Geometry in the summer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has any ones rising 8th grader taken Geometry H in the summer and Algebra 2 H in 8th. How was the experience. What grades did they get.

dadddy

[Anonymous]

1

[Anonymous]

Unless your kids are super smart and far advanced in math comparing to peers, summer Geometry Honor is not a good choice. I made the wrong decision not to stop my daughter taking it last summer and regretted my choice now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless your kids are super smart and far advanced in math comparing to peers, summer Geometry Honor is not a good choice. I made the wrong decision not to stop my daughter taking it last summer and regretted my choice now.

My daughter moved to Fairfax county in 6th grade so had no chance to take Algebra I in 7th grade. She is talented in math but still summer geometry did not soak her well enough into a good understanding of geometry concepts and proofs. The consequence was quite obvious, she was not AIME qualified in 8th largely because she could not solve geometry problems fast enough.

[Anonymous]

Algebra 1 in 7th grade AAP FCPS is not mandatory. It's Math 7 honors. Algebra 1 taken in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

My daughter took Geometry after 8th grade, it was 2020 so there wasn't much going on that summer anyway. She really had to work hard and her grade was lower than we expected. She just got a 760 math SAT so that work may have paid off.

[Anonymous]

An advantage to summer Geometry is that the follow-on Algebra class starts only 3 months later, not 12 months later. So less Algebra brain-drain. Summer Geometry really IS a huge amount of work, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless your kids are super smart and far advanced in math comparing to peers, summer Geometry Honor is not a good choice. I made the wrong decision not to stop my daughter taking it last summer and regretted my choice now.

My daughter moved to Fairfax county in 6th grade so had no chance to take Algebra I in 7th grade. She is talented in math but still summer geometry did not soak her well enough into a good understanding of geometry concepts and proofs. The consequence was quite obvious, she was not AIME qualified in 8th largely because she could not solve geometry problems fast enough.

I doubt a one-year honors geometry class would have brought her to the AIME-qualification level, either. If summer geometry allowed her to take competition math during the school year, or if she had been willing to spend the extra hours, she would have had a better shot. That being said, making AIME is extremely difficult even for talented high school students, so there's no reason to be crestfallen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ Admissions require that kids

1) Have a minimum GPA of 3.5
2) Complete Algebra 1 by the end of 8th grade
3) Take Honors math and science in 7th and 8th grade
4) Take at least one other honors class

Then there is the test that is solving a math problem and explaining their answer and the essays that they write.

Most of the kids, I am remembering something like 75% of the kids in the Freshman class this year had Algebra and Geometry. Someone FOIA'ed the stats for the current class and I think I am remembering that it was a very high percentage of the current Freshmen had Algebra and Geometry.

There is no bonus for taking Algebra II for getting into TJ. Let your kid take their math classes in school and enjoy their summer.

The answer above is from 2022.

Does anyone know what percentage of the current 8th graders admitted for next school year’s freshman class are in Algebra I non-honors?

What about the percentage in Algebra I Honors this year, and admitted to TJ for next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless your kids are super smart and far advanced in math comparing to peers, summer Geometry Honor is not a good choice. I made the wrong decision not to stop my daughter taking it last summer and regretted my choice now.

My daughter moved to Fairfax county in 6th grade so had no chance to take Algebra I in 7th grade. She is talented in math but still summer geometry did not soak her well enough into a good understanding of geometry concepts and proofs. The consequence was quite obvious, she was not AIME qualified in 8th largely because she could not solve geometry problems fast enough.

lol, I promise you FCPS geometry would not have made a difference for AIME qualification. If she hadn't taken geometry the summer before 8th, wouldn't she need to take it in 9th (algebra 1 in 8th), when it wouldn't have mattered for AIME?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless your kids are super smart and far advanced in math comparing to peers, summer Geometry Honor is not a good choice. I made the wrong decision not to stop my daughter taking it last summer and regretted my choice now.

My daughter moved to Fairfax county in 6th grade so had no chance to take Algebra I in 7th grade. She is talented in math but still summer geometry did not soak her well enough into a good understanding of geometry concepts and proofs. The consequence was quite obvious, she was not AIME qualified in 8th largely because she could not solve geometry problems fast enough.

If you want your child to do well in math competitions you probably should have them taking math competition classes and not regular math classes. DS is in 6th grade and has already learned a ton of Algebra and Geometry in his math competition classes.

I would argues that summer Geometry is a pretty bad idea for any student because it rushes the material and does not allow a child who is just being exposed to it to really get comfortable with the material. A kid who has completed RSM or AoPS Geometry track before 8th grade would probably be fine doing summer geometry because they have already been exposed tot he material in a reasonably rigorous manner. But just taking geometry int he summer is not a good plan for learning geometry.