When did your math oriented student start to find math challenging?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For math-talented kids, never. That's the problem with acceleration. It misses the point. Your child should get enrichment or pursue other non math interests.

we live in the DCC acceleration beyond Algebra in 7th wasn't an option unlike WPES but DC is a sophomore at SMCS taking magnet equivalent of Calc BC and almost never studies

I don't know of any MCPS school where Alg 1 in 6th is offered as a public option. Parents need to ask the math coordinator at their school to do a placement test for their kid. Since very few families know about this (MCPS does its best to not tell anyone), it usually happens by word of mouth - which is why it happens at very few schools. I don't know what WPES is or how they do it over there, but at Westland MS (Bethesda), a few kids took Alg 1 in 6th. They tested in the summer before 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me, took AP Calculus as a freshmen in HS then took math at local colleges throughout the rest of hs. Breezed through all of it until I hit diff eq and it killed me. Worked my butt off and still ended up with a D in the course. That's when I knew I was not going to be a math major in college (and didn't take a single math course in college).

Diff equ has very little to do with a math major in college. Maybe physics or engineering.

It's absolutely wild that you gave up on college math before you even started, based on one bad semester at a school not designed for a student like you. You probably could have done a lot more and better in math if you rushed a little less and took time to learn more deeply.

Possibly. High school felt like checking all the boxes rather than learning deeply. I didn't get that until college. But I may also have been misinformed by the college advisor that told me to take diff eq if I wanted to be a math major. Funnily enough, my mom discouraged me from being a math major because her thought was "what are you going to do with a math major, be a mathematician?" Imagine her displeasure when I decided to major in English and Religion! I ended up in law school, so it's not like anything I majored in really made a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For math-talented kids, never. That's the problem with acceleration. It misses the point. Your child should get enrichment or pursue other non math interests.

we live in the DCC acceleration beyond Algebra in 7th wasn't an option unlike WPES but DC is a sophomore at SMCS taking magnet equivalent of Calc BC and almost never studies

I don't know of any MCPS school where Alg 1 in 6th is offered as a public option. Parents need to ask the math coordinator at their school to do a placement test for their kid. Since very few families know about this (MCPS does its best to not tell anyone), it usually happens by word of mouth - which is why it happens at very few schools. I don't know what WPES is or how they do it over there, but at Westland MS (Bethesda), a few kids took Alg 1 in 6th. They tested in the summer before 6th grade.

Several WPES offer AIM or higher in 5th. DC had a few 6th graders from WPES in their Honors Geometry class at TPMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For math-talented kids, never. That's the problem with acceleration. It misses the point. Your child should get enrichment or pursue other non math interests.

we live in the DCC acceleration beyond Algebra in 7th wasn't an option unlike WPES but DC is a sophomore at SMCS taking magnet equivalent of Calc BC and almost never studies

What is WPES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the problem is the testing. My dad is math professor and whenever he creates a problem on the test that wasn't explicitly covered in his undergraduate class, the majority of students will fail that problem and complain that it wasn't covered in the class. The students who took the time to learn will be able to figure the problem out, but very few students do that.

Would like to add that he's a professor at a top 15 school, so there's really no excuse for this.

I teach finance at the undergrad level. I have the same experience. Kids want plug and play. When they have to apply critical thinking, they can't do it and complain the material wasn't covered in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For math-talented kids, never. That's the problem with acceleration. It misses the point. Your child should get enrichment or pursue other non math interests.

we live in the DCC acceleration beyond Algebra in 7th wasn't an option unlike WPES but DC is a sophomore at SMCS taking magnet equivalent of Calc BC and almost never studies

What is WPES?

Wealthy Potomac ES. The place where kids get Alg 1 in 5th grade. Also fictitious.

[Anonymous]

Honors Pre-Calc. Everything before that way too easy. But this course and everything after was a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Once we switched and enrolled DC in a big3 DC private school.

[Anonymous]

Functions (but only for the first 2 months, then easy again)

[Anonymous]

My kids aren’t that old yet but I would think this is normal. I was *not* a math kid (I was more humanities oriented) but I was generically good at math and I didn’t find it hard until calculus. I would imagine the really mathy kids don’t find calculus hard either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For math-talented kids, never. That's the problem with acceleration. It misses the point. Your child should get enrichment or pursue other non math interests.

we live in the DCC acceleration beyond Algebra in 7th wasn't an option unlike WPES but DC is a sophomore at SMCS taking magnet equivalent of Calc BC and almost never studies

What is WPES?

Wealthy Potomac ES. The place where kids get Alg 1 in 5th grade. Also fictitious.

Yep. That's what I thought. It's from the poster who always tries to make us believe only a few wealthy schools offer math acceleration.
Huge chip on their shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both my kids who were in the CES find math challenging as in sometimes they get Bs for a quarter when the rest of their grades are As.

But maybe all the ridiculous methods that we have been annoyed at recent math curricula for having in their program actually does work better than the math we were taught? I work in a title I elementary school and I have students who can barely read do some good addition and subtraction in their heads.

Which curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid is in H.AlgII and is flying through. Does his homework but never seems to study. Lacks exec functioning so I still check his assignments. I'll often say oh, I see you have a math test tomorrow. And he'll think about it and say oh yeah--completely nonplussed. He doesn't study and does well on the tests. I'm just wondering when he's going to start finding math difficult.

College

Not in MCPS ever for math major.

A future math major could definitely be challenged in MCPS, even if it requires taking magnet complex analysis as a freshman. Very few future math majors wouldn't be challenged by that.

Anonymous wrote:For math-talented kids, never. That's the problem with acceleration. It misses the point. Your child should get enrichment or pursue other non math interests.

See above.

[Anonymous]

I think this is going to be kid dependent. Kid #1 did not find any math classes challenging including AP Calc BC. This kid is challenged for the first time in AP Physics C.

Kid #2 who also has ADHD had a hard time in Algebra II but I think that may have been more due to a teacher whose style didn't work well for ADHD. Doing fine again in AP Pre-Calc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm really not buying the premise of the student doing everything in 5 minutes in any class above Algebra. The claims about Calculus are just ridiculous.

I would be concerned about the depth of undestanding with that minimal level of effort.

Can the student prove all the statements in the class or just memorizing some shortcuts? Is the homework plug and chug or it involves complex applications of concepts?

I'd look into some enrichment if this indeed the case, there's absolutely no point in taking a class where you spend 5 minutes outside the class.

Only 5 min is perfect for my non stem kid
Who is required to take 4 years in high school and will never need calculus. Time spent elsewhere makes more sense