Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am also very confused about the Precalc AB/BC. DD is taking honors algebra 2 and doing fine (not an easy A though). When I was a kid, people who took honors algebra 2 took honors Precalc and then decided whether to take calc AB or BC. Now it seems they are tracking them earlier and if you take Precalc AB, you can’t take Calc BC. I was thinking DD would take Precalc BC - that seems like the next step for her. But she says there are only 2-3 classes of Precalc BC and Calc BC in her large HS, and only the very top math students take that. She is pushing to take Precalc AB. I feel like she could handle Precalc BC and also it would look more rigorous for colleges. The rigor for college isn’t my biggest priority but she isn’t yet sure of her major and I don’t want her to shut herself out of certain majors/schools when she’s so young.
(Nevermind that Precalc in general is not a college course - why is there even an AP course, besides to line College Board pockets??)
AP Precalculus was introduced an easy math course to appease the DEI woke crowd. College Board wanted to avoid a similar backlash against the entire AP program, as happened with the SAT when colleges made it optional.
You can present these choices to your kid:
1) Precalc AB as the final math course in High school
2) Precalc BC, followed by Calc BC or Calc AB in High School
Choice 2) prepares the student for either BC or AB (if precalc feels too challenging) or neither. Additionally, in your child's case, it gives them the chance to be in the same class as what they perceive as "the very top math students."
I don't know about your references to DEI "woke". But anyway, at DS's school. there are a LOT of 11th graders taking AP Precalc AB. It is not their final math course in high school. And those kids take Calc AB in 12th grade. They discourage kids from going from Precalc AB -> Calc BC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am also very confused about the Precalc AB/BC. DD is taking honors algebra 2 and doing fine (not an easy A though). When I was a kid, people who took honors algebra 2 took honors Precalc and then decided whether to take calc AB or BC. Now it seems they are tracking them earlier and if you take Precalc AB, you can’t take Calc BC. I was thinking DD would take Precalc BC - that seems like the next step for her. But she says there are only 2-3 classes of Precalc BC and Calc BC in her large HS, and only the very top math students take that. She is pushing to take Precalc AB. I feel like she could handle Precalc BC and also it would look more rigorous for colleges. The rigor for college isn’t my biggest priority but she isn’t yet sure of her major and I don’t want her to shut herself out of certain majors/schools when she’s so young.
(Nevermind that Precalc in general is not a college course - why is there even an AP course, besides to line College Board pockets??)
AP Precalculus was introduced an easy math course to appease the DEI woke crowd. College Board wanted to avoid a similar backlash against the entire AP program, as happened with the SAT when colleges made it optional.
You can present these choices to your kid:
1) Precalc AB as the final math course in High school
2) Precalc BC, followed by Calc BC or Calc AB in High School
Choice 2) prepares the student for either BC or AB (if precalc feels too challenging) or neither. Additionally, in your child's case, it gives them the chance to be in the same class as what they perceive as "the very top math students."
I don't know about your references to DEI "woke". But anyway, at DS's school. there are a LOT of 11th graders taking AP Precalc AB. It is not their final math course in high school. And those kids take Calc AB in 12th grade. They discourage kids from going from Precalc AB -> Calc BC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am also very confused about the Precalc AB/BC. DD is taking honors algebra 2 and doing fine (not an easy A though). When I was a kid, people who took honors algebra 2 took honors Precalc and then decided whether to take calc AB or BC. Now it seems they are tracking them earlier and if you take Precalc AB, you can’t take Calc BC. I was thinking DD would take Precalc BC - that seems like the next step for her. But she says there are only 2-3 classes of Precalc BC and Calc BC in her large HS, and only the very top math students take that. She is pushing to take Precalc AB. I feel like she could handle Precalc BC and also it would look more rigorous for colleges. The rigor for college isn’t my biggest priority but she isn’t yet sure of her major and I don’t want her to shut herself out of certain majors/schools when she’s so young.
(Nevermind that Precalc in general is not a college course - why is there even an AP course, besides to line College Board pockets??)
AP Precalculus was introduced an easy math course to appease the DEI woke crowd. College Board wanted to avoid a similar backlash against the entire AP program, as happened with the SAT when colleges made it optional.
You can present these choices to your kid:
1) Precalc AB as the final math course in High school
2) Precalc BC, followed by Calc BC or Calc AB in High School
Choice 2) prepares the student for either BC or AB (if precalc feels too challenging) or neither. Additionally, in your child's case, it gives them the chance to be in the same class as what they perceive as "the very top math students."
Anonymous wrote:I am also very confused about the Precalc AB/BC. DD is taking honors algebra 2 and doing fine (not an easy A though). When I was a kid, people who took honors algebra 2 took honors Precalc and then decided whether to take calc AB or BC. Now it seems they are tracking them earlier and if you take Precalc AB, you can’t take Calc BC. I was thinking DD would take Precalc BC - that seems like the next step for her. But she says there are only 2-3 classes of Precalc BC and Calc BC in her large HS, and only the very top math students take that. She is pushing to take Precalc AB. I feel like she could handle Precalc BC and also it would look more rigorous for colleges. The rigor for college isn’t my biggest priority but she isn’t yet sure of her major and I don’t want her to shut herself out of certain majors/schools when she’s so young.
(Nevermind that Precalc in general is not a college course - why is there even an AP course, besides to line College Board pockets??)
Anonymous wrote:There are 3 units on the AP test, and a 4th optional unit. The AB classes are doing 1-3, BC is doing 1-4.
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-precalculus[/quote
Now calc BC expects students to know a lot of topics beforehand, like limits and derivatives.
Anonymous wrote:I thought there used to be only AP Pre calculus option in high school. When did this start - AP PRe calc AB or BC? How different will it be syllabus to prepare DC in the summer? If my child studies AP precalc in summer(self study), will DC miss out on a portion of BC units?