I’m currently a freshman doubled in Honors Algebra 2 and Honors Geometry, with a letter grade of A (100 and 99.4, respectively) in both classes. I am interested in taking a precalculus course (specifically Precalculus 1 & Precalculus 2) at a community college over the summer, but according to my guidance counselor and my family, it is unrecommended since the precalculus course will only appear in the extracurriculars section of my transcript and not in the courses-and-grades section. I still want to take it however as I would still be able to take AP Calculus AB in sophmore year — typically no one takes Calc AB until junior or senior year at my high school. Anyways, will taking precalculus negatively affect me on my transcript?
TL;DR: Freshman with high grades in H Algebra 2 & H Geometry asking if precalculus over summer negatively affects transcript for college
No, but with 2 caveats:
1/ If compressing a 36 week class into 8 weeks gives you a weak foundation for calculus and impacts your calc grade, then rushing through the curriculum will do you no favors.
2/ If you take Calc AB as a soph, you would presumably take calc BS as a junior. Do you have an option of multivariable as a senior? Again, rushing through to find your only senior option is AP Stats is probably not the best move.
Agree with reply #1.
Does your high school offer a calculus BC course that can be taken immediately after taking precalculus?
Regarding transcripts, when you apply to colleges, you will need to include records from all high schools and colleges attended. So if you take any college course while in high school, even if your high school does not include it in its records, that college course and its grade will need to be included when you apply to colleges (and also if you later apply to medical or law schools after college).