I’m a senior in High School starting my last semester. I have half a credit of algebra 2, and realized that most 4 year colleges and universities would probably want to see algebra 2, right? I do not have any years of foreign language, so I would need to take that in community college if I wanted to get into a 4 year or university. My counselor was saying that it wouldn’t make sense to take Algebra 2, since I will be going to community college anyways, and they will give me “placement tests”. Will taking algebra 2 in high school still help me even if I only wanted to go to community college for 2 years of language and nothing more? Or would these “placement tests” still replace the classes i took in high school? I am very confused on how all this works.
I wanted to get one year of language this year, but my counselor told me I shouldn’t do one year in high school and one year in community college, and that it would be better to take both years in community college. Was this not true? Should I at least take a semester of world language in high school while I still can? Thanks!
Another thing to consider is that the two IT classes that I’ve taken at my school over the past two years will allow me to get a 2 year degree if I take one semester at Green River and finish up the course. My school hasn’t given much information on how this program works at all, but I was wondering if algebra 2 would even matter after getting an AA or whatever this degree is.
Need answers asap! Thank you!
I also hear that algebra 2 is a very difficult class, and I don’t want to fall short of a 3.2 gpa, which I would need to do very well this semester to achieve. The half credit that I already have is an “equivalency credit” that was earned from the IT class I’m taking but I didn’t really learn much algebra. so I would just learn the first part of the course, which my school will allow me to do.
Is there someone at a local community college you could speak with? There are usually advisors to meet with. They could offer advice for their school as it could vary depending on the college.
Many colleges expect you to have completed up to and including Precalculus, not just Algebra 2. Typically many high school students take up to AP Calculus AB/BC as a bonus. It will be very tough to take math classes if you won’t have taken up to precalculus by the end of high school year. Don’t forget, ultimately you will have to take Algebra 2 and precalculus some point later in college if you don’t take it now. Just dragging doesn’t help. Challenge yourself earlier.
Are you interested in either the math or the foreign language?
Community colleges aren’t going to expect a certain level, so don’t worry about that. If you are taking classes you have interest in as you finish up high school, then don’t worry about it.
If it were me, I think I would try taking some sort of language class to decide which one I’d like to take in college. Is your school’s world language class one that introduces a few different world languages? That sounds good to me because that way you can see if one or another seems more interesting or more easy for you.
A community college or other college will give you a placement test to see what the appropriate math course for you it. It is possible that completing algebra 2 in high school will allow you place into a higher math course in college, so you may have to take fewer math courses in college for your major, or to transfer to a four year school from community college, or to graduate college.
Here is an online math placement test that you can try to check where you stand on math:
http://math.tntech.edu/e-math/placement/
Yes you need Algebra 2. Take it in high school, not community college - why would you PAY to take a high school class when you can complete your Algebra2 units for free?
In addition, see if a community college has a quarter system, and register for the foreign language for Spring quarter.
Some 4-year colleges don’t have a foreign language requirement for admissions. Here’s a partial list: Alma, Albion, Augsburg, Bradley, Drury, Gannon, Keystone, Bemidji State, Lindenwood, Lincoln Memorial (TN), Millikin, Penn College of Technology, Rowan, SIU Carbondale, SIU Edwardsville, SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Plattsburgh, Saint Louis University, Wentworth.