Struggling in Hon Precalculus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drop down to non-honors precalc.

+1
Sounds like a lot of hand wringing and anxiety over this. Change it now before he cannot switch out.

[Anonymous]

A lot of online math sites only have basic problems that only cover the concept being taught at that time. Most Precal teachers test multiple concepts together so if you don't have a good foundation in the material it will become confusing and lead to a low grade.

If you look at MCAP a large percentage of MCPS students are in this situation but I think being at Wooton many kids probably have tutors or did review on their own.

[Anonymous]

*LOTS* of kids who have been in Honors all along drop to regular for pre calc. It's kind of normal.

[Anonymous]

I am confused. I thought dcum land believes that mcps ‘honors’ classes are a joke and that the on level classes are remedial. Then why are ‘honors’ kids struggling in honors precalculus and are recommended to drop down to on level/regular precalculus?

[Anonymous]

Many students are remedial level at precalc, because honors alg 2 is weak.

[Anonymous]

Honors Pre-Cal is notoriously difficult. You either struggle through it or drop down. Both options are fine and lead to a student taking Calculus.

Figure out what matters most for your kid and make the choice.

[Anonymous]

What grade is he in?

This is unsurprising if he did Alg 2 in middle school, for example.

What math did he take during the main Covid virtual year (2020-2021?) Algebra 1? That year MCPS officially cancelled a big chunk of Algebra content and waived end of year testing. So if you didn't supplement at home, you had a time bomb lurking through Geometry, and Algebra 2 might have seemed easy because the teachers were showing short-sighted post-Covid grace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What grade is he in?

This is unsurprising if he did Alg 2 in middle school, for example.

What math did he take during the main Covid virtual year (2020-2021?) Algebra 1? That year MCPS officially cancelled a big chunk of Algebra content and waived end of year testing. So if you didn't supplement at home, you had a time bomb lurking through Geometry, and Algebra 2 might have seemed easy because the teachers were showing short-sighted post-Covid grace.

NP! This is exactly what DC is experiencing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What grade is he in?

This is unsurprising if he did Alg 2 in middle school, for example.

What math did he take during the main Covid virtual year (2020-2021?) Algebra 1? That year MCPS officially cancelled a big chunk of Algebra content and waived end of year testing. So if you didn't supplement at home, you had a time bomb lurking through Geometry, and Algebra 2 might have seemed easy because the teachers were showing short-sighted post-Covid grace.

This is why I had my kid retake Algebra 1 in 8th grade.

Seems this is a common problem now for kids that were over-accelerated and then missed a lot of Algebra content.

[Anonymous]

At B-CC anyway, several tutors have stated some of the material covered is at a level of AP Calc BC. My impression is the curriculum for this class can vary.

[Anonymous]

My kid went to on level for PreCalc and then took Calculus with Applications. He could have taken AB, but decided against it. On level PreCalc filled in a lot of the holes from Algebra 2 too.

[Anonymous]

Interested in this thread as it sounds similar to my kid in the Blair magnet, except they so far have an A, but expect that to change. Home work seems to average 2 hours a night or more. Kid is working really hard. But there isn’t enough time in class to take the quizzes. They had end of unit tests this week and it sounds like kid was able to complete less than half the quiz in time available (30 mins). Expecting their grade to tank. And, it turns out this was the same for most of the other kids, with some not even fully completing a single question! Teacher doesn’t teach in class so the kids are just relying on their hours of homework as practice. They can get it right but not under conditions of speed.

[Anonymous]

If you need a tutor, you are in the wrong class.

[Anonymous]

What was his MAPM scores in 9th and 10th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you need a tutor, you are in the wrong class.

+1