Reply to MCPS high school math- 12th grade

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ugh this is why you shouldn't push your kids too fast in math in younger years.....[/quote]

OP here. I agree. But we didn’t push for it. It was MCPS/his school.  He was placed in compact math in 4th grade based on a test he took in 3rd grade.  He was fine up until precalc.   He actually understands the concepts but is making mistakes.  His tutor was impressed with his background math knowledge.

My younger child is on the same path. There is really no way off of it.

Z
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I'm a PP, pre-calc was where my oldest ran into trouble, too, but it really just meant there were issues to address that the time spent in earlier classes hadn't helped, so an extra year of that wouldn't be the solution.

From the comments, the tutor will get your DC back on track quickly.  The thing is before pre-calc, MCPS math is fairly high level and conceptual.  In pre-calc there are lots of new topics, but there's also a lot more symbolic manipulation than in the previous three years.  E.g., long ago, when I was in algebra, simplifying radicals and rationalizing the denominator (never leaving a square root in the denominator and instead writing 1/sqrt(2) as sqrt(2)/2) was always required.  In MCPS it's actually forbidden until pre-calc (look at the parenthetical notes in the algebra 2 course descriptions: [url]https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/math/high/algebra2/CCSS.Algebra%202.Unit%201.Functions%20and%20Inverses.InstructionalFocus%20For%20Parents.pdf[/url]).

Which is fine, there's plenty of math that doesn't require this skill, and this allows younger students to learn algebra.  But in pre-calc these skills become essential, and it's time to play catch up.  My DC needed a lot of practice dealing with radicals, keeping track of negative signs, finding common denominators of abstract expression, etc, and made lots of errors.  But, we're thankful she discovered these deficiencies as a tenth grader, because she also needed them for SAT/ACT.

My DC then took calc AB followed by calc BC, classes which continue to use symbolic skills heavily, but the conceptual skills taught in the MCPS algebra sequence are essential, too.  In the end, my DC was doing symbolic math at about the same time as students a generation ago, it's just that topics and course names have been rearranged.  This used to be taught to 9th/10th graders in algebra1/algebra2.  Now it's taught in pre-calc, and that's the heart of HS math.  These are skills developmentally appropriate to a young teen, and it's key to spend HS years practicing them, if college math is the goal.
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