Struggling in Honors Precalculus after being in regular math

As of right now, I’m a junior in Honors Precalculus. This is my first year taking honors math; freshman year, I took algebra, and last year, I took regular Geometry and Advanced Algebra. I’ve been really struggling in this class. The highest grade I’ve gotten on an assessment is a C-, and I’ve pulled A’s in all of my math classes before, so my results are really tearing down my self-confidence. I’m not really sure if I haven’t adjusted to the teaching style yet or if there’s something wrong with my studying. My studying right now is three days ahead of the assessment, watching videos, going over my note packet. I asked for help on the first unit, but still didn’t do well on the test, and I’m afraid to ask for help again because my teacher might think I’m stupid or just not trying hard enough. I am trying so hard, but I’m not sure if I’m putting my efforts into the right way to study, if that makes sense. Any advice?

Going for help shows the teacher the exact opposite of not trying! Go get the help you need. The issue with math is that one set of skills builds on the previous one. Once you lose your footing, it is harder to figure out what went wrong. Different teachers have different styles, use different ways to explain things. We ended up finding a private tutor for D just for math. It made a huge difference in both her skills and her self esteem. She wasn’t stupid, and neither are you. She was just having a hard time understanding. Her tutor explained that math, calculus in particular, was just a different foreign language and you needed to understand the meanings and concepts behind the terms.

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Pre-Calc is a difficult, crux class. It is challenging for even very good math students. As was mentioned, get tutoring help.

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Get help from the teacher. If that isn’t enough, see if you can get a tutor. If you can’t afford that, is there a classmate who can help?

Please don’t try to do this on your own!

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My straight A all honors/AP classes took AP CS senior year. Oh boy did she struggle. All of the students were into coding, she wasn’t, just thought it would be good to take before college (also taking BC calculus which was fine). School was virtual so my daughter was at virtual office hours every day! She begged her calculus teacher to let the CS teacher know that she was smart and a hard worker, but just couldn’t grasp this. She powered through (close to needing a tutor but also begged other kids for help). Does your HS do peer tutors? One of my sons had one junior year in HS, that helped.

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You should be doing practice problems, not watching videos or reading notes. Math is a skill. It’s not memorization. You need to practice, practice, practice.

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I’m surprised they allowed you to move up to honors for precalc. Honors precalc is known for bring the hardest math class at our high school. They don’t allow kids to move up tracks into it because it is not the place you first want to hit increased rigor of moving from regular to honors. Is it possible to drop back down to regular precalc?

The biggest issue my kids had when they were doing poorly is not understanding what they did wrong on each exam. Our school has this crazy policy of not giving back math tests. Make sure that you get each exam back, go over it carefully, see what you did wrong and review the material you didnt understand. And if it is too hard drop back to regular math! A C in honors will not be better for your understanding and success in math than an A in regular math.

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At my school, if you get a certain grade in a regular class, you can get a signature from your current teacher to be allowed to move up into honors the following year.

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Talk to the teacher. Consider if you can handle the class with extra help a tutor etc. Think about switching into non-honors precalculus if that is an option.

In some schools, the criteria for being allowed into the honors math course is earning an A in the previous regular math course or a B in the previous honors math course, or something similar.

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I second Eyemgh; honors pre-calc is a bear. At my son’s high school, it has a reputation for being the hardest math class, even harder than AP Calc. My son has taken or is taking AP BC Calc, AP Physics, AP Bio, AP Chem and AP Stats, and Honors Pre-Calc gave him more trouble than any of these classes. You are in good company struggling with Honors Pre-Calc.

Never be reluctant to ask for help from a teacher, fellow student, or tutor. Are the questions on tests similar to ones you saw on problem sets? One strategy might be to have a tutor help you with questions that troubled you from problem sets. Helpingmom is right that it is hard to catch-up if you miss building block concepts in math.

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The way to learn how to do math if you don’t intuitively understand it, is to do many, many practice problems, over and over, until it’s second nature.

Even though you probably can, you don’t HAVE to do this! You can go to your guidance counselor and ask to be moved back down to regular math. Do this right away, if you agree, so that you don’t screw your GPA with a bad grade in math this semester.

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My kids’ high school has peer tutoring after school in the library - math tutors, writing tutors, chemistry tutors, etc… Sometimes another student can explain or help in a way that a teacher can’t. Peer tutors are often less pressed for time. See if you can find a peer tutor.

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My kid is in the same situation: moved up from regular math track to honors pre-calc this year. All other classes have been honors or AP level and she managed As in regular Algebra 2 and Geometry. However, honors pre-calc is kicking her butt! Its helpful to hear that its not just her and its a tough class. She’s gone to school early a few times for extra help from her teacher and to the math center for peer tutoring. If your school offers extra help, definitely take advantage of it.

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This is only half of that. The other half is that if Geometry and Algebra 2 were covered together in a year. How much depth could they possibly have gone into?

So the OP is not only being asked to work faster, he’s starting out from a position farther behind. A one-two punch.

Yes - spaced repetition of copious practice problems, and do them like you were handing them in for grading…it’s not just about the math, but mathematical writing as well.

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You may want to consider dropping down to regular pre-calc if this class is causing a lot of stress and eroding your self confidence. Alternatively, find yourself a tutor who can really pinpoint where you are having difficulty - sometimes the way a given teacher conveys the lessons doesn’t match a student’s learning style, but given support (and alternative ways of learning the information) they can be successful. Regardless of your choice, please know that you aren’t stupid!!

Are you hoping to take calculus next year?
Will math be part of your major of interest (business, economics, data science, science…)?

It depends… Some schools used a block system last year. If this was the case, and the teacher adapted appropriately, it is possible that all the usual topics were covered in sufficient depth.

I realize that’s a lot of “ifs”. In particular, not every teacher is able to radically alter their lesson planning on a dime. It takes most people more than 5 minutes to adapt their pacing and teaching techniques.

For people used to the block system, I suspect it works just fine.