After algebra 2 honors, pre-calculus honors is recommended for senior year; however, if you get a good enough grade in algebra 2, you can go straight to AP calculus, or standard calculus. I am not sure about ap calculus, but would honors pre-cal or standard calculus be better for college applications.
That seems a bit off… usually algebra 2 is a prerequisite for precalculus, not calculus! Maybe your school incorporates calculus preparation into algebra 2? If that’s the case, I say go with AP calculus, but I don’t know what is in your algebra 2 Honors curriculum. Will you let everyone know so we can give better advice based on that?
In any other case, I would say to NOT LOOK AT WHATS “better” for college applications. You have to judge based on your ability in mathematics. If you don’t take a Honors level precal course before any calculus, you will likely suffer in the calculus class.
It sounds off… I wouldn’t go straight into AP calculus from Algebra2 honors. You could talk to the calculus teachers and see what they think. Perhaps just taking Calculus Honors (not AP) would be a gentler introduction, so that when you take calculus in college you’ll already have an idea of what’s going on and will be ready to dig deeper.
If you really believe in “easyAlesseffort” then I would NOT suggest skipping Precalc!!!
Try this quiz to see if you are ready for calculus:
Our Algebra 2 honors class apparently incorporates enough to be able to skip pre-cal, otherwise I don’t think you could place out of pre-cal. I know people who have gone straight to Ap calc AB and they say it is difficult, but possible. We do not have honors calculus, just standard and AP.
Ending high school with Pre-Calculus is sufficient at almost every college. There does, however, exist a trivially small group of schools that do expect Calculus from incoming freshmen; from what I know, these schools are all very selective, STEM-geared schools.
I’m gonna go as far as saying that the only time where additional acceleration or skipping math courses significantly improves one’s chances at competitive universities is when the student is on a math track that involves completing Algebra 1 in the 10th grade or later, meaning that the highest math course reached in high school will be Algebra 2. Because most selective universities expect students to at least complete high school Pre-Calculus, it would be advantageous in this situation to double up in math (usually Geometry and Algebra 2) or take a math course in the summer in order to catch up. You, however, are already on a strong enough math track.
You don’t need PRECALC for calculus. Take it from someone who hated precalc but still ended up doing well in calculus. The only thing precalc covers is more advance or intermediate techniques use to solve trig functions.
Just finished the calculus 1-3 and honestly the precalc I used was trig functions. It’s your choice, but I would just go straight to standard calculus!
^ just because you did well (relatively, and after a retake) in calculus doesn’t mean precalculus wasn’t needed.
@easyalesseffort : talk to the calculus teachers. I would take regular calculus to have a strong foundation then take calculus 1 in college. “Not impossible” isn’t the same as “good”.
What universities are you aiming for? What major?
It really,REALLY depends on the syllabus covered in Algebra II & Trig and Precalc in your own school.
I teach Precalc, and I can’t answer this question for you, since each school/ district covers different topics.
Speak to your math teacher, to the department chair, or the current Calc teacher. You’re getting different answers here because different kids have taken different courses at different schools.