Should I Take Algebra 2 Honors my Junior Year?

I’m not sure if I want to take regular or Honors Algebra 2. Freshman year I took Algebra 1 Honors and struggled in the beginning of the year. The first two marking periods I got 70’s, but the last two marking periods I got a 84 and a 93. The first two marking periods I didn’t really study for tests and quizzes which is probably why my grades were so low. Now I’m just finishing sophomore year and I took regular Geometry and I got all A’s for the year. My geometry teacher thinks I should take algebra 2 honors, but my algebra 1 teacher thinks that it may be too challenging since I somewhat struggled in Algebra. I feel like I may be alright in Algebra 2, but I’m not the greatest in math and I don’t wanna stress myself out since junior years the hardest, plus I’ll be taking one AP and two other honor classes. Please help!

What sort of major and/or college are you aiming for? Do you feel your study skills and work ethics have improved since freshman year?

I’m not sure what exactly I want to study for, but I’ve been thinking about going for psychology or something in the Criminal Justice Field. For colleges, I really want to go to either University of California Santa Barbara, Syracuse University, NYU, UCLA or the University of Miami. And yes I feel like my study skills and work ethics have improved since freshman year, I’ve learned from the mistakes I made in the past and now I’m getting all A’s except for in English and Chemistry, which I have B’s in

It sounds like you’re ready for Algebra2H, so that’s what you should take. You’ve shown that you have the work ethics and understanding that help s you get in the class.

Note that Criminal Justice is a vocational major for students who want to join law enforcement (police officer, DOC officer…)If you’re interested in Law, majors such as political science, philosophy, English… are better preparation. Criminology is a separate field that mixes various aspects of applied psychology.
Are you a California resident?

A well-respected math professor told me that how a person does in Algebra 2 is a pretty good determinant of how that person ends up feeling about math. Honors ALG 2 is an unfortunate (but accurate) weeder of those who end up considering themselves to be “good at math” vs “bad at math.”

There is pretty much NO CORRELATION between your geometry grades and your Algebra II Honors grades. They’re absolutely different animals.

But Algebra I and Algebra II have a huge correlation. If you didn’t know your algebra well two years ago, then the odds are pretty high that you’ll struggle trying to recall that material 2 years later.

Your algebra scores are 70, 70 84 and 93. Those numbers do not scream “Honors” to me.

So you’re great at proofs. And can recall formulas. But if you can’t factor a polynomial with a leading coefficient that isn’t 1, or work your way through a verbal problem, you’re going to have a hard time in Algebra II Honors.

I vote against Honors.