Anonymous wrote:My DD, currently in 10th grade, is in Honors Alg2 this year. So far she earned a B one quarter and a low A the next quarter. She wants to take Non-honors Precalc next year because she thinks Honors will be "too hard." I would like her to take AP Calc AB senior year. Will on-level precalc be sufficient to prepare her for it? I'm inclined to have her stick with Honors but wanted to get some input.

Rest of 11th grade schedule:
AP English Lang
AP World History
Honors Physics
Foreign Language 4
AP Econ
Arts Elective

This is an extremely demanding schedule even without the math class added to the list. At the W school where I teach, Honors Precalc has a reputation as being taught like an AP class. I’d caution against adding Honors Precalc or would save one of the other APs for senior year.

Honors PreCalc is very difficult. DD had to drop to regular PreCalc in the middle of the year. She did great in PreCalc but I wish she had started on level rather than dropping down mid year.

Honors Pre-Calc moves faster than the regular Pre-Calc class and is really geared towards the high flyers in math. A lot of kids decide to do the regular Pre-Calc even if they have been on the honors track throughout middle and high school.

Which school is this? Some schools teach AP Econ very rigorously and it will be very difficult to add in certain classes with its workload.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard that honors pre calc is the most frequently dropped class at our W school. If that is true at your school, why even bother?

+1
You need to check around at your school.It's probably teacher and school dependent.

Thanks for the input. She is not aiming for a STEM major - maybe I will let her change it. Overachieving mom here was thinking that DD would take AP Calc AND AP Stats senior year.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry to hijack - but Blair is only offering Honors Alg 2 next year. Is this going to be the old/hard Alg 2 or a watered down "honors" course like "honors" English. Anyone know?

If there's only one, you can be sure it will be watered down. That's the MCPS way!

That’s surprising to me. My son is taking Honors Pre-Cal this year and not struggling but he’s my “math student”.


My older one was my struggler and found Honors Algebra 2 to be the hardest class. She got a B one semester and an A the other. Went on to Honors Pre Cal all As and AP Cal AB all As.

Algebra 2 at our school is known as the make or break class.

Sorry to hijack - but Blair is only offering Honors Alg 2 next year. Is this going to be the old/hard Alg 2 or a watered down "honors" course like "honors" English. Anyone know?

My kid did Honors Alg 2 (first semester hard), regular precalc (super easy so far), and is registered for Calc AB next year.

I’ve heard that honors pre calc is the most frequently dropped class at our W school. If that is true at your school, why even bother?

Let her slow down and get a free tutor.

May also want to consider AP Stats instead of Calc if math isn't her thing.

She should talk to her current teacher or try honors and drop to on-level if it's too challenging. I have a senior who went from honors Alg2 in 9th grade to on-level pre-calc sophomore year as the Hon Alg2 teacher recommended on-level pre-calc for most students in the class. Honors pre-calc is apparently pretty difficult and there were a decent number of students who started and dropped to on-level (per DC's reporting). My DC took calc with applications in 11th grade (and AP Stats in 12th) -- worked fine but they're not looking to be a STEM major.

My DD, currently in 10th grade, is in Honors Alg2 this year. So far she earned a B one quarter and a low A the next quarter. She wants to take Non-honors Precalc next year because she thinks Honors will be "too hard." I would like her to take AP Calc AB senior year. Will on-level precalc be sufficient to prepare her for it? I'm inclined to have her stick with Honors but wanted to get some input.

Rest of 11th grade schedule:
AP English Lang
AP World History
Honors Physics
Foreign Language 4
AP Econ
Arts Elective