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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I love AoPS. Their books are great, but once you get to the intermediate level the pacing seems off. They could stand to spend more time on some concepts that they gloss over. Now maybe it's fine if your kid happens to be that statistically rare kid that will do AIME at 13 or spends 6-8 hours a week reading math textbook each week. I don't feel it's sufficient even for very bright students at a higher level.[/quote]

You can qualify for AIME by taking a test that only covers the Intro series, so I don't see the connection between when you take AIME and the pace of the Intermediate books.

To put it differently, if you don't qualify for AIME yet, you can learn more from the Intro books before attempting the Intermediate books. [b]If you don't fully learn the Intro material, that may be why the Intro books seem too easy and the Intermediate books seem too hard. [/b]

If you are trying to track school curriculum but a bit better, then you can skip a LOT of the Intermediate books content, a still learn plenty more than school teaches.  Which is fine. The books intentionally have a very high ceiling. It's easier to skip stuff you don't want than go find something you don't have. [/quote]

PP with the kid who started qualifying for AIME in 6th grade here.  The bolded is key.  100%.  A second pass through of the material is a great idea, unless the kid is breezing through all of hte problems the first time.  One of the ways I approached the AoPS books was to have my kid read the chapter and do all of the non challenge problems on the first pass through the book.  Then, on the second pass through, re-read the chapter contents and then do the challenge problems.  The other thing is that if your kid is relatively young and generally has breezed through math, it's important to make sure they're not trying to run away from the sections that are particularly challenging to them.  The AoPS website has a very active forum, and it's perfectly fine to ask for help with understanding concepts.  [/quote]

Was this over the course of 1 week like their courses or did you end up spending more time on each chapter?[/quote]

Having a rigid timeframe is a recipe for failure.  You need to course correct in response to how much time the kid needs.  If they breeze through the problems, you move on.  If they struggle a bit, you spend more time, look for outside resources, or ask questions on the AoPS message board.  [/quote]

Unfortunately, the courses that are taught using these books only allocate a week.[/quote]

It's not strictly true that they do one chapter per week in the AoPS classes.  That being said, yes, the courses will move at their own pace.  Some weeks, the material will seem easy and your kid will breeze through it.  Other weeks, they'll struggle a bit with the homework, need to spend a lot more time than usual, and also spend time asking questions on the message boards.  Each online course has its own dedicated message board, and the TAs are very responsive.  They also have office hours, where people are available to answer questions.

If you're self studying, there's no reason to follow the regular course's pace.  [/quote]

My kid is currently taking the Intermediate Algebra course. The email I got from them just yesterday stated they expect most kids to spend 5-7 hours on the weekly homework to keep up.[/quote]

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