Hey guys! So I’m planning to take Pre-Cal as a senior, I took Algebra 1 as a Freshman, and for my junior, I will be taking Alg/2, and then Trig/Stats over summer. Is it a bad thing if I’m taking pre-calc as a senior? I would like to point out, that at my school we have no choice in picking our classes, it’s purely by recommendation. I would also like to ask that is it bad if I end up taking regular English instead of English 3 honors, and then moving on to ERWC for senior yr English. My goals for college is to major in biology at UCR and hopefully move on to med-school. Thanks, guys!
Is trig/stats necessary? Usually trig is intertwined in Precalc. And it usually isn’t in the normal sequence (alg1,geometry,alg2, precalc, calc). Try to skip over trig and instead see if you can take precalc over that summer. Most colleges want to see you went to Calculus. And as far as english why would you want to drop to a regular class?
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High school precalculus typically includes trigonometry. Is this not the case at your high school?
@theinvokingsyndicate No, most colleges do not expect you to take calculus senior year. The typical high school schedule for the vast majority of students is to take precalc as a senior. You need to remember that College Confidential is full of over achievers that are targeting very selective schools. Most posters here are not representative of typical high school students. FWIW, my daughter took precalc as a senior, and now has an A in her calculus class at a large state flagship. Calculus in high school is not necessary.
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I agree wtih @me29034 …your schedule is the typical HS math schedule.
Not sure if you are majoring in STEM, but colleges all start the STEM students with Calc 1 freshman year.
No, it’s pretty typical. If you can take Precalculus Honors though, try to get recommended for it (ask your current math teacher).
What is ERWC?
Ah I see, I can’t take 3H because I currently have a B in English 2H. I can’t really pick my classes, and yeah Trig/Stats is a separate class in this case at my high school.
Right now I’m teaching approximately 180 kids in Precalc. (And, for the record, I don’t have the Honors Precalc sections.)
Every single one of them will go to college; some are looking at some very decent schools.
Don’t let the CC hype scare you.
My nephew is graduating from ivy league for computer science. He was worried he would be behind having only AP Calculus AB in high school but found that many of the kids including in his major had ended high school in precalculus. They also started in the same calculus class along with kids who had taken AP Calculus BC (didn’t matter what ap scores were). He has friends who took math at different levels in high school and says there is no difference and they are all landing jobs.
Most medical schools require calculus as a prerequisite, so pre-cal is a very good choice to take right now.
^ errm, patently false. Just look at the numbers published by theh college board.
The average student takes algebra2 or integrated math 3 or business math senior year.
College bound seniors take precalculus or precalculus honors.
Stop and re-read your post. How incredibly insulting you are!!!
Saying “i don’t mean to put you down” in the middle of a huge put down simply doesn’t cut it. A habit of bragging about how very smart you are, while putting down someone else, won’t get you far in life.
You’re don’t know what your’re talking about, plain and simple.
Most of the people are right here. Pre-Calculus as a senior is completely fine. If you can get into Pre-Calc Honors, that’s great, but you don’t have to!
Have a good day!
Pre-Calculus as a senior is completely fine! Don’t sweat it!
My school is the same, the track goes like:
Algebra 1 - Geometry - Algebra 2 - Trig/Prob - Pre Calc - Calc
Each class requires the class before it so you can’t really skip it. In some instances, they let students take Algebra 2 and Trig/Prob in the same year but usually they are separate classes.
Ending high school with a pre-calculus course should not be a problem unless you apply to very rigorous, STEM-oriented universities (which tend to be the only ones that even explicitly recommend calculus).
The only problem that I have seen with the track where students take Algebra 1 in the 9th grade is where the students are unable to get into Pre-Calculus or College Algebra by senior year due to very strict tracking requirements. In my state, Pre-calculus is an Honors only course. Usually, students who take Algebra 1 as freshmen where I live stay on the standard track for math for at least the first three years of high school and are given the opportunity to take an Honors Analysis of Functions with Trigonometry class (which doesn’t satisfy calculus prerequisites) senior year if they make an A in standard Algebra 2. This, obviously, doesn’t apply to you, so you’re fine.
Odd. It seems more typical that a student who takes algebra 1 in 9th grade will progress to geometry, algebra 2, and precalculus / trigonometry, so that s/he will be ready for calculus in the first semester of college, if needed. Some high schools have an integrated math 1, 2, 3 in place of algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2.
Well the OP might not have taken Calculus in the 10th grade (which is very common and normal), but s/he writes a lot more coherently than certain other posters.
I am in your boat but I chose to do something else.
I am a junior in algebra 2 right now, and I am supposed to take Pre-Calculus my senior year. I’m choosing to take pre cal over summer at my local community college instead. It is a 6 week course, 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. If you genuinely want to get ahead, I recommend you take it over summer. If you feel fine where you are, it is okay to take pre cal senior year.
Calculus in 10th grade is not common overall, even if it may be in a specific high school.