Reply to AP Pre-calculus resources/study guides

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you need a tutor to do well in an AP course, you should not be taking an AP course. Have your kid switch out of the AP version and into honors or regular. Make the jump to AP next year with another year of maturity and math foundation under their belt. [/quote]

That's a dumb take. Kids have tutors in college and graduate. I have a B.S. and Masters in Engineering (EE and also minored in math). I used peer tutoring and had a private tutor sometimes in college. I'm now a successful engineer. And probably, much to your horror, I also used the writing center sometimes.

Kids needing a tutor is not an indication they don't belong in a class. Maybe they need more repitition than the class allows, maybe the teacher sucks, maybe the teacher has a heavy accent, maybe the teacher is great but they need to see the course from different angles/approaches. [/quote]

They have a point. If a kid needs a tutor just to stay afloat in a college-level class as a high schooler, then it is reasonable to say the kid is not ready to handle college-level material. Of course there can be exceptions and other circumstances like terrible teachers, but it is indeed a red flag that they've been accelerated by their parents' will and not by their own motivation and capacity.

Peer tutoring in real college is fine because college students take age-appropriate classes where they've proven through a math placement exam and prerequisites that they are in the appropriate class.[/quote]

If a kid took Algebra 1 HN in 7th, Geometry HN in 8th, Algebra 2 HN in 9th and scored over 97% in [u]each[/u] class and the school does not have Honors Precalc but only regular and AP, what do you think they should take in 10th grade? Please enlighten me. And which course will help them in AP Calc AB?[/quote]

NP. I hate to say it, but my guess is [b]the Geometry H and Alg2H were dumbed down a bit. Those classes should be rigorous[/b] and they should not be easy As.  At our school Alg2H is a weed out class. My kid felt grateful to get a B.  Very few students get As.  The kids on that track are used to grinding it out. [/quote]
The previous fcps pre-calculus was dumbed down too. But new AP pre-calculus cannot be as they have to follow college board syllabus. Even though it is only 4 units (only first 3 will be tested), each unit is much more indepth than what had been previously taught in fcps pre-calculus.

It is true that college board came up with a lightweight (4 units only) AP Pre-calculus as an intro level AP math, since Calc AB was too difficult to pursue for many.  Now that it's available, some schools are making it as prereq for Calc AB/BC.

Yet,  note that AP pre-calculus only teaches 4 out of 10 topics found in standard pre-calculus textbooks, leaving students to learn 6 topics on their own to get ready for Calc AB/BC. 
[/quote]

This is why even though my kid's math teacher said she should take AP Calc BC next year, we are going to take AB instead. We are concerned this AP Precalc class won't prepare her. [/quote]

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