Should I take Algebra ll or Pre-Cal over the summer?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I’m going into sophomore year of high school this autumn and I would like to take either algebra ll or pre-cal over the summer in order to clear up a space to take either AP Bio or Calculus 2. I took geometry as a freshman, on which I did very well with A/A+’s, and when I took algebra l on 8the grade I did decently with mostly B’s and the occasional A. Keep in mind that I had a terrible algebra teacher and that I decided to make 8th grade the year where I didn’t care my academic performance much and slacked off since there was no GPA attached (which I quickly noticed as a freshman was a rather poor choice). Should I take Algebra ll this summer or wait a year to take pre-cal next summer? Would it be difficult to catch up with Precal or Calculus, especially considering that during the school year I take GT classes? And in case I take AP Bio instead of Calc ll, how hard would it be to catch up after not taking any calculus for one year?

2

*8th grade where I did decently

3

*I didn’t care about my academic performance
So sorry for all the typos

4

Is your current math progression the following?

9th: geometry
10th: algebra 2
11th: precalculus
12th: calculus

Why not just stay on this track?

5

Op, are you suggesting in your school district middle school grades are combined with hs grades to form your gpa? Or perhaps I read that wrongly…

6

So if I read your request correctly, you want to take a math class this summer so that when you are a senior you can take Calc 2 right?

So instead of your current track:

9 Geo
10 Alg 2/Trig
11 Pre Calc
12 Calc

You want:
9 Geo
9 Summer Alg 2 Trig
10 PreCalc
11 Calc 1
12 Calc 2

If you do have the choice, you would need to take Alg 2 in the summer since that is a prerequisite for preCalc. However as ucbalumnus has alluded to, is there a reason why you need to take Calculus 2? Other than impressing admissions officers.

7

They do not include middle school grades in your GPA.

8

I don’t need to take calc 2, I’m more interested in freeing up that space to take AP bio instead. However, if I decide that I don’t want to take AP biology, I would use that space to take Calculus 2.

9

Generally the easier classes to skip or to do in summer are Algebra 1 or Geometry, but that’s too late now.

Keep in mind that Alg2Trig contains quite a bit of new material, like complex numbers and a zoo of trigonometric identities that will be difficult to fully comprehend in a single summer.

PreCalc tends to include some repetition of Algebra2 material but its also sometimes used as an early start into proper calculus (differentiation) towards the end of the year.

Calculus can be a another big jump up in difficulty from PreCalc, especially when it comes to doing integrals. Thus rushing precalc over summer and then going directly into calculus seems to present a higher risk.

I would recommend to take Alg2Trig over summer and to use the following full year of PreCalc as a chance to keep practicing and solidifying Alg2Trig concepts.

Is it possible to cancel the Alg2Trig summer grades and just take it in the following year in case the summer term did not work out?

Good luck

10

I would recommend to accelerate in math only for students with a strong affinity to math and if the purpose is to reach calculus2 or another higher level math course. Using it for the purpose to not take any math in senior year is going to be problematic.

11

Since I would take summer school outside of my district, my grades in that class would not count towards my GPA. I suppose that if I don’t do well or feel that I would not be comfortable in precalc I could just take algebra 2 again in the school year.