Is there such a thing as too much acceleration?

[Anonymous]

There probably fewer than 20 high schools in the country that offer linear equations/diff equations...

[Anonymous]

I think what your son is doing as fine, so long as you are checking the content.

My child did an accelerated math program that covered Alg I, Geo, Alg II, and precalc in middle school (full courses, but squeezed into one semester each). She ended 8th grade finishing precalc, but I felt like that class in particular didn’t have the depth I thought it should. So even though her grade was great, we had her repeat precalc freshman year through her STEM magnet high school and glad we did- it’s way harder and more in depth than the other program she did.

As long as he is doing fine, then keep it up. Perhaps he stops math after calc BC and explores some other subjects on a rigorous level. That is ok too. He will already have had 6 math credits if he takes through BC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was talking with a friend who also has a kid in 9th. DS is taking Calc AB and her kid is in Geometry. She said that too much acceleration is a bad thing, and that we should be careful because it can make kids seem like overachievers and/or gunners. At first I thought it's just jealousy and that she is mad my kid is so advanced, but then I thought there may be some truth to what she is saying. It seems these days, colleges aren't looking for excellence so much as quirkiness and that kids who do well in subjects like math, aren't valued at all. It doesn't help that we're Asian. Anyway. I'm wondering what other people think.

PS. My younger child is in 7th and is not on an accelerated track. Both kids are happy and love school.

Unless you want to go to MIT, so what?

For most top colleges, Calculus AB/BC by 12th grade works.

Most high schools don't even offer Calculus.

What year are you in? Most high schools in poor neighborhoods have calculus now.

About 50% of high schools offer calculus. As of ~2016, I think it was 38% of Black and Latino-dominant (>75%) schools. I’d guess that rural schools also fare poorly. I’m not aware of any DMV high schools not offering Calculus.

+1

People need to get out of their bubbles.

#clueless

yup!

I moved a lot as a kid (ES/MS). I lived in many rural towns in the midwest until I was 12. I just checked the HS for one of them (and am so glad I moved away---I was already bored in grades 3-5 The top math class at the HS is Precalc, there is regular bio, chem and physics and that is it and a basic CS course. NO AP courses at all. Those kids simply have no choice. There are also no Community colleges nearby (the nearest "town" with an actual mall when I lived there was 50 miles away)---so not a commutable option. Kids who grow up there don't have choices---Now I understand why I was so bored in 3/4/5th grade already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most students can't handle Calc BC. This is a fact. For those that can and do well in it as a freshman, sorry, but that will help the applicant. It certainly won't hurt.

A lot of the snide comments about acceleration are from parents of students who struggle at math and can't grasp the concept that there are exceptional students out there.

Oldest DC regularly reports to us that many students in accelerated classes don't know basic stuff they were supposed to have mastered years earlier. DC also reports that most kids in advanced classes in AOPS struggle with the material. DC is not a math prodigy and is not in love with math.

Having learned all that, we will not accelerate our other kids beyond Geometry in 8th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of high schools are people going to with all these math courses? DD goes to a top high school and it just has 1 post AP math course.

Students in DC can take classes in Montgomery College, Howard, GW and Georgetown. There are similar offerings in MCPS and Northern VA school districts (Blair and TJ have many of these classes in house). Students can technically do 6 semesters of math (as well as AP Physics C Mechanics and E&M) after BC. And these will be college classes on their transcripts. There are kids who have done MVC, Linear Algebra, Diff Eq, Real/Complex analysis, number theory/topology/linear algebra for math majors etc as bona fide college classes and have done well in them. Not many, but they certainly exist.

So acceleration beyond BC in 9th or 10th grade depends on the student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was talking with a friend who also has a kid in 9th. DS is taking Calc AB and her kid is in Geometry. She said that too much acceleration is a bad thing, and that we should be careful because it can make kids seem like overachievers and/or gunners. At first I thought it's just jealousy and that she is mad my kid is so advanced, but then I thought there may be some truth to what she is saying. It seems these days, colleges aren't looking for excellence so much as quirkiness and that kids who do well in subjects like math, aren't valued at all. It doesn't help that we're Asian. Anyway. I'm wondering what other people think.

PS. My younger child is in 7th and is not on an accelerated track. Both kids are happy and love school.

Troll

[Anonymous]

Who cares.

If your kid loves math let them do a ton of college level math now, and in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess my main question is, what math is your kid going to take for the next three years? I guess BC, then ... what else?

You'll want to have a plan for him taking DE classes or something else.

Your friend was a little rude -- it's not hurting anyone that he's two or three years ahead in math.

NP, but he doesn’t necessarily need to keep taking math every year. He already has enough math credits to graduate HS. He could take BC in 10th, MV in 11th, and maybe a second AP science classes as a senior, or AP computer science or something else.

This is one thing I would not follow! It is a big detriment to your application if you don’t have core subjects every year. I worked at a t30 admissions office for a few years out of college, and this was the first thing an AO would evaluate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess my main question is, what math is your kid going to take for the next three years? I guess BC, then ... what else?

You'll want to have a plan for him taking DE classes or something else.

Your friend was a little rude -- it's not hurting anyone that he's two or three years ahead in math.

NP, but he doesn’t necessarily need to keep taking math every year. He already has enough math credits to graduate HS. He could take BC in 10th, MV in 11th, and maybe a second AP science classes as a senior, or AP computer science or something else.

This is one thing I would not follow! It is a big detriment to your application if you don’t have core subjects every year. I worked at a t30 admissions office for a few years out of college, and this was the first thing an AO would evaluate.

That’s for normal kids, not for kids that have been taking and getting high school credits since 5th grade. OPs kid started high school with 4 credits in math already. Once you’ve taken all the AP classes (and even past AP if offered, such as MV, linear algebra, or discrete math) available for a particular subject you can move on.

[Anonymous]

Yikes! You do you. You do what's right for your family. Some ppl need to mind their own business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess my main question is, what math is your kid going to take for the next three years? I guess BC, then ... what else?

You'll want to have a plan for him taking DE classes or something else.

Your friend was a little rude -- it's not hurting anyone that he's two or three years ahead in math.

NP, but he doesn’t necessarily need to keep taking math every year. He already has enough math credits to graduate HS. He could take BC in 10th, MV in 11th, and maybe a second AP science classes as a senior, or AP computer science or something else.

This is one thing I would not follow! It is a big detriment to your application if you don’t have core subjects every year. I worked at a t30 admissions office for a few years out of college, and this was the first thing an AO would evaluate.

That’s for normal kids, not for kids that have been taking and getting high school credits since 5th grade. OPs kid started high school with 4 credits in math already. Once you’ve taken all the AP classes (and even past AP if offered, such as MV, linear algebra, or discrete math) available for a particular subject you can move on.

This is true for all students. You need to be taking math all 4 years or it will be a detriment to your application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is his favorite subject in school? What was his favorite assignment this year? Has he ever come really excited about something he learned? What was it?

math! math, math math. he loves it. It's never been a question of whether he CAN do advanced math; it's totally his thing. I'm just wondering if he SHOULD be doing it.

If he loves it, why would you wonder if he should be doing it? Is it taking away from other parts of his life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess my main question is, what math is your kid going to take for the next three years? I guess BC, then ... what else?

You'll want to have a plan for him taking DE classes or something else.

Your friend was a little rude -- it's not hurting anyone that he's two or three years ahead in math.

NP, but he doesn’t necessarily need to keep taking math every year. He already has enough math credits to graduate HS. He could take BC in 10th, MV in 11th, and maybe a second AP science classes as a senior, or AP computer science or something else.

This is one thing I would not follow! It is a big detriment to your application if you don’t have core subjects every year. I worked at a t30 admissions office for a few years out of college, and this was the first thing an AO would evaluate.

A person like OP's kid is only going to be applying to t10 schools, which evaluate differently.

[Anonymous]

Get him into competition math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of high schools are people going to with all these math courses? DD goes to a top high school and it just has 1 post AP math course.

Students in DC can take classes in Montgomery College, Howard, GW and Georgetown. There are similar offerings in MCPS and Northern VA school districts (Blair and TJ have many of these classes in house). Students can technically do 6 semesters of math (as well as AP Physics C Mechanics and E&M) after BC. And these will be college classes on their transcripts. There are kids who have done MVC, Linear Algebra, Diff Eq, Real/Complex analysis, number theory/topology/linear algebra for math majors etc as bona fide college classes and have done well in them. Not many, but they certainly exist.

So acceleration beyond BC in 9th or 10th grade depends on the student.

We had a neighbor who was a math prodigy. When he ran out of college courses to take, he hired a ivy league college math professor to design a specialized curriculum for him and tutor him in it. He ended up at that school afterwards, because he had a strong recommendation from that professor.