Magnet Functions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My function DS is spending less than 20 mins per night on his function homework. So far so good

Haha. Nice try.

How long does/did it take for your kid? My DS was state mathcounts top 10 and Jmo qualifier last year. Still said he can learn new things in function class, which is like the first-ever experience in math class since K. His friends and math teammates said about the same experience. They are enjoying it so far.

You're exaggerating or your child is lying to you. The homework packets are anywhere from 15-20 multipart problems to around 40 shorter problems, and involve heavy computation. Even if your child was racing through it there's no way to do it in less than 20 minutes.

For kids in the math team, they learnt to manage time and work efficiently and skillfully through numerous competitions, and one question in half minute is nothing for them. They also got used to the concept and strategy of proofing quite early because higher-level math competition (and rigorous college math) require this skill (e.g., ARML, JMO and above). Go watch some mathcounts national level competition on youtube. You'll see how good they can be. Happy living in your well Mr. Frog.

The people you are lying to know what you are talking about.

Not one of the contests you mentioned has problems to solve at a rate of faster than 1minute/problem, except for Math counts countdown round which is specifically designed to be exciting to watch, where the winning students GUESS the one-word answers before thinking, by voice without writing, and get many incorrect.

So unless your student is guessing answers (not proofs!) on their homework, they aren't doing the problems in under a minute each.

If I'm wrong, your kid could make some pizza money with an entertaining niche streaming channel on Twitch.

Mathcounts regular rounds are 40 minutes for 30 problems and 6 minutes for 2 problems, and even the winners are not expected to solve all of them correctly.

ARML Individual is 10 minutes per 2 questions.
(Relay round is 1-2 minutes per question, as a special speed round.)

AMC is 70 minutes for 25 questions.

AIME is 15 minutes per question.

None of the above require proofs or showing any work at all.

JMO is 90 minutes per question.

Please tell us what your 8th grader did that was "above JMO".

Furthermore, all on these are tests are material that students learned a year before and thoroughly studied and practiced, not the first day of seeing new material.

I know even AMC8 is something like one problem every 1.6 minutes! Nobody could learn time management from that!

[Anonymous]

PP, it's over. Find a new topic to obsess over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question for parents of former Functions students: does the homework level get more intense as the year progresses? My kid is doing okay in Functions, but we are trying to figure out if the time commitment will get progressively more demanding as the year progresses (for spring semester planning purposes) or will it remain approximately the same?

TIA!

I seem to recall that it got pretty intense in 2nd quarter. But, it's been a while.

How was Q2 of Functions this year?

[Anonymous]

Hard.

[Anonymous]

Q3?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Q3?

harder

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any kind souls willing and able to snap a photo of a page of Functions or Precalculus homework and upload it somewhere (http://imgbb.com anonymous upload) as an example illustration?

Since every kid is different, seeing an example would help prospective parents and students calibrate their expectations.

(No need to comment to say "No" . "No" is implied if you don't comment.)

20-40minutes per night (or double that if you do block homework once every 2 nights).
30 exercise problems, or 10 guided proof problems (not requiring significant creativity), or a mix.

There is also a sheet of challenge/puzzle problems (not directly demonstrated n in class) for each unit, not daily.

It's all graded for effort, so it's OK to skip up to half of it if your child understands the material but is a slow worker (exercise problems) or your child has some ideas but can't completely solve the proof problems. If your child is stuck and not understanding the homework, but completes if after heroic struggle because the kid is smart and persistent, they would be more comfortable in Precalculus going at two-thirds pace through the same material.


Most students who join and stay in Functions have already completed Algebra 2 formally or informally, and have enjoyed studying math beyond school, to some extent. Functions (and Precalculus) evens that out and fills in the gaps a student may have before sending everyone to the same Calculus/Analysis course. Some students will find most of all of it easy review. Others will be learning more for the first time.

The syllabus says this:

"The assumption with this course is that you understand what is taught immediately (or almost immediately)."

"You should quickly move through the homework. The homework as a whole should not be quick. Homework will often be long and challenging. But when you begin a problem, you should generally know what to do. "