Start calculus in high school, dont enter college calculus cold

[Anonymous]

That’s the advice from DC, who had a tough time with calculus during their freshman year of college. Looking back, they really wished they’d taken calculus in high school—not to ace it, but just to get a first look. Jumping straight into a half year, semester-based college Calculus 1 course without any prior exposure felt overwhelming. A full-year high school course like AP Calculus AB could’ve been a helpful preview, giving them a solid starting point and making the transition much smoother. While many of DC’s peers skipped Calc 1 and went straight into Calc 2, DC learns at a slower pace and felt that even getting a B in high school calculus would’ve been far better than going in cold.

There’s been a lot of debate here about whether it’s better for students to wait until college to take calculus. I just wanted to share some feedback based on DC’s experience.

[Anonymous]

I agree with this.

I didn't have the option to take Calculus in high school. I was in Precalc in 12th grade thanks to falling back in 7th grade.

Calculus in college was quite fast-paced.

[Anonymous]

I took Calc AB in HS, got a 5 on the AP exam which earned college credit, then my major did not require any further math so I never even took math in college. Same with Statistics.

[Anonymous]

You are probably better off posting this in the FCPS forum because most of the kids in AAP will take calculus in HS. AAP kids will have Algebra no later then 8th grade and should be taking Calculus as a senior, with a good number taking it as a Junior and a few earlier. The ones who don’t take calculus in HS are the ones who are less likely to need calculus in college or will take one of the calculus classes designed for non engineering or math majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are probably better off posting this in the FCPS forum because most of the kids in AAP will take calculus in HS. AAP kids will have Algebra no later then 8th grade and should be taking Calculus as a senior, with a good number taking it as a Junior and a few earlier. The ones who don’t take calculus in HS are the ones who are less likely to need calculus in college or will take one of the calculus classes designed for non engineering or math majors.

+1 all AAP kids take calculus as a junior or senior. Dumb post, OP.

[Anonymous]

High school calculus is absolutely standard for academic STEM majors in college. What is the point of this post?

[Anonymous]

Not OP but wow, harsh.

Absolutely relevant to discussions about doing away with math acceleration, which was on the table a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but wow, harsh.

Absolutely relevant to discussions about doing away with math acceleration, which was on the table a few years ago.

Given that FCPS is piloting Algebra 1H for 6th graders, I think we can safely say that you can stop kicking that horse.

[Anonymous]

OP, what math classes did your student take in HS? Calculus is typical these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High school calculus is absolutely standard for academic STEM majors in college. What is the point of this post?

+1

If you don't take the highest level of math your hs offers, you probably aren't the kind of person who would be engaged enough to stick with a stem major. I hold the same view about humanities. If you don't take AP English, extra foreign language, and elective himanities courses in hs, assuming your school offers such things, are you really cut out for a humanities major in college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High school calculus is absolutely standard for academic STEM majors in college. What is the point of this post?

+1

If you don't take the highest level of math your hs offers, you probably aren't the kind of person who would be engaged enough to stick with a stem major. I hold the same view about humanities. If you don't take AP English, extra foreign language, and elective himanities courses in hs, assuming your school offers such things, are you really cut out for a humanities major in college?

thought provoking, definitely something to ponder about for teens!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High school calculus is absolutely standard for academic STEM majors in college. What is the point of this post?

+1

If you don't take the highest level of math your hs offers, you probably aren't the kind of person who would be engaged enough to stick with a stem major. I hold the same view about humanities. If you don't take AP English, extra foreign language, and elective himanities courses in hs, assuming your school offers such things, are you really cut out for a humanities major in college?

Most kids looking to attend top STEM schools will have AP English, History, and Government on their transcript, it is necessary to be competitive at the top STEM schools, even for STEM related fields. You can attend an Ivy without taking Calculus if you are applying for a humanities related field, those kids take AP Stats and are probably the ones that the AP Precalculus class was developed for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High school calculus is absolutely standard for academic STEM majors in college. What is the point of this post?

+1

If you don't take the highest level of math your hs offers, you probably aren't the kind of person who would be engaged enough to stick with a stem major. I hold the same view about humanities. If you don't take AP English, extra foreign language, and elective himanities courses in hs, assuming your school offers such things, are you really cut out for a humanities major in college?

Whatever happened to good old liberal arts majors? Where you dabbled, tried a bit of everything, figured out what you liked as you matured and learned to live away from home, and graduated with a BA.

[Anonymous]

Agreed

Years ago, I earned a STEM degree from a well known regional public university. Calc 101 (differential) had 45 students in my section. 43/45 had taken 1 full year of HS Calculus. Of the 43, 30/45 had taken either AP Calc AB or AP Calc BC. So the course (and also Calc 102 - integral) was paced rapidly -- more like review than de novo instruction. Like many STEM classes, it was graded on a bell curve (with the median set to 3.1 in that class).

The 2/45 of us without a full year of HS Calculus (Calc was not offered at our different HSs) were in a deep hole before first day of class. The curve and the lack of prior exposure meant we were always in the bottom half of the class -- even though we were diligent with homework, diligent with study, and we also camped out at office hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High school calculus is absolutely standard for academic STEM majors in college. What is the point of this post?

DP.

Many HSs in Virginia still do not offer HS Calculus - think about the many rural VA counties with 1 smallish HS. Same in other states across the USA.

So Calculus is common in FCPS or MCPS, but in lots of rural areas in most states, students do not have calculus as a HS math option.