Struggling in Hon Precalculus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does your child supplement outside of MCPS? I looked at that test and I saw at least three topics that are not covered by MCPS Alg. 2 so it's odd that your child could magically get 100% of those questions right.

OP here. Like I posted elsewhere DS does AoPS. This is the first year he is not going to do it because of another activity.

IMO, your two options are go to regular Precal or stay in honors, with or without a tutor, and don't worry about the grade too much. He's absorbing the material which will mean higher level classes will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does your child supplement outside of MCPS? I looked at that test and I saw at least three topics that are not covered by MCPS Alg. 2 so it's odd that your child could magically get 100% of those questions right.

OP here. Like I posted elsewhere DS does AoPS. This is the first year he is not going to do it because of another activity.

IMO, your two options are go to regular Precal or stay in honors, with or without a tutor, and don't worry about the grade too much. He's absorbing the material which will mean higher level classes will be fine.

The OP said “struggling massively”. That’s the opposite of being fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does your child supplement outside of MCPS? I looked at that test and I saw at least three topics that are not covered by MCPS Alg. 2 so it's odd that your child could magically get 100% of those questions right.

OP here. Like I posted elsewhere DS does AoPS. This is the first year he is not going to do it because of another activity.

IMO, your two options are go to regular Precal or stay in honors, with or without a tutor, and don't worry about the grade too much. He's absorbing the material which will mean higher level classes will be fine.

The OP said “struggling massively”. That’s the opposite of being fine.

Read the updates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does your child supplement outside of MCPS? I looked at that test and I saw at least three topics that are not covered by MCPS Alg. 2 so it's odd that your child could magically get 100% of those questions right.

OP here. Like I posted elsewhere DS does AoPS. This is the first year he is not going to do it because of another activity.

IMO, your two options are go to regular Precal or stay in honors, with or without a tutor, and don't worry about the grade too much. He's absorbing the material which will mean higher level classes will be fine.

The OP said “struggling massively”. That’s the opposite of being fine.

Read the updates.

Yeah, things really improved from Thursday night to Sunday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow Op back. This thread evolved into something I did not intend it to evolve into. For those who are saying that I am trying to manipulate the thread by posting and not identifying myself, you are welcome to ask Jeff to check. I gave my son the AOPs test and he got 100% of the questions right. He had 36 problems assigned on Friday due Monday and he finished them all. We found answers on quizlet and all but 3 are correct (assuming that quizlet is correct). His says his issue is that all the quizzes are pop quizzes and he gets anxious and forgets the definitions of functions. They have 20 minutes for quizzes. I will get him a tutor and make sure that they check for gaps in his foundational skills.

That’s just bizarre to check your son’s precalculus homework by looking for problems and answers on quizlet. Yet he did 100% on AOPS, but forgets definitions of functions. OP’s story is really strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow Op back. This thread evolved into something I did not intend it to evolve into. For those who are saying that I am trying to manipulate the thread by posting and not identifying myself, you are welcome to ask Jeff to check. I gave my son the AOPs test and he got 100% of the questions right. He had 36 problems assigned on Friday due Monday and he finished them all. We found answers on quizlet and all but 3 are correct (assuming that quizlet is correct). His says his issue is that all the quizzes are pop quizzes and he gets anxious and forgets the definitions of functions. They have 20 minutes for quizzes. I will get him a tutor and make sure that they check for gaps in his foundational skills.

That’s just bizarre to check your son’s precalculus homework by looking for problems and answers on quizlet. Yet he did 100% on AOPS, but forgets definitions of functions. OP’s story is really strange.

That’s the issue with accelerating kids in math when they shouldn’t be. You have a student getting all As in all honors Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2, and get to honors precalculus, but can’t remember the definition of a function, a concept taught in pre-algebra. Im not surprised he’s getting a D so far, the real question is how did he get As in previous honors classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does your child supplement outside of MCPS? I looked at that test and I saw at least three topics that are not covered by MCPS Alg. 2 so it's odd that your child could magically get 100% of those questions right.

OP here. Like I posted elsewhere DS does AoPS. This is the first year he is not going to do it because of another activity.

IMO, your two options are go to regular Precal or stay in honors, with or without a tutor, and don't worry about the grade too much. He's absorbing the material which will mean higher level classes will be fine.

The OP said “struggling massively”. That’s the opposite of being fine.

Read the updates.

Yeah, things really improved from Thursday night to Sunday.

She explained what she meant by that. To me it sounds like the teacher is unnecessarily piling on tests that don’t allow enough time for a kid who understands the content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow Op back. This thread evolved into something I did not intend it to evolve into. For those who are saying that I am trying to manipulate the thread by posting and not identifying myself, you are welcome to ask Jeff to check. I gave my son the AOPs test and he got 100% of the questions right. He had 36 problems assigned on Friday due Monday and he finished them all. We found answers on quizlet and all but 3 are correct (assuming that quizlet is correct). His says his issue is that all the quizzes are pop quizzes and he gets anxious and forgets the definitions of functions. They have 20 minutes for quizzes. I will get him a tutor and make sure that they check for gaps in his foundational skills.

That’s just bizarre to check your son’s precalculus homework by looking for problems and answers on quizlet. Yet he did 100% on AOPS, but forgets definitions of functions. OP’s story is really strange.

That’s the issue with accelerating kids in math when they shouldn’t be. You have a student getting all As in all honors Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2, and get to honors precalculus, but can’t remember the definition of a function, a concept taught in pre-algebra. Im not surprised he’s getting a D so far, the real question is how did he get As in previous honors classes.

Indeed. But then again, this kind of uneveness in performance from one teacher to the next or from the classroom to a standardized national or state exam is rampant in MCPS due to grade inflation or just the variability of teachers doing things in different ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does your child supplement outside of MCPS? I looked at that test and I saw at least three topics that are not covered by MCPS Alg. 2 so it's odd that your child could magically get 100% of those questions right.

OP here. Like I posted elsewhere DS does AoPS. This is the first year he is not going to do it because of another activity.

IMO, your two options are go to regular Precal or stay in honors, with or without a tutor, and don't worry about the grade too much. He's absorbing the material which will mean higher level classes will be fine.

The OP said “struggling massively”. That’s the opposite of being fine.

Read the updates.

Yeah, things really improved from Thursday night to Sunday.

She explained what she meant by that. To me it sounds like the teacher is unnecessarily piling on tests that don’t allow enough time for a kid who understands the content.

+1
Although I don't agree with describing the teacher as "piling on" because it's unclear to me the teacher is doing anything wrong or excessive but just that the student works a bit more slowly than other students despite having a great grasp of the material.

I don't know why that other PP is obsessed with putting down OP and her child and finding flaws in her story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow Op back. This thread evolved into something I did not intend it to evolve into. For those who are saying that I am trying to manipulate the thread by posting and not identifying myself, you are welcome to ask Jeff to check. I gave my son the AOPs test and he got 100% of the questions right. He had 36 problems assigned on Friday due Monday and he finished them all. We found answers on quizlet and all but 3 are correct (assuming that quizlet is correct). His says his issue is that all the quizzes are pop quizzes and he gets anxious and forgets the definitions of functions. They have 20 minutes for quizzes. I will get him a tutor and make sure that they check for gaps in his foundational skills.

That’s just bizarre to check your son’s precalculus homework by looking for problems and answers on quizlet. Yet he did 100% on AOPS, but forgets definitions of functions. OP’s story is really strange.

That’s the issue with accelerating kids in math when they shouldn’t be. You have a student getting all As in all honors Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2, and get to honors precalculus, but can’t remember the definition of a function, a concept taught in pre-algebra. Im not surprised he’s getting a D so far, the real question is how did he get As in previous honors classes.

Indeed. But then again, this kind of uneveness in performance from one teacher to the next or from the classroom to a standardized national or state exam is rampant in MCPS due to grade inflation or just the variability of teachers doing things in different ways.

When College Board introduced AP Precalculus I thought it was a bad idea. Seeing now this huge variability in how classes are thought and the grade inflation of half the students getting As, I changed my mind. It’s great because it will put those grades in context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow Op back. This thread evolved into something I did not intend it to evolve into. For those who are saying that I am trying to manipulate the thread by posting and not identifying myself, you are welcome to ask Jeff to check. I gave my son the AOPs test and he got 100% of the questions right. He had 36 problems assigned on Friday due Monday and he finished them all. We found answers on quizlet and all but 3 are correct (assuming that quizlet is correct). His says his issue is that all the quizzes are pop quizzes and he gets anxious and forgets the definitions of functions. They have 20 minutes for quizzes. I will get him a tutor and make sure that they check for gaps in his foundational skills.

That’s just bizarre to check your son’s precalculus homework by looking for problems and answers on quizlet. Yet he did 100% on AOPS, but forgets definitions of functions. OP’s story is really strange.

That’s the issue with accelerating kids in math when they shouldn’t be. You have a student getting all As in all honors Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2, and get to honors precalculus, but can’t remember the definition of a function, a concept taught in pre-algebra. Im not surprised he’s getting a D so far, the real question is how did he get As in previous honors classes.

Indeed. But then again, this kind of uneveness in performance from one teacher to the next or from the classroom to a standardized national or state exam is rampant in MCPS due to grade inflation or just the variability of teachers doing things in different ways.

When College Board introduced AP Precalculus I thought it was a bad idea. Seeing now this huge variability in how classes are thought and the grade inflation of half the students getting As, I changed my mind. It’s great because it will put those grades in context.

We have MCAP (formerly PARCC). Don't need College Board for this.

[Anonymous]

MCAP is just a bad test though. Half the students getting As does not sound like grade inflation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does your child supplement outside of MCPS? I looked at that test and I saw at least three topics that are not covered by MCPS Alg. 2 so it's odd that your child could magically get 100% of those questions right.

OP here. Like I posted elsewhere DS does AoPS. This is the first year he is not going to do it because of another activity.

IMO, your two options are go to regular Precal or stay in honors, with or without a tutor, and don't worry about the grade too much. He's absorbing the material which will mean higher level classes will be fine.

The OP said “struggling massively”. That’s the opposite of being fine.

Read the updates.

Yeah, things really improved from Thursday night to Sunday.

She explained what she meant by that. To me it sounds like the teacher is unnecessarily piling on tests that don’t allow enough time for a kid who understands the content.

+1
Although I don't agree with describing the teacher as "piling on" because it's unclear to me the teacher is doing anything wrong or excessive but just that the student works a bit more slowly than other students despite having a great grasp of the material.

I don't know why that other PP is obsessed with putting down OP and her child and finding flaws in her story.

A freshman who is taking PRECALCULUS and previously got A's does not compute with the sudden onset of test anxiety. If test anxiety were the real issue, it would have shown up long before and he wouldn't have been able to progress so far in advance without accommodations.

I think OP and her son have no idea what the problem is and that's the issue. They need to diagnose the issue specifically, which is what many replies in this thread told her to do. She then came back and chalked it up to test anxiety, which does not make sense with all the other details she provided.

[Anonymous]

It makes perfect sense to me. I don't know her child in real life but I don't see why you don't think it's possible. HS is the start of a new stage of pressure with lots of different demands.

The child could also have undiagnosed ADHD or just low processing speed and could have compensated previously by being really smart. A Yale law school grad who is a friend of mine revealed once that he has really low processing speed, like 20th percentile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It makes perfect sense to me. I don't know her child in real life but I don't see why you don't think it's possible. HS is the start of a new stage of pressure with lots of different demands.

The child could also have undiagnosed ADHD or just low processing speed and could have compensated previously by being really smart. A Yale law school grad who is a friend of mine revealed once that he has really low processing speed, like 20th percentile.

And, here the diagnosis come with the I know someone ...