m not concerned about missing out on an official trig course, but this does have the potential to be problematic on paper.

Again, my apologies for posting so many topics about this and writing so much, I’m just really not sure what to do. When I lay it out this way, I still really like option C, but I don’t want to dismiss what my counselor and teacher have said. I really appreciate if you bothered to read all of this and reply, thanks in advance!

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I highly recommend spending more time on algebra 2 / trig versus preclac, but this will depend on how your school math sequence works and what they expect you to know in calc. I took algebra 2 / trig quickly (1 semester?) and skipped precalc, and almost everything I’ve struggled with since is trig related.

Still, precalc will probably have a lot of algebra 2 / trig review, so you should be fine. I wouldn’t recommend doing both in one year though, because even if the material is easy, it will be harder to absorb it well. I think options A and C are both good ones. Have you brought up option C with your math teacher to see what he/she thinks? Good luck!

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Thanks for your reply!
Basically, the math sequence goes:
Algebra 1
Geometry
Algebra 2/trig
Precalc
Calc AB
Calc BC
Of course, algebra 1 is anywhere form 7th to 9th grade typically, only those who take it in 7th or skip something (wink wink) will make it all the way to BC. BC is only second semester calculus, so it’s AB then BC, not AB or BC.

I feel like I’m pretty good on trig, the major topics covered in my trig book (Life of Fred Trig) are:
Basic trig: sin/cos/tan/inverse/reciprocal functions, law of sines/cosines, elevation/depression
More formulas: All those double angle, half angle, addition, sum to product, etc., formulas
Also covers major identities and identity conversion, radians and degrees, area of a sector, area of a triangle using trig, the unit circle…those are the major things that come to mind
At the end, it covers polar coordinates, including imaginary numbers. The last topic is DeMoirve’s theorem.

Does that seem like it covers a good amount of trig needed for precalc?

There are algebra 2 topics I’m still shaky on or haven’t learned yet, but I’m not worried because I’d learn them over summer in all plans (teaching myself if I don’t skip it).

My teacher was concerned about option C because of the option of trig, I didn’t actually think to ask at the time if he was concerned about credits or my ability to do well with the trig. I should mention that I’ve only had this teacher for about a month because I had a different geometry teacher last semester (scheduling). He said that he knows I could take both at the same time and manage A’s (option B) but he thinks the best thing would be option A.

I’m going to talk to him again tomorrow, so I’ll bring that up.

Thank you so much for replying!

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I would suggest option C :slight_smile: It could depend on your state I guess, but at my school an Algebra 2/Trig class doesn’t even exist. We have Algebra 2 and a SEPARATE Trigonometry class, but no one takes trig if they’re going into precalculus.

However, I’m in Algebra 2 now, and I looked in the book, and we have 2 chapters all about trigonometry. So there’s a good chance that your online class will have it included. No college will even notice because very few schools call it anything other than just algebra 2.

I don’t know what online provider you’d be taking it through, but you can always check to see if they cover any trigonometry topics :slight_smile:

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Thanks jake!

I think we have an Algebra 2 class without trigonometry but I think it’s geared at people who aren’t taking precalculus/calculus, like people who are going to take stats. Basically, probably not an option if you want to be on the accelerated track.

I think the online course is associated with Apex learning, trig doesn’t seem to be in the syllabus for their course. Oddly, there seems to be trig for the Core Algebra II course but no trig for Honors Algebra II? Something I ought to look into. The Core Algebra II course doesn’t seem to have much trig, though, the only thing I saw in the syllabus that I need to work on is graphing, but I’m confident I could teach myself that.

I looked through the syllabi but I really need to comb through them instead, so I’m going to try to do that today.

Thanks again!

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Option C sounds best to me.

But, to be honest, I am shocked you can skip PE!!! My state requires it every year.

Our school is the same with Algebra 2 only separate for kids who are taking Pre-Calc senior year.

Pre-calc has calc at the end as well.

As for boredom, there are online options you could take whenever you want, so if you become bored with your public school work, you can start an online course after your public school course proves boring.

If your family can afford it, I would suggest an online course for self-studying, not just self-studying.

I am assuming by the way that the geometry is honors and the other courses are honors.

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I can’t skip PE so much as delay it, my school required two years and typically it’s freshman and sophomore year, I’d just be moving a year.

With boredom I don’t mean that I won’t be learning new math, I’m referring to listening to teachers explain topics I know constantly. I’m so used to teaching myself math most weekends that it kind of seems strange to stop.

Geometry isn’t honors because no honors geometry is offered. Middle school algebra 1 was also not honors, as none was offered. Honors is reserved for pretty tough classes at my school that don’t already have an AP/IB designation. Usually accelerated is added to courses that are more advanced than the alternative but aren’t as difficult, but there isn’t an accelerated geometry either. In summary, there aren’t any other options for geometry.

I will definitely be taking an online/summer school course for any classes that I skip, self studying is just to give me a leg up.

The Precalc syllabus doesn’t seem to cover much of anything at all, which seems odd to me but maybe it’s designed to be supplemented with something else. Also, I’ve been looking at the syllabi in more depth, and taking the version with trig isn’t an option because it doesn’t have conics and I know that I need conics (I hate conics lol, I could use the focus from a real course).

Thank you for your feedback!

Edited because random chunks were missing when I tried to post.

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Option C sounds best indeed.
In addition, you can take “online” PE via FLVS.
(note, the MONITORING is online, you actually have to exercise every day and buy a special bracelet or something that keeps track of that).

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Online PE might eventually be an option but my school puts a limit on 10 credits per summer, so that’s 10 this summer on math, then 10 the next summer for health and college planning (easy fluff courses that I can probably finish really fast), so I’d have to wait until summer between junior and senior year to take PE, if possible.

That’s definitely interesting though!