Post calculus classes in HS

[Anonymous]

DS will take calc BC as a junior and will have several options for math classes senior year, including MVC, linear algebra, and an advanced math seminar. If he takes MVC and/or linear algebra, will he likely need to repeat in college?

Similarly, he will take physics C mechanics junior year. If he takes E&M senior year, will he be able to start with advanced physics in college?

[Anonymous]

My engineering majors chose to start in Calc 2 and Physics 1 despite having taken MV and both physics at the highschool AP level. I have two engineers at different colleges and both schools cautioned that it was better to “repeat” some of these foundational classes at the college level because they are more in depth than the HS version and you don’t want knowledge gaps as you take the upper level courses. Both found them challenging despite some of the material being a “repeat”. Unless you’re really trying to save $ by advancing quickly and graduating early, I would not try to skip the foundation classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My engineering majors chose to start in Calc 2 and Physics 1 despite having taken MV and both physics at the highschool AP level. I have two engineers at different colleges and both schools cautioned that it was better to “repeat” some of these foundational classes at the college level because they are more in depth than the HS version and you don’t want knowledge gaps as you take the upper level courses. Both found them challenging despite some of the material being a “repeat”. Unless you’re really trying to save $ by advancing quickly and graduating early, I would not try to skip the foundation classes.

Thanks. I think he should take other electives in HS and leave the foundation classes to college. DS disagrees.

[Anonymous]

I would still take them in HS, but use them as an introduction to the college coursework, just don’t plan to skip them in college. If he wants to do engineering it will be good to have some foundation because it’s very challenging at most schools.

[Anonymous]

I have a math major at VT who took MV/LA in HS. He did not need to repeat them and is a very successful sophomore, currently

[Anonymous]

I guess I don’t see the harm in having to repeat them in college. It’s a big adjustment to college academics so if they have a couple of classes where they can easily do well…then great!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don’t see the harm in having to repeat them in college. It’s a big adjustment to college academics so if they have a couple of classes where they can easily do well…then great!!

Careful in this. There are weed out classes that it doesn't matter if you are repeating or not. Check first before repeating. It's best to avoid weed-out classes which are Freshman/Sophomore level classes. Weed out is when a college accepts more kids for a program then they have slots for.

There are a lot of MIT Engineers that graduated with a Business degree.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the university. My current 1st year engineering student at UMD will not have to repeat MVC or physics.

[Anonymous]

Careful in this. There are weed out classes that it doesn't matter if you are repeating or not. Check first before repeating. It's best to avoid weed-out classes which are Freshman/Sophomore level classes. Weed out is when a college accepts more kids for a program then they have slots for.

There are a lot of MIT Engineers that graduated with a Business degree.

If a kid ends up getting weeded out based on performance in a class they are repeating from high school, they probably didn't belong in the program. There's no shame in shoring up foundations.

[Anonymous]

What would be the next step for your DC after mvc/la?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS will take calc BC as a junior and will have several options for math classes senior year, including MVC, linear algebra, and an advanced math seminar. If he takes MVC and/or linear algebra, will he likely need to repeat in college?

Similarly, he will take physics C mechanics junior year. If he takes E&M senior year, will he be able to start with advanced physics in college?

Both Physics and Math courses, it's better not skip over courses in college. Your smart kid will struggle. Universities are nothing like HS or Community Colleges.

[Anonymous]

My DC took MV Calc, Linear Alg, and Multivariable Equations as Dual Enrollment in HS. He was able to get credit for all of these at his top 20 private university so does not have to repeat them. He also got credit for Calc BC since he got a 5 on the AP exam. He took Physics C as well, but only got a 4 on the APs for both Mech and EM so he didn't get credit as his university only gives credit for a 5 in that one. Each school differs in what they will award. For the DE classes, my son had to submit the syllabi from the class for the registrar to compare.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on how rigorous the HS class was and how rigorous the college class is where your DC will attend. I'm reasonably confident my DC got a decent Calc BC teacher and class, because on practice tests for the AP BC Calc exam they consistently scored above 90% of points, whereas the cut off for an AP score of 5 is only 60-something percent. I am less certain about the rigor of the MV class so DC will likely repeat calc 3.

[Anonymous]

One option is to retake the class in college as an extra class. If you've already taken it, then retaking it shouldn't be a big workload. And if they don't want to worry about wasting time on all the assignments, they could audit it or take it pass/fail, if that's an option. I took AP physics and then took physics 101 as a 5th course (in a school where the standard load was 4 courses) pass/fail freshman year as a refresher.

But it's really going to depend on how the course is taught in HS and college. My child is took calc BC as a junior and is taking discrete math as a 12th grader, but the teacher was clear that he was not teaching a college level class, and that the students would not be ready to skip discrete math in college, but if they took it they would probably find it pretty easy since they'd have already seen most of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One option is to retake the class in college as an extra class. If you've already taken it, then retaking it shouldn't be a big workload. And if they don't want to worry about wasting time on all the assignments, they could audit it or take it pass/fail, if that's an option. I took AP physics and then took physics 101 as a 5th course (in a school where the standard load was 4 courses) pass/fail freshman year as a refresher.

But it's really going to depend on how the course is taught in HS and college. My child is took calc BC as a junior and is taking discrete math as a 12th grader, but the teacher was clear that he was not teaching a college level class, and that the students would not be ready to skip discrete math in college, but if they took it they would probably find it pretty easy since they'd have already seen most of it.

A big difference between calculus in hs and in college is the use of calculators. Some professors in college will outright ban them for tests and many will only allow a basic one. Many hs kids cheat on learning calculus because they rely on demos or a TI-84/nspire.