Magnet Functions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My function DS is spending less than 20 mins per night on his function homework. So far so good

Haha. Nice try.

How long does/did it take for your kid? My DS was state mathcounts top 10 and Jmo qualifier last year. Still said he can learn new things in function class, which is like the first-ever experience in math class since K. His friends and math teammates said about the same experience. They are enjoying it so far.

You're exaggerating or your child is lying to you. The homework packets are anywhere from 15-20 multipart problems to around 40 shorter problems, and involve heavy computation. Even if your child was racing through it there's no way to do it in less than 20 minutes.

For kids in the math team, they learnt to manage time and work efficiently and skillfully through numerous competitions, and one question in half minute is nothing for them. They also got used to the concept and strategy of proofing quite early because higher-level math competition (and rigorous college math) require this skill (e.g., ARML, JMO and above). Go watch some mathcounts national level competition on youtube. You'll see how good they can be. Happy living in your well Mr. Frog.

The people you are lying to know what you are talking about.

Not one of the contests you mentioned has problems to solve at a rate of faster than 1minute/problem, except for Math counts countdown round which is specifically designed to be exciting to watch, where the winning students GUESS the one-word answers before thinking, by voice without writing, and get many incorrect.

So unless your student is guessing answers (not proofs!) on their homework, they aren't doing the problems in under a minute each.

If I'm wrong, your kid could make some pizza money with an entertaining niche streaming channel on Twitch.

Mathcounts regular rounds are 40 minutes for 30 problems and 6 minutes for 2 problems, and even the winners are not expected to solve all of them correctly.

ARML Individual is 10 minutes per 2 questions.
(Relay round is 1-2 minutes per question, as a special speed round.)

AMC is 70 minutes for 25 questions.

AIME is 15 minutes per question.

None of the above require proofs or showing any work at all.

JMO is 90 minutes per question.

Please tell us what your 8th grader did that was "above JMO".

Furthermore, all on these are tests are material that students learned a year before and thoroughly studied and practiced, not the first day of seeing new material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Functions parent here of a first-time Blair student. It seems like there is an unnecessary emphasis on speed on the tests. My kid understands the concepts but needs a bit more time to finish without making any computational mistakes. Does anyone know the reason behind the emphasis on speed?

Bad teacher trying to show off is the only reason.

Don't let it discourage your kid from study and success. But if the unfair system hurts their grades, Precalculus is still a great class and your kid can take advantage of the calmer pace to spend more time studying other subjects or studying math on their own to prep for later classes.

Precalculus parent here - it still seems to be an enormous amount of work FWIW. My kid is acing it but is spending many hours on homework.

Pre-cal parent here.....the current pre-cal teacher is AWFUL.She doesn't teacher. The kids basically have to learn the materials on their own. I would rather my kid have a great teacher in a challenging class. She is beginning to hate because of a bad teacher.

Is there more than one female precalculus teacher? The one we met at BTSN seemed pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any parents of our "best and brightest" math geniuses who aren't Internet trolls?

maybe some but mostly trolls

[Anonymous]

Hi, this is my first time posting on this website ever so I'm sorry if I accidentally replied to the wrong post or whatever. I'm currently a junior who went through the Functions-->Analysis 1A/B pipeline, and now am currently in Analysis 2A/B. I went to TPMS and I was on their varsity mathcounts team for all three years, though I quit any form of competitive math when I got into high school.

My personal experience was that the first quarter of Functions was (probably purposely) more difficult than the rest of the quarters; this weeded out a few of my friends who ended up dropping out to normal precalc. The homework in the beginning was much longer than it was for the rest of the year; However it should not be taking multiple hours... First couple of weeks,, yes you get 10 page packets. For the rest of the year, it looks more like 5-6 pages, one hour of work. I would not worry too much. I believe kids get auto-kicked from the class anyway if they have a <80% by first quarter.

[Anonymous]

Thank you PP. Can you tell us what the homework load looks like for Analysis 1 A/B?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Functions parent here of a first-time Blair student. It seems like there is an unnecessary emphasis on speed on the tests. My kid understands the concepts but needs a bit more time to finish without making any computational mistakes. Does anyone know the reason behind the emphasis on speed?

Bad teacher trying to show off is the only reason.

Don't let it discourage your kid from study and success. But if the unfair system hurts their grades, Precalculus is still a great class and your kid can take advantage of the calmer pace to spend more time studying other subjects or studying math on their own to prep for later classes.

Precalculus parent here - it still seems to be an enormous amount of work FWIW. My kid is acing it but is spending many hours on homework.

Pre-cal parent here.....the current pre-cal teacher is AWFUL.She doesn't teacher. The kids basically have to learn the materials on their own. I would rather my kid have a great teacher in a challenging class. She is beginning to hate because of a bad teacher.

Is there more than one female precalculus teacher? The one we met at BTSN seemed pretty good.

The Blair pre-calc teacher this year is the same one my kid had last year for Algebra 2. My kid is doing ok but only because they go up and ask her to explain things individually. She doesn’t really help the whole class to understand… 🫤

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any parents of our "best and brightest" math geniuses who aren't Internet trolls?

maybe some but mostly trolls

There are a few dozen students enrolled at most - and yet nearly 3000 views of this thread. About 100 entries.

Of course it is mostly trolls. There aren't 3000 parents to this handful of students.

Troll troll troll troll troll

[Anonymous]

The kids had to decide whether to drop by Friday. Is your child continuing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids had to decide whether to drop by Friday. Is your child continuing?

Last Friday or this Friday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Functions parent here of a first-time Blair student. It seems like there is an unnecessary emphasis on speed on the tests. My kid understands the concepts but needs a bit more time to finish without making any computational mistakes. Does anyone know the reason behind the emphasis on speed?

Bad teacher trying to show off is the only reason.

Don't let it discourage your kid from study and success. But if the unfair system hurts their grades, Precalculus is still a great class and your kid can take advantage of the calmer pace to spend more time studying other subjects or studying math on their own to prep for later classes.

Precalculus parent here - it still seems to be an enormous amount of work FWIW. My kid is acing it but is spending many hours on homework.

Pre-cal parent here.....the current pre-cal teacher is AWFUL.She doesn't teacher. The kids basically have to learn the materials on their own. I would rather my kid have a great teacher in a challenging class. She is beginning to hate because of a bad teacher.

Is there more than one female precalculus teacher? The one we met at BTSN seemed pretty good.

My 9th grader concurs that she is not a good teacher. And that the other kids agree. Strange since the other magnet teachers seem fantastic and this likely will have impact on how the kids start off feeling about math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Functions parent here of a first-time Blair student. It seems like there is an unnecessary emphasis on speed on the tests. My kid understands the concepts but needs a bit more time to finish without making any computational mistakes. Does anyone know the reason behind the emphasis on speed?

Bad teacher trying to show off is the only reason.

Don't let it discourage your kid from study and success. But if the unfair system hurts their grades, Precalculus is still a great class and your kid can take advantage of the calmer pace to spend more time studying other subjects or studying math on their own to prep for later classes.

Precalculus parent here - it still seems to be an enormous amount of work FWIW. My kid is acing it but is spending many hours on homework.

Pre-cal parent here.....the current pre-cal teacher is AWFUL.She doesn't teacher. The kids basically have to learn the materials on their own. I would rather my kid have a great teacher in a challenging class. She is beginning to hate because of a bad teacher.

Is there more than one female precalculus teacher? The one we met at BTSN seemed pretty good.

My 9th grader concurs that she is not a good teacher. And that the other kids agree. Strange since the other magnet teachers seem fantastic and this likely will have impact on how the kids start off feeling about math.

I'm so relieved to see people talking about it on here, I thought it was just my kid making excuses. They are struggling and they keep saying that the teacher doesn't really teach. They've always had As in math at TPMS and they have a C right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Functions parent here of a first-time Blair student. It seems like there is an unnecessary emphasis on speed on the tests. My kid understands the concepts but needs a bit more time to finish without making any computational mistakes. Does anyone know the reason behind the emphasis on speed?

Bad teacher trying to show off is the only reason.

Don't let it discourage your kid from study and success. But if the unfair system hurts their grades, Precalculus is still a great class and your kid can take advantage of the calmer pace to spend more time studying other subjects or studying math on their own to prep for later classes.

Precalculus parent here - it still seems to be an enormous amount of work FWIW. My kid is acing it but is spending many hours on homework.

Pre-cal parent here.....the current pre-cal teacher is AWFUL.She doesn't teacher. The kids basically have to learn the materials on their own. I would rather my kid have a great teacher in a challenging class. She is beginning to hate because of a bad teacher.

Is there more than one female precalculus teacher? The one we met at BTSN seemed pretty good.

My 9th grader concurs that she is not a good teacher. And that the other kids agree. Strange since the other magnet teachers seem fantastic and this likely will have impact on how the kids start off feeling about math.

I'm so relieved to see people talking about it on here, I thought it was just my kid making excuses. They are struggling and they keep saying that the teacher doesn't really teach. They've always had As in math at TPMS and they have a C right now.

Is it possible she's expecting kids to teach themselves at this level? Is there a book?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Functions parent here of a first-time Blair student. It seems like there is an unnecessary emphasis on speed on the tests. My kid understands the concepts but needs a bit more time to finish without making any computational mistakes. Does anyone know the reason behind the emphasis on speed?

Bad teacher trying to show off is the only reason.

Don't let it discourage your kid from study and success. But if the unfair system hurts their grades, Precalculus is still a great class and your kid can take advantage of the calmer pace to spend more time studying other subjects or studying math on their own to prep for later classes.

Precalculus parent here - it still seems to be an enormous amount of work FWIW. My kid is acing it but is spending many hours on homework.

Pre-cal parent here.....the current pre-cal teacher is AWFUL.She doesn't teacher. The kids basically have to learn the materials on their own. I would rather my kid have a great teacher in a challenging class. She is beginning to hate because of a bad teacher.

Is there more than one female precalculus teacher? The one we met at BTSN seemed pretty good.

My 9th grader concurs that she is not a good teacher. And that the other kids agree. Strange since the other magnet teachers seem fantastic and this likely will have impact on how the kids start off feeling about math.

I'm so relieved to see people talking about it on here, I thought it was just my kid making excuses. They are struggling and they keep saying that the teacher doesn't really teach. They've always had As in math at TPMS and they have a C right now.

Is it possible she's expecting kids to teach themselves at this level? Is there a book?

If the kids are expectrd to teach themselves, they should split the money through teacher is getting, and the teacher should only get sub money for running study hall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Functions parent here of a first-time Blair student. It seems like there is an unnecessary emphasis on speed on the tests. My kid understands the concepts but needs a bit more time to finish without making any computational mistakes. Does anyone know the reason behind the emphasis on speed?

Bad teacher trying to show off is the only reason.

Don't let it discourage your kid from study and success. But if the unfair system hurts their grades, Precalculus is still a great class and your kid can take advantage of the calmer pace to spend more time studying other subjects or studying math on their own to prep for later classes.

Precalculus parent here - it still seems to be an enormous amount of work FWIW. My kid is acing it but is spending many hours on homework.

Pre-cal parent here.....the current pre-cal teacher is AWFUL.She doesn't teacher. The kids basically have to learn the materials on their own. I would rather my kid have a great teacher in a challenging class. She is beginning to hate because of a bad teacher.

Is there more than one female precalculus teacher? The one we met at BTSN seemed pretty good.

My 9th grader concurs that she is not a good teacher. And that the other kids agree. Strange since the other magnet teachers seem fantastic and this likely will have impact on how the kids start off feeling about math.

I'm so relieved to see people talking about it on here, I thought it was just my kid making excuses. They are struggling and they keep saying that the teacher doesn't really teach. They've always had As in math at TPMS and they have a C right now.

Is it possible she's expecting kids to teach themselves at this level? Is there a book?

Yes, and this won't be the last time either. This style of teaching will come up in all the other magnet math classes your child will take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current Functions parent here of a first-time Blair student. It seems like there is an unnecessary emphasis on speed on the tests. My kid understands the concepts but needs a bit more time to finish without making any computational mistakes. Does anyone know the reason behind the emphasis on speed?

Bad teacher trying to show off is the only reason.

Don't let it discourage your kid from study and success. But if the unfair system hurts their grades, Precalculus is still a great class and your kid can take advantage of the calmer pace to spend more time studying other subjects or studying math on their own to prep for later classes.

Precalculus parent here - it still seems to be an enormous amount of work FWIW. My kid is acing it but is spending many hours on homework.

Pre-cal parent here.....the current pre-cal teacher is AWFUL.She doesn't teacher. The kids basically have to learn the materials on their own. I would rather my kid have a great teacher in a challenging class. She is beginning to hate because of a bad teacher.

Is there more than one female precalculus teacher? The one we met at BTSN seemed pretty good.

My 9th grader concurs that she is not a good teacher. And that the other kids agree. Strange since the other magnet teachers seem fantastic and this likely will have impact on how the kids start off feeling about math.

I'm so relieved to see people talking about it on here, I thought it was just my kid making excuses. They are struggling and they keep saying that the teacher doesn't really teach. They've always had As in math at TPMS and they have a C right now.

Is it possible she's expecting kids to teach themselves at this level? Is there a book?

Yes, and this won't be the last time either. This style of teaching will come up in all the other magnet math classes your child will take.

No there isn’t a book. There are a lot of lengthy problem sets as homework where they work out how to do it, eventually, but not speedily.