I’m currently doing alg2/trig and I find the class challenging, (but I still have an A) and am wondering if I should do pre-calc over the summer and do calc AB in 10th grade. My techer thought I could do okay in pre-calc honors, but I haven’t asked about algebra 2 yet. I’ve heard people say pre calc and alg2 are pretty similar, but when I look at pre calc textbooks, I don’t understand any of it. Would taking it over the summer just end with my GPA being messed up or would the summer course be enough to prepare me for calculus?
If you feel sufficiently challenged in your current class, and looking through the pre-calc textbooks is confusing rather than tempting, I would say there is no good reason to use a summer course to get further accelerated in math.
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So perhaps that would be the right class for you to take next year?
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Then you would likely benefit from a full-year course and not try to cram it into 6 weeks. Having a solid foundation is better than accelerating just to accelerate.
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I agree with other answers. You are already ahead. I do not see any significant value in jumping ahead to calculus, and I see quite a bit of risk.
I think that you would be better off to take pre-calculus next year and wait until 11th grade to take calculus. Calculus AB in 11th grade is still ahead.
If you are very good at math, then algebra 2 and calculus are things that you are very likely to use in a wide variety of future classes. These are things that are worth learning very well. Also, in my experience students who are very strong in precalculus and trigonometry and algebra 2 can find calculus quite straightforward, but student who are just a little bit weak in any of the prerequisites can struggle with calculus.
I was a math major in university, and have used calculus a lot in a wide variety of later classes and also on the job. I took the time to learn it well and this was definitely worth it.
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Algebra 2 in 9th grade is already two grade levels ahead in math. If you are not finding it to be the easiest A+ ever, then accelerating math even more using a compressed summer course does not seem like a good idea.
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Take precalculus honors in 10th grade, do well, then start with AP Calc in 11th.
Hi! I’m a sophomore in AB right now and I can tell you that your precalc knowledge needs to be solid to do well in Calculus. Precalc provides good practice for the base skills you’ll need to do well in AB like having a solid grasp on trig, graphing different polynomials, etc. Since everyone’s different, if you feel like a summer course will be enough to absorb the material and you like math then you should go for it. But I also know that a lot of kids who skipped precalc at our school ended up either dropping the class or not earning A’s in the class. Since you said your teacher thinks you’re well prepared for honors precalc, I think it would prepare you well for the class (literally all the kids I know from PC honors got A’s first sem). Since you know yourself the best, you’re the only one who can decide whether summer PC is right for you. Hope that helped!
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