Pre-calc does not prepare kids for calculus!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I truly do not understand why people on this board react with nastiness and hostility when someone merely poses a request for clarification and insight from others with more or different experiences.

OP: Perhaps the teacher was speaking shorthand or perhaps she was just describing her observations of students' paths in the past. Of course grade level pre-calc leads to calc, at least in my kids' HS -- it's just that it leads to Calc with Applications, a non-AP class, not AP Calc. I suppose there's a chance your HS doesn't offer Calc with Applications. My suggestion is to try to find your school's registration card and see what is typically offered, and then consider whether there is a reason to prefer that she be in a position to take AP Calc AB rather than that, non-AP class. And reach out to your kid's counselor if you need further clarification.

BTW, at our HS at least, I've never heard of anyone refer to Calculus 1 -- it's either Calc with Applications or AP Calc (AB or BC).

The bolded isn't what happened. OP doesn't want "clarification" she wants to rant and rave. She deserves everything she got.

Yes, it is. Somebody pissed in your cheerios this morning and you take it out on internet strangers. You are small and petty. And DCUM is full of people like you.

[Anonymous]

It's like when my son's Spanish teacher told me Spanish 3 does nothing to prepare kids for Spanish 4.

He had the same teacher for 3 and 4 and she was very clear that she herself did not prepare them because of the curriculum.

[Anonymous]

My DD’s high school piloted “AP Pre-Calculus” last year. DD had all As and got a 5 on the AP Pre-Calculus test. She got into the early college program for this fall and had to take a math skills boost class this summer in order to enroll bc Montgomery College said while her math score on the ACER qualified her for the early college program, she was not ready for Calculus 1. Most of this is bc her high school is a joke (which is why she decided to apply for early college). But so is MCPS bc ultimately they are responsible for the quality of her education at said high school.

[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!

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.

Communication was clear, but OP and her daughter preferred the counsel of her dumb friends and now they've created a problem for her.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD’s high school piloted “AP Pre-Calculus” last year. DD had all As and got a 5 on the AP Pre-Calculus test. She got into the early college program for this fall and had to take a math skills boost class this summer in order to enroll bc Montgomery College said while her math score on the ACER qualified her for the early college program, she was not ready for Calculus 1. Most of this is bc her high school is a joke (which is why she decided to apply for early college). But so is MCPS bc ultimately they are responsible for the quality of her
education at said high school.

AP Pre-Cal is a joke. This class should not be real as it’s not more difficult than most Pre-Cal classes and definitely not more difficult than Hns Pre-Cal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD’s high school piloted “AP Pre-Calculus” last year. DD had all As and got a 5 on the AP Pre-Calculus test. She got into the early college program for this fall and had to take a math skills boost class this summer in order to enroll bc Montgomery College said while her math score on the ACER qualified her for the early college program, she was not ready for Calculus 1. Most of this is bc her high school is a joke (which is why she decided to apply for early college). But so is MCPS bc ultimately they are responsible for the quality of her
education at said high school.

AP Pre-Cal is a joke. This class should not be real as it’s not more difficult than most Pre-Cal classes and definitely not more difficult than Hns Pre-Cal.

I don't think it's a joke, but it's not a rigorous course. If AP precalc replaces any course, it should be the on-level precalc, not the honors version

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how you can be surprised by this.

But why does a class that is called pre-calculus not lead to calculus? How was I to know that?

This is a very legitimate question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how you can be surprised by this.

But why does a class that is called pre-calculus not lead to calculus? How was I to know that?

This is a very legitimate question

The premise is false. Pre-calculus does in fact lead to Calculus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how you can be surprised by this.

But why does a class that is called pre-calculus not lead to calculus? How was I to know that?

This is a very legitimate question

The premise is false. Pre-calculus does in fact lead to Calculus.

Agree. Calculus with applications is a version of calculus -- just more basic than the AP classes.

[Anonymous]

My child will be taking grade level pre-calculus this year as a senior and from what I’m understanding, she will not have the skills to do college level calculus next year.

That’s a problem.

Virtual school was challenging for my child and we chose to have her repeat algebra. Her math skills are quite strong and she scored over 700 on her math SAT, so it is sad to hear that MCPS will not prepare her for the next part of her education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child will be taking grade level pre-calculus this year as a senior and from what I’m understanding, she will not have the skills to do college level calculus next year.

That’s a problem.

Virtual school was challenging for my child and we chose to have her repeat algebra. Her math skills are quite strong and she scored over 700 on her math SAT, so it is sad to hear that MCPS will not prepare her for the next part of her education.

If she earned 700+ on SAT, consider taking Honors Pre-calc. It will prepare her for college level calculus the following year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child will be taking grade level pre-calculus this year as a senior and from what I’m understanding, she will not have the skills to do college level calculus next year.

That’s a problem.

Virtual school was challenging for my child and we chose to have her repeat algebra. Her math skills are quite strong and she scored over 700 on her math SAT, so it is sad to hear that MCPS will not prepare her for the next part of her education.

Don't blame virtual school for your bad parenting. She's probably going to do even worse with years of repeated covid infections giving her brain fog and talking tens of IQ points from her. You should have kept her in virtual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child will be taking grade level pre-calculus this year as a senior and from what I’m understanding, she will not have the skills to do college level calculus next year.

That’s a problem.

Virtual school was challenging for my child and we chose to have her repeat algebra. Her math skills are quite strong and she scored over 700 on her math SAT, so it is sad to hear that MCPS will not prepare her for the next part of her education.

She should be able to take calc with applications in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be surprised by this. Who said this? So many kids drop down from Honors Pre-Cal to On Level PreCal that it would be strange for it not to prepare kids for Calculus. Especially since some of this occurs Sophomore year for some.

+1

Find the “don’t know why you’d be surprised” post unhelpful and obnoxious

Those are the worst kinds of posts. Rude, unhelpful, obnoxious, and WRONG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how you can be surprised by this.

I'm normally pretty on top of things- but definitely not a pushy parent. But why does a class that is called pre-calculus not lead to calculus? How was I to know that?

I graduated high school in 2011, so not recently but not ages ago.

It went like this:

Regular Pre calculus > calculus with applications

Honors Pre Calculus (Great students)> AP Calculus BC

Honors Pre Calculus (Good students) > AP Calculus AB

Your child will absolutely not be ready to take AP level math taking regular pre calculus.