When did your math oriented student start to find math challenging?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid is in H.AlgII and is flying through. Does his homework but never seems to study. Lacks exec functioning so I still check his assignments. I'll often say oh, I see you have a math test tomorrow. And he'll think about it and say oh yeah--completely nonplussed. He doesn't study and does well on the tests. I'm just wondering when he's going to start finding math difficult.

Honestly, I didn't find it difficult until I hit Ph.D level, but even Ph.D classes are easier now, so for your kid, maybe never?

[Anonymous]

For math-talented kids, never. That's the problem with acceleration. It misses the point. Your child should get enrichment or pursue other non math interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me, took AP Calculus as a freshmen in HS then took math at local colleges throughout the rest of hs. Breezed through all of it until I hit diff eq and it killed me. Worked my butt off and still ended up with a D in the course. That's when I knew I was not going to be a math major in college (and didn't take a single math course in college).

Diff equ has very little to do with a math major in college. Maybe physics or engineering.

It's absolutely wild that you gave up on college math before you even started, based on one bad semester at a school not designed for a student like you. You probably could have done a lot more and better in math if you rushed a little less and took time to learn more deeply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me Differential Equations in college was where it became clear that I didn't want to have to work that hard @ math. Up until then had no issue and barely had to study, but that seemed totally different. I switched to Econ

Differential equations is a huge part of econ!

[Anonymous]

Mine was challenged by physics in I think his 3rd year of engineering.

I can barely do 8th grade math.

[Anonymous]

DS does math in pen. I think he does this just to be contrary. Even with points taken off.

[Anonymous]

HS

[Anonymous]

Eighth grader only so far. School not challenging, but some of the geometry questions in AOPS are challenging/hard for him.

Agree with other poster- depth over acceleration

[Anonymous]

In college with hard math classes

[Anonymous]

I'm really not buying the premise of the student doing everything in 5 minutes in any class above Algebra. The claims about Calculus are just ridiculous.

I would be concerned about the depth of undestanding with that minimal level of effort.

Can the student prove all the statements in the class or just memorizing some shortcuts? Is the homework plug and chug or it involves complex applications of concepts?

I'd look into some enrichment if this indeed the case, there's absolutely no point in taking a class where you spend 5 minutes outside the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid is in Alg 2 in 8th grade and says it's the only class that's not boring. Translation: the only class where she needs to pay attention. Her version of paying attention means doing the freshly assigned homework while the teacher is expounding the day's problems, and then reading for the rest of the period. She occasionally finds errors in the problems, and as soon as she nears the teacher's desk, the teacher goes "OK, what have I got wrong now?".

I don't think she will ever find math difficult in MCPS. She takes after her mathematician father. Her older brother and I had a less happy relationship with math... even though I'm a research scientist. You can still enter STEM disciplines without liking math!

Yeah, right. What a genius you have!

I know! All that hand wringing, about the savant Young Sheldon child correcting the teacher! The anecdote just suggests a poor attitude towards the teacher, likely stoked by parental encouragement.

[Anonymous]

Alg 2 H.
Not in MCPS, but that class nearly killed my kid. The teacher made it more difficult than it needed to be…tests that had material she didn’t cover in class, trick questions. The teacher said at back to school night, that for most Alg 2 H students, this will be the first time they’ll have difficulty with math.

[Anonymous]

Both my kids who were in the CES find math challenging as in sometimes they get Bs for a quarter when the rest of their grades are As.

But maybe all the ridiculous methods that we have been annoyed at recent math curricula for having in their program actually does work better than the math we were taught? I work in a title I elementary school and I have students who can barely read do some good addition and subtraction in their heads.

[Anonymous]

Multivariable Calc.

[Anonymous]

My DD was like that and is now taking the most difficult math level in Junior year (I forget which, some Calc I think) and is now finding it challenging for the first time and got her first semester B. Part of it is a bad teacher and part is that she had grown complacent over the years and wasn’t doing all the work.