Reply to 2023-24 Course catalog

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If what the above poster is saying is true( makes sense to me) It is mind boggling as to why FCPS would introduce AP PreCALC this year and take away Pre Calc Trig HN at the same time(apparently at many High Schools) why not phase out the Pre Calc Trig HN Course by the time the rising 9th graders have to take it . Phasing it out this year  means that the current rising Soph and Juniors who are in Algebra 2 HN are basically given a "take whatever" without proper guidance. These are kids who took Algebra 1 either in 7th or 8th grade. To drop down to a non honors class (Pre Calc Trig) is not showing rigor in courses. We are still investigating the Pre Calc Trig DE course but are stumped as to what to take the next year with the current course offering. AP Cal AB(could be mostly repeat), AP CAL BC(you don't qualify is you take DE) [/quote]
FCPS rates AP Precalculus as more advanced than non-honors Precalc Trig; AP Precalculus qualifies students for AP Calculus BC whereas non-honors Precalc Trig does not. Furthermore, FCPS is assigning AP Precalculus a +1 GPA bump-up because it is an AP course, which is ironically larger than the +0.5 GPA bump it awards to honors Precalc Trig, even though the latter has more rigorous content! Thus, from a transcript perspective, AP Precalculus is considered rigorous.

However, it is actually a stretch that FCPS is assigning AP Precalculus a +1 GPA bump. The AP bump up is supposed to be for college credit courses. FCPS is calling AP Precalculus college level but that is only the case at community colleges and at less selective four year colleges who offer College Algebra. At selective colleges, Precalculus would be considered a remedial, non-college level course. Thus, it is debatable whether AP Precalculus should be generating a +1 GPA bump but that is what FCPS decided to do. Assigning a +1 bump to AP Precalculus will help to boost the GPAs of students who would otherwise not take AP math so it should help close the GPA achievement gap. However, it creates an unpleasant choice for students -- if they take the more rigorous honors Precalc Trig (where offered), their GPA will suffer relative to peers who take the less rigorous AP Precalculus due to the bump difference.[/quote]

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