Pre-calc does not prepare kids for calculus!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at BTSN tonight and learned that students who take on grade level pre-calculus (so not honors) will not be prepared to take Calculus AB the next year. This greatly concerns me. I understood that dropping out of the honors track wouldn't prepare my child for BC, but I thought it would prepare her for AB.

All of her friends scared her and told her that honors would be so much work so she dropped down, but now I am really upset for letting her. How is it that this course was not designed to prepare students? SHould I force her back in the honors track even though she doesn't want to (her math is strong, but she does not "like" it)? I'm a very upset parent tonight!

Why is no one surprised that communication is subpar in guiding students and families to the various options students have in math and in other areas. Sigh.

I don't think anyone is doubting that. We're new to MoCo and had we not had kind neighbors with kids who had been through the system, we would have been absolutely lost (we're still semi-lost). It's hard to decipher the various courses with nebulous titles like Math AMP6+ and Advanced English (which is not particularly advanced), and the links to the descriptions of the classes are missing or listed as "coming soon" from the MCPS.

But the general message to the OP, is that she could still switch her kid if she wants. It's so early in the school year.

It's hard to decipher that "6+" is the advanced 6th grade class?

Yes, actually it was. To figure out whether my kid should go into AIM6 or AMP6+ (coming from a different school system) took me time to compare the thematic coverage of the different courses, and a discussion with my kid's prior teacher. And I'm an educated native English speaker. MCPS doesn't make these things easy, and there's stuff on their website (and even more so on individual school websites) that is missing or out of date.

Don't forget math 5/6!

--- another MCPS newcomer

[Anonymous]

Can you petition to put her into Calculus AB even if she didn’t do honors pre calculus?

Try to find a summer Calculus class, even a boot camp one. We are in a different school system now and the honors version of pre cal here doesn’t prepare kids for AP Calculus either. DS did a two week fast paced Calculus boot camp at a local community college the summer before AP Calc which helped him immensely. He ended up tutoring his friends and other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was at BTSN tonight and learned that students who take on grade level pre-calculus (so not honors) will not be prepared to take Calculus AB the next year. This greatly concerns me. I understood that dropping out of the honors track wouldn't prepare my child for BC, but I thought it would prepare her for AB.

All of her friends scared her and told her that honors would be so much work so she dropped down, but now I am really upset for letting her. How is it that this course was not designed to prepare students? SHould I force her back in the honors track even though she doesn't want to (her math is strong, but she does not "like" it)? I'm a very upset parent tonight!

Why can't we have more honors for all classes!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can you not understand that a regular math course will never lead to an AP math course?

Languages are Honors level before the AP level.
Honors Chem is taken before AP Chem.
To get to AP World History, the track is AP Gov and AP US History.

You cannot be mad if you didn't do your due diligence, OP.

This is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at BTSN tonight and learned that students who take on grade level pre-calculus (so not honors) will not be prepared to take Calculus AB the next year. This greatly concerns me. I understood that dropping out of the honors track wouldn't prepare my child for BC, but I thought it would prepare her for AB.

All of her friends scared her and told her that honors would be so much work so she dropped down, but now I am really upset for letting her. How is it that this course was not designed to prepare students? SHould I force her back in the honors track even though she doesn't want to (her math is strong, but she does not "like" it)? I'm a very upset parent tonight!

Simply not true. Both of my kids dropped down to regular pre-calculus and then took Calc AB their senior year. They both did fine. FYI this was a "W" school and many of their friends did the same thing. Not sure what's up with that teacher.

+1 This is very common at DC's school which is Whitman but I just looked at their math dept. presentation and I see slides that seem to imply that regular Precal only leads to Calc with Applications, Stats or Financial math.

But if you look at the MCPS math curriculum page Precal and Honors Precal are supposed to cover the same material so everyone who takes either should be well prepared for any of the AP Calcs.

Different schools are advising students different things which is not how it's supposed to work given the curriculum is supposedly standardized everywhere.

It is no wonder OP is confused and upset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can you not understand that a regular math course will never lead to an AP math course?

Languages are Honors level before the AP level.
Honors Chem is taken before AP Chem.
To get to AP World History, the track is AP Gov and AP US History.

You cannot be mad if you didn't do your due diligence, OP.

This is not true.

You seem really ignorant. The school district has always told families that there are numerous on ramps and off ramps for honors and AP throughout all of school including high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honors is advanced, AP is more advanced and in preparation for the AP exam. But you do not have to take the AP exam. But MCPS pays for it, so why not. There is nothing to lose.

Pre-Calculus does prepare a student for Calculus.

Yes it does, assuming they have already taken algebra, geometry and trig.

Signed,

An engineer and math minor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid took on level Algebra II as a freshman and on level pre-calc as a Sophomore. This resulted from a horrible experience with online middle school Algebra I and Geometry during covid.Their on-level pre-calc teacher recommended that they jump to AP Calc. I have a tutor lined up and my fingers crossed.

I could have written this exact post! Fingers crossed here too.

And to be clear, my kid is in AB. I don’t think it’s wise to take BC without having been in Honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at BTSN tonight and learned that students who take on grade level pre-calculus (so not honors) will not be prepared to take Calculus AB the next year. This greatly concerns me. I understood that dropping out of the honors track wouldn't prepare my child for BC, but I thought it would prepare her for AB.

All of her friends scared her and told her that honors would be so much work so she dropped down, but now I am really upset for letting her. How is it that this course was not designed to prepare students? SHould I force her back in the honors track even though she doesn't want to (her math is strong, but she does not "like" it)? I'm a very upset parent tonight!

Simply not true. Both of my kids dropped down to regular pre-calculus and then took Calc AB their senior year. They both did fine. FYI this was a "W" school and many of their friends did the same thing. Not sure what's up with that teacher.

+1 This is very common at DC's school which is Whitman but I just looked at their math dept. presentation and I see slides that seem to imply that regular Precal only leads to Calc with Applications, Stats or Financial math.

But if you look at the MCPS math curriculum page Precal and Honors Precal are supposed to cover the same material so everyone who takes either should be well prepared for any of the AP Calcs.

Different schools are advising students different things which is not how it's supposed to work given the curriculum is supposedly standardized everywhere.

It is no wonder OP is confused and upset.

That's obviously false.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/math/hs/

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/math/high/precalculus/ccss.precalculus.unit-5.systems-and-matrices-for-parents3.pdf

Ctrl-f "honor"

[Anonymous]

OP - Go talk to the math department. It is categorically ridiculous and reeks of low expectations or poor teaching to make families believe that Pre-Cal should not prepare kids to take AB Calculus.

This is exactly what parents complain about. How the expectation and/or understanding of courses and content can vary school to school and even teacher to teacher in the same school.

It’s very simple PreCal prepares for Calc 1. Students chooses which version of the course they want based on their interest and comfortability with the Pre-Cal content.

[Anonymous]

Page 26 of the HS course bulletin shows that Calc with Applications has the same prerequisities as AP Calc AB: Precalculus A/B or Honors Precalculus A/B.

AP Calc BC is the only course with a prerequisite of Honors Precalculus A/B only.

https://coursebulletin.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/publications/HSCourseBulletin2025.pdf

[Anonymous]

MCPS and its schools and departments have a lot of inconsistent and outdated info on this on the internet. It’s frustrating.

Last year my kid took Calc AB at WJ after taking regular pre-Calc. Passed the AP test with a 4 and got credit this year for college Calc 1. He was not alone in his class at WJ. Kids do take this route. It wasn’t always easy and many did have tutors. Pre Calc teacher makes a recommendation at end of year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS and its schools and departments have a lot of inconsistent and outdated info on this on the internet. It’s frustrating.

Last year my kid took Calc AB at WJ after taking regular pre-Calc. Passed the AP test with a 4 and got credit this year for college Calc 1. He was not alone in his class at WJ. Kids do take this route. It wasn’t always easy and many did have tutors. Pre Calc teacher makes a recommendation at end of year.

This is exactly what my WJ Junior is set to do this year. He found regular Pre-Calc to be very easy and was recommended for AP Calc AB. This thread is upsetting me because everything in the WJ materials and after speaking with both his math teachers last year I thought AP Calc AB would be the right choice for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS and its schools and departments have a lot of inconsistent and outdated info on this on the internet. It’s frustrating.

Last year my kid took Calc AB at WJ after taking regular pre-Calc. Passed the AP test with a 4 and got credit this year for college Calc 1. He was not alone in his class at WJ. Kids do take this route. It wasn’t always easy and many did have tutors. Pre Calc teacher makes a recommendation at end of year.

Thank you! Regular pre-Calc should prepare a sufficiently motivated student for AP Calc AB.

Signed,

And engineer and math minor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS and its schools and departments have a lot of inconsistent and outdated info on this on the internet. It’s frustrating.

Last year my kid took Calc AB at WJ after taking regular pre-Calc. Passed the AP test with a 4 and got credit this year for college Calc 1. He was not alone in his class at WJ. Kids do take this route. It wasn’t always easy and many did have tutors. Pre Calc teacher makes a recommendation at end of year.

This is exactly what my WJ Junior is set to do this year. He found regular Pre-Calc to be very easy and was recommended for AP Calc AB. This thread is upsetting me because everything in the WJ materials and after speaking with both his math teachers last year I thought AP Calc AB would be the right choice for him.

I would trust your kid's math teachers, not DCUM.