Skipping Math Sr Year - Looking for BTDT Advice (IB School)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one topic that parents/students don't realize as they begin to take HS level mathematics courses in middle school (and earlier). Colleges want to see 4 years of mathematics taken in high school. Unfortunately, families don't understand this as they begin accelerating in mathematics and it hurts many students in their future academic years.

There are plenty of opportunities to spread out math at the end of high school if a kid get in over their head. 2 year calculus (AB and BC), and AP or honors Stats.
Padding AI + AA at an IB school like OP.

It's only a problem if the kid somehow gets 2 years ahead of what they can handle and doesn't notice until senior year.

It appears that OP's kid is in a medium-performing school, and IB is enrichment not acceleration. The kid didn't run out of math; the kid just doesn't like math and is trying to avoid it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one topic that parents/students don't realize as they begin to take HS level mathematics courses in middle school (and earlier). Colleges want to see 4 years of mathematics taken in high school. Unfortunately, families don't understand this as they begin accelerating in mathematics and it hurts many students in their future academic years.

There are plenty of opportunities to spread out math at the end of high school if a kid get in over their head. 2 year calculus (AB and BC), and AP or honors Stats.
Padding AI + AA at an IB school like OP.

It's only a problem if the kid somehow gets 2 years ahead of what they can handle and doesn't notice until senior year.

It appears that OP's kid is in a medium-performing school, and IB is enrichment not acceleration. The kid didn't run out of math; the kid just doesn't like math and is trying to avoid it.

We are pupil placing out of IB for this very reason, well a bit different. My kid loves math and we want better math options for him which are not available at IB schools.

[Anonymous]

I am not an admissions counselor but a math teacher and I would recommend your kid take something senior year. She could even take a half semester online precalc, college alg or stats class at a community college.

AI SL is not a rigorous math class. It is not any harder than Alg 2 and many units are easier. Have her take something, also so that she doesn’t forget everything before college. She will have to take some math in college and she will go an entire year without math if she doesn’t. It will be much harder for her in the next class.

[Anonymous]

Math is the universal language of everything. Don't stop. I don't want to fortell the future, but humanities is trending towards "hobbies".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one topic that parents/students don't realize as they begin to take HS level mathematics courses in middle school (and earlier). Colleges want to see 4 years of mathematics taken in high school. Unfortunately, families don't understand this as they begin accelerating in mathematics and it hurts many students in their future academic years.

There are plenty of opportunities to spread out math at the end of high school if a kid get in over their head. 2 year calculus (AB and BC), and AP or honors Stats.
Padding AI + AA at an IB school like OP.

It's only a problem if the kid somehow gets 2 years ahead of what they can handle and doesn't notice until senior year.

It appears that OP's kid is in a medium-performing school, and IB is enrichment not acceleration. The kid didn't run out of math; the kid just doesn't like math and is trying to avoid it.

We are pupil placing out of IB for this very reason, well a bit different. My kid loves math and we want better math options for him which are not available at IB schools.

I've been hearing this term "pupil placing". What is that and how can it be used for someone who is not taking IB Math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one topic that parents/students don't realize as they begin to take HS level mathematics courses in middle school (and earlier). Colleges want to see 4 years of mathematics taken in high school. Unfortunately, families don't understand this as they begin accelerating in mathematics and it hurts many students in their future academic years.

There are plenty of opportunities to spread out math at the end of high school if a kid get in over their head. 2 year calculus (AB and BC), and AP or honors Stats.
Padding AI + AA at an IB school like OP.

It's only a problem if the kid somehow gets 2 years ahead of what they can handle and doesn't notice until senior year.

It appears that OP's kid is in a medium-performing school, and IB is enrichment not acceleration. The kid didn't run out of math; the kid just doesn't like math and is trying to avoid it.

We are pupil placing out of IB for this very reason, well a bit different. My kid loves math and we want better math options for him which are not available at IB schools.

I've been hearing this term "pupil placing". What is that and how can it be used for someone who is not taking IB Math?

Pupil placing is when you ask for your child to attend a different school. In high school, kids will pupil place from IB schools to AP school or AP schools to IB schools or sometimes for a specific foreign language. If you do pupil place for a program you are required to participated in those classes. So if you pupil place for a language you have to take that language each year at the school. AP/IB students have to take a certain number of AP/IB classes. You have to renew your placement each year.

[Anonymous]

Could she take AP Stats online? If she is looking at small, not very selective LAC it may be okay to not have a math. But not every school will accept SL credit, so she would have to still take a math in college.

My child is doing Analysis HL as a junior (will take SL test junior year and HL test senior year for credit) and will be taking DE multivariable calc. But she wants to do stem, so it makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one topic that parents/students don't realize as they begin to take HS level mathematics courses in middle school (and earlier). Colleges want to see 4 years of mathematics taken in high school. Unfortunately, families don't understand this as they begin accelerating in mathematics and it hurts many students in their future academic years.

I agree.

I am the person who posted about the 2 siblings with nearly identical stats and activities.

The one who was more advanced in math and finished calculus junior year was my first. I had no idea that my oldest would be penalized for taking econ instead of math. I just assumed that because they were a year ahead in math compared to most of their graduating class, and because they had great stats and were going into humanities that they would be well set up for successful applications. We were so wrong.

I wished the counselor would have told us directly that because their stats put them in range for more competitive achools, that they must take math senior year, even if it meant repeating calculus via BC or multivariable.

We did not make that mistake with our second kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a high achieving senior who is a humanities student. She is not taking math this year (she took ap precalculus last year). I told her at length about how much schools want to see calculus. She did not listen to me. I assumed her hs counselor would try to encourage her to take math. NOPE! The counselor happily signed off on the course request without batting an eye or making any comments at all. My permission was not needed and there was nothing I could do about it.

Just for the record, there is something you can do about it.

Just email the counselor and tell her that under no circumstance is your rising senior allowed to create at schedule without a senior year math class, or with the free period.

The school will listen to you if you put it that way.

-Been there done that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one topic that parents/students don't realize as they begin to take HS level mathematics courses in middle school (and earlier). Colleges want to see 4 years of mathematics taken in high school. Unfortunately, families don't understand this as they begin accelerating in mathematics and it hurts many students in their future academic years.

There are plenty of opportunities to spread out math at the end of high school if a kid get in over their head. 2 year calculus (AB and BC), and AP or honors Stats.
Padding AI + AA at an IB school like OP.

It's only a problem if the kid somehow gets 2 years ahead of what they can handle and doesn't notice until senior year.

It appears that OP's kid is in a medium-performing school, and IB is enrichment not acceleration. The kid didn't run out of math; the kid just doesn't like math and is trying to avoid it.

We are pupil placing out of IB for this very reason, well a bit different. My kid loves math and we want better math options for him which are not available at IB schools.

I've been hearing this term "pupil placing". What is that and how can it be used for someone who is not taking IB Math?

Pupil placing is a program FCPS has in place to allow students with engaged parents to escape unwanted, usually lower performing, IB schools and transfer into a neighboring, high performing AP high school without moving.

FCPS put IB into almost exclusively the lower performing high schools. The IB results are abysmal at everwhere but Robinson. Some of the schools have fewer than 10 IB diplomas. Hundreds of high performing students transfer out of the IB schools to AP schools each year, which creates a vicious curcle because it lowers the test scores of those schools, which causes more families to use IB to transfer to desired AP schools. IB costs millions to run, in spite of having terrible results in FCPS (except for Robinson) and causing soooo many IB students to pupil place to AP schools.

FCPS refuses to get rid of IB in spite of it being such a failure in FCPS. FCPS likes the IB buzz words and marketing, and the fact that it is European.