Very strange history with math . . . .

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I'm a sophomore who has had a very rough-and-tumble experience with my math courses throughout my school career, and I've come to a bit of a bind about where to go.</p>

<p>Here's the history:</p>

<p>Honors Math 7th Grade -- Mid 90s, really worked hard
Honors Math 8th Grade -- Mid 80s, did no work, hated math
Honors Math 9th Grade -- Low 80s, did no work, hated math</p>

<p>Following 9th grade math, my teacher decided that I would be best in 11th grade math in 10th grade than the "Honors" course, which is 11th grade regular math, but faster and harder.</p>

<p>First quarter and a half 10th grade -- Low 80's, did no work, hated math
Second half of second quarter and hopefully for second semester -- Realized how much I like math, did homework for the first time since 7th grade, now getting high 90's.</p>

<p>As for next year, I have four choices:</p>

<p>AP Stat
Precalc
AP Calc AB
AP Calc BC</p>

<p>I'm leaning toward AP Stat, because here's the problem with each:</p>

<p>Precalc -- Boring, no weight on my average
AP Calc AB -- Teacher sucks
AP Calc BC -- Teacher amazing, but extremely demanding, and I'll be taking AP US, AP French, AP Chem, and AP English, all EXTREMELY demanding courses in my school.
AP Stat -- I see no problem, but I do want to become a biologist and go to Stanford, Cornell or MIT (yes, I realize my math grades up until now aren't indicative of that, but my other classes are all mid- to high-90's and I'm hoping that bringing my math grade up halfway through sophomore year will show colleges that I care, plus my extracurriculars are very impressive) and I don't know how much they want me taking the hardest math courses. </p>

<p>I will take BC Calc senior year if not next year.</p>

<p>Considering all that, what's the best course of action? I'd really like suggestions that are either AP Calc BC or AP Stat.</p>

2

<p>Well, considering you seem pretty adamant that you'll be taking AP Calc BC next year, do you really need us to convince you? I'd say, though, don't take AP Stat if you do AP Calc.</p>

3

<p>DUDE! u CAN NOT take Calc w/o Precal!!! U need calc as a part of general ed requirement at college...so, DO TAKE PRECALCULUS! Is it that you are afraid to make bad grades in Precal or just that u like Stats? Like, seriously the HS level Stat wud do u no good...and so, u'll end up taking Stats class at college too....besides, if Precal is taught in the correct way, then, I believe, that MUST be prerequisite to Cal...(or else why wud ur school call it precalculus? :confused:)</p>

4

<p>Sorry, my fault . . . I didn't make it clear that I'm a sophomore considering my JUNIOR schedule. Sorry 'bout that . . . .</p>

5

<p>They don't call it precalculus, they call it "Math 4" (I'm in "Math 3," as opposed to "Math 3 Honors" which is the "Honors class" for sophomores and "Math 2" which is the "regulars class." I'm basically in regulars junior math.) And most people who take Calc skip it for some reason.</p>

6

<p>Idk what's included in Math 3 or 4...anyway, go ahead and do what u feel like is best for u.
AP Stat is still math, and I know it seems pretty hard to some people...consult ur GC or somebody else...there's no need to stuff urself w/ APs if u can't get the grades for that at all.</p>

7

<p>Oh, and also, what if taking stat for a year affects my performance on the SAT's?</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Oh, and also, what if taking stat for a year affects my performance on the SAT's?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It most likely will not because you don't learn things in calc for the SAT (except for a few short cuts). As long as you have a good grasp on math, you'll be fine. </p>

<p>Do NOT take calc without precalc. I always got high 90s in math and loved it but then I skipped precalc and am in AB and got a D+ my first semester.</p>

9

<p>People always say that AP Stat is really different math. My friends who got all A's in math are having more trouble with stat, but for others it's vice-versa.</p>

<p>Don't take AP Calc BC w/o Precalc. It's possible to take AB without it, but you probably won't do as well.</p>

<p>E.G. In my AB class (I'm a senior) there are six or so of us who took precalc before AB. We have As or Bs. Even though I got a 93/B+ in Precalc, I have A's in calc with the same teacher.
The kids who went from trig to AB are having a much harder time (Low B's, C's, and D's).</p>

<p>You'll probably have to take something again in college, anyway. Don't kill yourself your junior year.</p>

10

<p>Precalc is NOT required for calculus. That's a silly notion. Precalc = Algebra II + matrices + vectors + synthetic division + polar coordinates.</p>

11

<p>Just learn trig and some nice algebra tricks and you'll be fine in calc even without precalc.</p>

12

<p>One has to know some trigonometry to thrive in calculus. These days, usually trigonometry is served up in a course with the label "precalculus." </p>

<p>To the OP: if you are willing to work independently in the summer you can become better ready to succeed in your school year math class. One channel is ALEKS </p>

<p><a href="http://www.aleks.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.aleks.com&lt;/a> </p>

<p>which allows a free trial (actually an unlimited number of free trials) and lets you check your current level. Your ambitions are great, and they deserve to be backed up by thorough math knowledge. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

13

<p>My precalc teacher did not teach us ANYthing, and I've gotten straight A's in AP Calc AB and BC, so I don't think it's totally necessary. I wouldn't recommend doing that, but it is possible to do well without precalc.</p>

14

<p>From my experience you definitely want precalc for calc AB, and I'm assuming BC (I'm in AB now, as a junior). I'm also in Ap Stats, and as far as I can tell you don't really need precalc for that, but it does take work. My school also has 'math 1' through 'math 4' like yours does from the sound of it, so I think we have a similar system. But, I did an independent study of one year of math over the summer, and that worked really well for me, so if you're into it and want to get ahead that probably will work for you, if you're motivated.</p>

15

<p>"CONSIDERING" HIS/HER performance with Math, (apparently s/he might not be as good as most CCers r at Math....) PreCal IS a repetition of all the previous stuffs...and u don't need anything new except trigs....but, OP needs to take math gradually...if one gets LOW 80s in 9th grade math (which I suppose is Geom/Alg I, II or such), then, s/he definitely needs to review the concepts more. that's how I feel.</p>

16

<p>agree with asifkhan, you should probably take precalc. unless you are very good at doing algebra quickly and accurately, you should not skip precalc.</p>

17

<p>Def. don't take AP Stat, I've heard countless adcoms say they look at stat as a worthless class and would much rather see calc and beyond.</p>

18

<p>precalc is tehhhhh best, who cares if there's not weight on ur GPA</p>

19

<p>
[quote]
I've heard countless adcoms say they look at stat as a worthless class

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Which admission committees in particular? Where did they say this, to what kind of audience? </p>

<p>One opinion, which I agree is a commonplace opinion, about the AP statistics syllabus is that it has very minimal mathematical prerequisites and therefore doesn't count AS A MATH CLASS the same way that, say, precalculus or calculus would. There is no argument from anyone that the strictly mathematical prerequisites of an AP statistics course are not particularly challenging, even for students who are challenged by math classes. </p>

<p>But another opinion, with which I also agree on good warrant, </p>

<p><a href="http://statland.org/MAAFIXED.PDF%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://statland.org/MAAFIXED.PDF&lt;/a> </p>

<p>is that there is a lot of good thinking about data to be done in a good statistics class. Some high school students who are very strong in math, some of whom post on CC, report that their AP statistics class has been quite challenging. That's all because statistics is not quite the same subject as mathematics. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v1n1/cobb.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v1n1/cobb.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

20

<p>I should point out that this year, upon doing ANY homework and paying attention at ALL in class (as opposed to 8th and 9th grade, which mostly explained the low 80's) I discovered my math ability to be in the high 90's, so I don't really think capability's a problem. I scored 95 percentile on the math section of the PSATs this year, if that helps at all. I'm pretty set on not taking Precalc, so it's really between AP Stat and Calc.</p>