Alg 2 and Pre-calc at same time?
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Anonymous
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This feels like a question where I already know the answer but I graduated from high school with Alg 2 and somehow placed out of all college math classes. My rising sophomore wants to take both alg 2 and pre-calculus at the same time. I think this is setting herself up for failure as she progresses in school beyond the foundational classes. She wants to be an aerospace engineer and gets in the high 90s in math (currently Honors Geometry). She is also teaching herself physics on her own time.
I am also hesitant about taking alg 2 during the summer because it's so fast. For those that have been there/done that with kids who want to accelerate, what do you think? |
Anonymous
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Precalc builds on the concepts in Alg 2, so simultaneous is NOT a good idea.
What school grade currently? If 8th, then in 11th take Calc BC, succeed in the difficult class, and do MV Calc in Sr year. |
Anonymous
| Thanks. Currently a freshman in HS. |
Anonymous
| Did you post this before? |
Anonymous
Calc BC as a senior is generally fine. You might want to try doing a CTY course, perhaps starting in January, if skipping ahead means a lot to you. |
Anonymous
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It totally depends on her. I'd she is able and willing to do the work, it's fine. The magnet programs accelerate algebra 2/precalculus. If she's already going into 10th, accelerating into precalculus isn't extreme.
But there are other options for doing additional math, outside of school, like the AoPS/RSM contest math (disrete math, combinatorics, probability, and number theory), or AoPS/RSM enriched algebra. |
Anonymous
No and I did a search but didn't find anything like this question. I'll search again. |
Anonymous
No and I did a search but didn't find anything like this question. I'll search again. |
Anonymous
Thanks. I'll talk with her about these other options. I think she is trying to do it to be more attractive to select engineering schools. |
Anonymous
| Although I think it's a bad idea to rush through this material. you could take precalc in summer school after completing A2 if you were determined to do it. |
Anonymous
Did you post this before? |
Anonymous
| 🙄 |
Anonymous
This is largely not true Algebra 2 covers polynomials and functions of degree 3 and higher, and rectangular complex numbers. Precalculus covers trigonometry (advanced geometry and algebra of angles), vectors and matrices (linear algebra in 2+ dimensions), parametric functions, and polar coordinates including polar complex numbers. There is only a small amount of dependency, mainly in the complex numbers part. There is wide variation in how schools and districts and textbooks choose to order the topics in Algebra 2 and Precalculus. |
Anonymous
Some precalculus classes cover a lot of polynomials, some algebra 2 classes cover a good amount of trigonometry. It is likely possible with a lot of support, but just throwing in the student in both classes is asking for trouble, especially if we’re talking about honors versions. How do you recover if they do bad in both classes? Much better to take it slowly and get solid As, then rush through with a bunch of Bs. |
Anonymous
It depends on interest, ability, and time availability. Take your algebra 1 student and point them at Khan Academy Algebra 2. If they are intuitively good a math, they will find most of the material extremely familiar, just more complicated,. If they can work out what's going on quickly, they can handle it. Or just check their MAP score. 300 is ready for precalculus. |