calc BC in 8th grade at Takoma Park Middle?

[Anonymous]

At Blair magnet, if you took Geometry in 8th you go right into Magnet PreCal in 9th (some into Functions, which is even higher).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dc (now a 12th grader, so this was several years ago) had a friend whose parents wanted him to be able to test out of Alg II and move straight to precalculus in 8th grade, and MCPS would not let him skip the Alg II class no matter his skill level, the parents were told that taking the class was a grad requirement. So I can’t think of how a student would be able to be in calc as an 8th grader.

The only way I would know to do it is to take summer classes for credit and then you'd have to go to the high school for the calc class.

Students who take Algebra 1 as 6th graders would have to take their 8th grade math class at their high school anyway. There are buses to take them to first period math at the high school, and bus them back to first period at their middle school, since that works with the staggered starts of middle and high school. It works well if there are several students of the same school all taking the same class.

And yes, Algebra 2 is a requirement. You can skip something else, but you have to take Algebra 2 in some form or another. Usually kids skip Pre-calc.

Why skip pre cal?

For students with an interest in math, who take a class on the side and want to skip ahead to AP math classes and beyond. This is to show colleges that they're serious about a STEM major. Selective universities will have more in-depth math courses for undergrads than anything taught by the College Board, but it's to demonstrate interest and stand out.

This is pathetic and misinformed. Most serious stem kids are accepted into engineering programs and serious math and sciences having taken Calc in 12th grade -- meaning college accepted them without even seeing what their calc grades are. You are in a race to nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid met a child who is in Calc BC in 8th grade at Takoma Park Middle School. What is the path to get there? It would mean Algebra 1 in 4th grade (?) Doubling up of classes? Im so curious. How would a kid get there?

This isn’t true.

Agree, there are a few amazing mathletes in the 8th grade at TPMS. A couple even takes Algebra 2, but DC who goes there and is on the math team and knows the top math students says he'd never heard anything like this.

OP here. I guess the kid was lying. It was at an accepted students day at a private school. The kid was telling other kids that he was currently in Calc BC.
Sounds like his math skills are better than his social skills.

It makes sense that this isn't possible because there's no way that the private school could accommodate this. They max out at offering one year of math beyond Calculus--maybe they can eek out two (AP stats being one).
Not four years. The majority of kids (80%?) will take Calculus senior year and others will max out at pre-calc. Math geniuses are not their their wheel house.

It may be possible- there is one current 8th grader who took magnet geometry in grade 6. If he took Functions at Blair in grade 7, then he could conceivably be taking calculus this year.

[Anonymous]

A few years ago, most TPMS magnet kids took Alg 1 in 6th. Then MCPS changed it. Lots of kids who went to the elementary HGC’s (now also changed) all took Alg 1 in 6th at their home schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid met a child who is in Calc BC in 8th grade at Takoma Park Middle School. What is the path to get there? It would mean Algebra 1 in 4th grade (?) Doubling up of classes? Im so curious. How would a kid get there?

This isn’t true.

Agree, there are a few amazing mathletes in the 8th grade at TPMS. A couple even takes Algebra 2, but DC who goes there and is on the math team and knows the top math students says he'd never heard anything like this.

OP here. I guess the kid was lying. It was at an accepted students day at a private school. The kid was telling other kids that he was currently in Calc BC.
Sounds like his math skills are better than his social skills.

It makes sense that this isn't possible because there's no way that the private school could accommodate this. They max out at offering one year of math beyond Calculus--maybe they can eek out two (AP stats being one).
Not four years. The majority of kids (80%?) will take Calculus senior year and others will max out at pre-calc. Math geniuses are not their their wheel house.

It may be possible- there is one current 8th grader who took magnet geometry in grade 6. If he took Functions at Blair in grade 7, then he could conceivably be taking calculus this year.

OP-I don't think that child is lying. Some people on this board are confused because they don't understand how magnet math works.

TPMS students taking Algebra 2 and above go to Blair to take math and that child you are describing would have likely started at Blair in 7th taking a really advanced course called Functions which compresses Alg. 2 and Pre-cal. into one year. So that child would have picked up some acceleration just in that one year. The next course in that sequence is Analysis, which covers Calculus BC and more, for 8th grade if he continued in the higher magnet track. Alternatively he could have dropped "down" to Calculus BC in 8th to try to slow his roll, leaving more higher level course options for them in high school. It is not uncommon for TPMS students to decline the compressed path if they are invited and try to stretch out the remaining courses that are available. It's really a huge pain to leave the campus to meet the math requirement in your high school years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uhhhh these responses are weird, but I guess understandable considering the typical DCUM profile.

In my experience, 99% of the time, a kid would get there by being an extreme outlier math genius who (most likely) loves math and does it for fun. Not by having some striver parents hothouse them by pushing them through Algebra 2 in preschool or something.

The people reacting as if it were the latter ("horrendous") fail to see the most likely answer. It's more that the school has just enough outliers to create an actual demand for such a class-- whether offered at TPMS (I have no idea) or requiring busing to Blair.

I attended the Blair math-science magnet and knew a few kids who had finished Calculus before HS-- or took it in their freshman year-- at a time most kids graduating HS didn't even take calculus at all. They're mostly MacArthur Genius Grant awardees and math professors who will probably be up for the Fields Medal someday.

It is bizarre when you are talking about kids who start algebra in 6 or 7th grade. How much further do they need to be pushed ahead and how much are they really learning if they combine algebra and geometry.

You... completely missed my point. Am I taking crazy pills? The people I knew who did this did not have to be pushed. They did things like taught themselves algebra in early elementary school. They "really learned it." A friend of mine just solved a problem that had been unsolvable for 100 years. He didn't take calculus extra early because his pushy, awful parents wanted him to have something exciting to put on his college application.

Ah, yes. The old “my math genius friend solved an unsolvable math problem.” I’ve heard this one on DCUM a few times!

I think that PP is the same one who mentiones being a Blair alumnus every time the magnet comes up, and who seems VERY stuck in their identity as a former "gifted kid" despite admitting on another thread that none of this giftedness has really translated into adulthood.

As far as I can tell, Blair has produced three MacAurthur fellows but the ones working in math were different enough in age that PP could not have overlapped with both.

Yes, that is me. (Although I don't remember having mentioned my friend who solved the unsolvable problem before, but hey, it could've happened.) I had a snarky reply all ready, but I'll just respond like the nearly-reasonable human being that I am in real life.

Your and the PP's response encapsulate everything I was pointing out in my prior comments about the prevailing mentality on this board.

-No one could possibly know a person this brilliant.

-If you do and you mention it, you are just bragging to brag. Or perhaps you are simply a sad sack with nothing else in life to be proud of. It could not possibly be that you are answering the question at hand-- literally "what kind of kid does this thing?"-- with actual examples of students who attended TPMS and Blair... and did that thing.

-If you have not cured cancer-- or more to the point, did not attend HYP, and are not currently earning a 7-figure salary-- you are "admitting" (admitting) that your giftedness didn't "translate" into adulthood. How does giftedness properly translate into adulthood, I wonder? Only if it pays off in money or prestige, right? Preferably both. And that's a universal belief, is it?

-If you write a sentence that includes the plural of the word "awardee," and the plural of the word "professor" ("who will probably be up for the Fields medal") you must literally be talking about more than one of each, rather than being colloquial and a bit slapdash. I admit it. I only personally knew one of each during my time at Blair. Maybe there are more-- probably more plain old, lowly math professors, anyway (a shame their giftedness didn't translate all that well into adulthood). But I didn't know them personally or haven't kept up with them. In any event, my apologies for being unclear.

But more to the point... none of this is bragging. Maybe that's the only circumstance under which you would mention, it, but all I am attempting to do is defend the parents who, it is being implied, were or are pushing their children beyond their capabilities. And apparently only because they hope their kid's giftedness pays off in money or prestige, right? "Translates" properly into adulthood? That's the only reason for them to take advanced math so early-- or even allow it-- correct? Otherwise, kind of a waste, am I right? If it's not leading to wealth and status someday, what's the point? Oh, not that YOU believe that-- of course not-- but some of you seem awfully sure that everyone else does.

For some reason.

DCUM, once again, pretty nakedly betrays its lack of perspective-taking here. If your child is profoundly gifted in an area of strong interest, highly self-motivated and loves it nearly as much as they love anything... as long as you don't let it consume their lives, then maybe it's not so terrible to allow them to do it. In my experience, the only people who took calculus that early were that kind of child.

Even the PP saying "I have a child who started Algebra in 6th. I think its absurdly early but child wanted to do it. No way I'd agree to allow for skipping pre-calculus or accelerate any more than they are"... Even that PP does not have the kind of child of whom I am speaking. And who cares? Almost no one does. Mediocre genius that I am, I took calculus no earlier than my junior year in high school. But PP with the very gifted 6th grade Algebra student misses my point, which is that the kids taking calculus before high school are (most likely!) not simply versions of her child who have just been pushed or allowed to push themselves even harder, to detrimental effect. The kids taking calculus before high school are (most likely!) entirely different kids.

These assumptions about wildly competitive parents and suffering children say more about the speaker than the people about whom they're speaking.

NP.

In all honesty, this is one of the only posters on this thread who actually seems to know what she's talking about. I'm totally rolling my eyes at the parents of 6th grade Alg. 1 students bragging about how their child could have been on this path. Give me a break. Not dismissing your child's brilliance but there are people who are really amazing at math (probably like yours) that go on to be prestigious scientists at NIH or whatever. I'm sure your children will be highly successful and might even cure cancer one day. But then there are the math kids that go on to be scholars in math and actually come up with new theories about concepts most of us can't even fathom. Not the same people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dc (now a 12th grader, so this was several years ago) had a friend whose parents wanted him to be able to test out of Alg II and move straight to precalculus in 8th grade, and MCPS would not let him skip the Alg II class no matter his skill level, the parents were told that taking the class was a grad requirement. So I can’t think of how a student would be able to be in calc as an 8th grader.

The only way I would know to do it is to take summer classes for credit and then you'd have to go to the high school for the calc class.

Students who take Algebra 1 as 6th graders would have to take their 8th grade math class at their high school anyway. There are buses to take them to first period math at the high school, and bus them back to first period at their middle school, since that works with the staggered starts of middle and high school. It works well if there are several students of the same school all taking the same class.

And yes, Algebra 2 is a requirement. You can skip something else, but you have to take Algebra 2 in some form or another. Usually kids skip Pre-calc.

Why skip pre cal?

For students with an interest in math, who take a class on the side and want to skip ahead to AP math classes and beyond. This is to show colleges that they're serious about a STEM major. Selective universities will have more in-depth math courses for undergrads than anything taught by the College Board, but it's to demonstrate interest and stand out.

This is pathetic and misinformed. Most serious stem kids are accepted into engineering programs and serious math and sciences having taken Calc in 12th grade -- meaning college accepted them without even seeing what their calc grades are. You are in a race to nowhere.

There is a stem crazy poster who keeps posting this non-sense and its simply not true. They need to justify why their choices are better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uhhhh these responses are weird, but I guess understandable considering the typical DCUM profile.

In my experience, 99% of the time, a kid would get there by being an extreme outlier math genius who (most likely) loves math and does it for fun. Not by having some striver parents hothouse them by pushing them through Algebra 2 in preschool or something.

The people reacting as if it were the latter ("horrendous") fail to see the most likely answer. It's more that the school has just enough outliers to create an actual demand for such a class-- whether offered at TPMS (I have no idea) or requiring busing to Blair.

I attended the Blair math-science magnet and knew a few kids who had finished Calculus before HS-- or took it in their freshman year-- at a time most kids graduating HS didn't even take calculus at all. They're mostly MacArthur Genius Grant awardees and math professors who will probably be up for the Fields Medal someday.

It is bizarre when you are talking about kids who start algebra in 6 or 7th grade. How much further do they need to be pushed ahead and how much are they really learning if they combine algebra and geometry.

You... completely missed my point. Am I taking crazy pills? The people I knew who did this did not have to be pushed. They did things like taught themselves algebra in early elementary school. They "really learned it." A friend of mine just solved a problem that had been unsolvable for 100 years. He didn't take calculus extra early because his pushy, awful parents wanted him to have something exciting to put on his college application.

Ah, yes. The old “my math genius friend solved an unsolvable math problem.” I’ve heard this one on DCUM a few times!

I think that PP is the same one who mentiones being a Blair alumnus every time the magnet comes up, and who seems VERY stuck in their identity as a former "gifted kid" despite admitting on another thread that none of this giftedness has really translated into adulthood.

As far as I can tell, Blair has produced three MacAurthur fellows but the ones working in math were different enough in age that PP could not have overlapped with both.

Yes, that is me. (Although I don't remember having mentioned my friend who solved the unsolvable problem before, but hey, it could've happened.) I had a snarky reply all ready, but I'll just respond like the nearly-reasonable human being that I am in real life.

Your and the PP's response encapsulate everything I was pointing out in my prior comments about the prevailing mentality on this board.

-No one could possibly know a person this brilliant.

-If you do and you mention it, you are just bragging to brag. Or perhaps you are simply a sad sack with nothing else in life to be proud of. It could not possibly be that you are answering the question at hand-- literally "what kind of kid does this thing?"-- with actual examples of students who attended TPMS and Blair... and did that thing.

-If you have not cured cancer-- or more to the point, did not attend HYP, and are not currently earning a 7-figure salary-- you are "admitting" (admitting) that your giftedness didn't "translate" into adulthood. How does giftedness properly translate into adulthood, I wonder? Only if it pays off in money or prestige, right? Preferably both. And that's a universal belief, is it?

-If you write a sentence that includes the plural of the word "awardee," and the plural of the word "professor" ("who will probably be up for the Fields medal") you must literally be talking about more than one of each, rather than being colloquial and a bit slapdash. I admit it. I only personally knew one of each during my time at Blair. Maybe there are more-- probably more plain old, lowly math professors, anyway (a shame their giftedness didn't translate all that well into adulthood). But I didn't know them personally or haven't kept up with them. In any event, my apologies for being unclear.

But more to the point... none of this is bragging. Maybe that's the only circumstance under which you would mention, it, but all I am attempting to do is defend the parents who, it is being implied, were or are pushing their children beyond their capabilities. And apparently only because they hope their kid's giftedness pays off in money or prestige, right? "Translates" properly into adulthood? That's the only reason for them to take advanced math so early-- or even allow it-- correct? Otherwise, kind of a waste, am I right? If it's not leading to wealth and status someday, what's the point? Oh, not that YOU believe that-- of course not-- but some of you seem awfully sure that everyone else does.

For some reason.

DCUM, once again, pretty nakedly betrays its lack of perspective-taking here. If your child is profoundly gifted in an area of strong interest, highly self-motivated and loves it nearly as much as they love anything... as long as you don't let it consume their lives, then maybe it's not so terrible to allow them to do it. In my experience, the only people who took calculus that early were that kind of child.

Even the PP saying "I have a child who started Algebra in 6th. I think its absurdly early but child wanted to do it. No way I'd agree to allow for skipping pre-calculus or accelerate any more than they are"... Even that PP does not have the kind of child of whom I am speaking. And who cares? Almost no one does. Mediocre genius that I am, I took calculus no earlier than my junior year in high school. But PP with the very gifted 6th grade Algebra student misses my point, which is that the kids taking calculus before high school are (most likely!) not simply versions of her child who have just been pushed or allowed to push themselves even harder, to detrimental effect. The kids taking calculus before high school are (most likely!) entirely different kids.

These assumptions about wildly competitive parents and suffering children say more about the speaker than the people about whom they're speaking.

NP.

In all honesty, this is one of the only posters on this thread who actually seems to know what she's talking about. I'm totally rolling my eyes at the parents of 6th grade Alg. 1 students bragging about how their child could have been on this path. Give me a break. Not dismissing your child's brilliance but there are people who are really amazing at math (probably like yours) that go on to be prestigious scientists at NIH or whatever. I'm sure your children will be highly successful and might even cure cancer one day. But then there are the math kids that go on to be scholars in math and actually come up with new theories about concepts most of us can't even fathom. Not the same people!

You are misinterpreting what we are saying and it makes no sense. My smart child isn't going to be a scientist or probably go into math. Who knows, they are young. They hated compacted math as it was slow and useless. They didn't want another year of it. Are you just mad that you picked Takoma Park and they refuse to let 6th graders do Algebra and you need your kids to be the best and brightest. The discussion was how could someone do it. They could do it with summer classes. We don't even intend to put our children in one of the high school Magnet programs as we don't want them to specialize and be able to explore their interests. We are the least competitive family there is. And, if one of my children decides to cure cancer, its because cancer had a terrible impact on their life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago, most TPMS magnet kids took Alg 1 in 6th. Then MCPS changed it. Lots of kids who went to the elementary HGC’s (now also changed) all took Alg 1 in 6th at their home schools.

And, some of our kids who aren't in any highly gifted are taking Algebra in 6th.

Its possible this child is just a genius and is really good at math and is doing it any number of ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago, most TPMS magnet kids took Alg 1 in 6th. Then MCPS changed it. Lots of kids who went to the elementary HGC’s (now also changed) all took Alg 1 in 6th at their home schools.

And, some of our kids who aren't in any highly gifted are taking Algebra in 6th.

Its possible this child is just a genius and is really good at math and is doing it any number of ways.

You keep saying this exact same thing in every new thread about math! This is not about your kid. I find you really ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago, most TPMS magnet kids took Alg 1 in 6th. Then MCPS changed it. Lots of kids who went to the elementary HGC’s (now also changed) all took Alg 1 in 6th at their home schools.

And, some of our kids who aren't in any highly gifted are taking Algebra in 6th.

Its possible this child is just a genius and is really good at math and is doing it any number of ways.

You keep saying this exact same thing in every new thread about math! This is not about your kid. I find you really ridiculous.

You are just mad some of our kids are outperforming the "magnet" kids.

[Anonymous]

I know a kid who is currently in grade 8 and taking a math course in Montgomery college.
What is the big deal? There is always someone smarter...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid met a child who is in Calc BC in 8th grade at Takoma Park Middle School. What is the path to get there? It would mean Algebra 1 in 4th grade (?) Doubling up of classes? Im so curious. How would a kid get there?

This isn’t true.

Agree, there are a few amazing mathletes in the 8th grade at TPMS. A couple even takes Algebra 2, but DC who goes there and is on the math team and knows the top math students says he'd never heard anything like this.

OP here. I guess the kid was lying. It was at an accepted students day at a private school. The kid was telling other kids that he was currently in Calc BC.
Sounds like his math skills are better than his social skills.

It makes sense that this isn't possible because there's no way that the private school could accommodate this. They max out at offering one year of math beyond Calculus--maybe they can eek out two (AP stats being one).
Not four years. The majority of kids (80%?) will take Calculus senior year and others will max out at pre-calc. Math geniuses are not their their wheel house.

It may be possible- there is one current 8th grader who took magnet geometry in grade 6. If he took Functions at Blair in grade 7, then he could conceivably be taking calculus this year.

OP-I don't think that child is lying. Some people on this board are confused because they don't understand how magnet math works.

TPMS students taking Algebra 2 and above go to Blair to take math and that child you are describing would have likely started at Blair in 7th taking a really advanced course called Functions which compresses Alg. 2 and Pre-cal. into one year. So that child would have picked up some acceleration just in that one year. The next course in that sequence is Analysis, which covers Calculus BC and more, for 8th grade if he continued in the higher magnet track. Alternatively he could have dropped "down" to Calculus BC in 8th to try to slow his roll, leaving more higher level course options for them in high school. It is not uncommon for TPMS students to decline the compressed path if they are invited and try to stretch out the remaining courses that are available. It's really a huge pain to leave the campus to meet the math requirement in your high school years.

I think I know who you refer to. The child is in the Analysis class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid met a child who is in Calc BC in 8th grade at Takoma Park Middle School. What is the path to get there? It would mean Algebra 1 in 4th grade (?) Doubling up of classes? Im so curious. How would a kid get there?

This isn’t true.

Agree, there are a few amazing mathletes in the 8th grade at TPMS. A couple even takes Algebra 2, but DC who goes there and is on the math team and knows the top math students says he'd never heard anything like this.

OP here. I guess the kid was lying. It was at an accepted students day at a private school. The kid was telling other kids that he was currently in Calc BC.
Sounds like his math skills are better than his social skills.

It makes sense that this isn't possible because there's no way that the private school could accommodate this. They max out at offering one year of math beyond Calculus--maybe they can eek out two (AP stats being one).
Not four years. The majority of kids (80%?) will take Calculus senior year and others will max out at pre-calc. Math geniuses are not their their wheel house.

It may be possible- there is one current 8th grader who took magnet geometry in grade 6. If he took Functions at Blair in grade 7, then he could conceivably be taking calculus this year.

PP here. I was meaning to quote this instead when I said “I think I know who you refer to. The child is in the Analysis class.”

[Anonymous]

If they are in Analysis this is a child that does indeed live and breathe math. They are purposely compressing the timeline probably because even the greatly accelerated path they were on, which is already many grades ahead, was too slow.