Struggling in Hon Precalculus
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Anonymous
| My son is taking Hon Precalculus and is struggling massively. He has always had straight As in math without much effort up to now. Right now he has a D average. He is up every night for an hour or two doing math homework, he gets on average 15-20 problems each night. He tried Kahn Academy but it’s very basic and he says he understands the concepts but there is not enough time on the assessments and he is anxious and rushing. WWYD? Ask to be moved down to regular precalculus? Get him a tutor? |
Anonymous
| Is he in the Blair magnet? Been hearing a lot of this because of the teacher. |
Anonymous
| Drop down to non-honors precalc. |
Anonymous
| OP here. He is not at Blair. He is in Wootton. |
Anonymous
|
This is pretty normal OP and yes I'd consider dropping to regular Precal. They usually spend more time doing review so you ease into the topics a bit more. It would give him a bit of a reset because he'll probably have time to repeat whatever gave him trouble these past few weeks.
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Anonymous
| OP here. If he drops to Precalculus is the next option Calculus with apps? He is not going to be able to take Calculus AB next year? |
Anonymous
| Honors precalc is notoriously the hardest math class most kids will see in MCPS. |
Anonymous
| Its hard. We have a parent helping our child but if not, I'd get a tutor. |
Anonymous
No at our school they do Calc A/B after Precal but I'm pretty sure you could go to Calc B/C or Calc with apps if you wanted to do that too. Most high schools are not that strict at following certain pathways at that level of math. |
Anonymous
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We’re a Wootton family. There should be free peer tutoring available through the honor society. It was recommended for my son last year in honors geometry. You can ask his counselor for info.
If he moves to on level, I wouldn’t worry about missing out on AP calc unless he is planning a math heavy major like engineering. My oldest is at UMD and took Calc with Apps senior year. It was a non-issue. We know another Wootton grad at UMD who took stats instead of calc and that’s the path my son plans to take. Of course, I realize your son may have a different college target. |
Anonymous
| drop and get a tutor |
Anonymous
| Poor kid - sounds like he is struggling despite really hard work. I would have him drop down. If he is still struggling, get him a tutor. He can still take A/B next year. |
Anonymous
| DD is a straight A honor student but decided that the honors math classes move too fast for her. She likes math and wants to fully grasp what she is learning before moving on to the next concept She is taking on-level pre-calc as a sophomore and loving it. It’s fine. Her future won’t be dictated by this. |
Anonymous
| DD is at a different W school struggling with honors precalculus as a junior. Got As in Algebra 1 & 2 and Geometry and has a low B in this class despite enormous effort. She’s now seeing the teacher 3 mornings a week before school or at lunch along with 1/4 of the class. The last test was so hard almost everyone failed and the teacher stopped grading and offered a retake. It’s really hard, OP. Reassure your DS he’s not the only one. |
Anonymous
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Kid can choose from 3 levels of calculus based on their comfort level at the end of precalc. Obviously honors precalc is a good predictor of calc AB readiness, but it's not required.
"Precalc is hard" is the result of Algebra 1 and 2 being dragged down in challenge to meet the median student, but AP calculus has to be AP calculus, and precalculus has to bridge the gap. If khan is honestly too easy, then it may be a tough teacher/ grading scale. If the homework is ok but the tests are too hard, could be anxiety or too-hard short-time tests. What's example of the hardest homework problem he's OK with, and a problem he's not OK with? |