Why am I having a hard time in Algebra 2?

The problem with the course, aside from the timing, is that it builds and builds and builds. Make sure your foundations are good-- that you’re good with negative numbers and fractions, that you can factor, that you understand the basics of Trig-- reference angles, how the trig functions interrelate, special triangles, and so on. Without that basic knowledge, you’re one of those people who assume that pushing some keys on an expensive calculator means they know math. That assumption has killed many an Algebra II & Trig grade.