Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC got acceptance to TJ and AET (Loudoun) and we are having a hard time deciding where to go. He is okay with Math but is not one of those Math counts / AMC kind of kid who lives and breathes math. He is extremely hard working and where he may be lacking in Math, he makes it up by sheer hard work. He excels at all the other STEM subjects, especially science. Would TJ be a good fit for him? Is TJ math-intensive? Are all kids attending TJ, mathematical geniuses? We are a little apprehensive after speaking with current and former students who mentioned that the Math teachers at TJ do not actively teach the subject and kids are left to learn most of it on their own. He aims to pursue a career in science and may stop Math by taking AP Calculus BC in senior year. Have non-math kids thrived at TJ?

OP, I suggest you go to the parent preview night and talk to people. My kid also accepted into both. Kid is very good at math (taking Alg2/Trig currently and getting an easy A) but doesn’t like the math counts/competitions and has a lot of interests, STEM and non-STEM. I don’t think they have to live and breathe math at TJ.

Anonymous wrote:In that case AET math will be easy for them, and they will take AP calculus in 11th grade. They can do AB and then BC, or there might be other options at AET for 12th grade. There definitely will be other options at the base school, though the scheduling could be tough. A lot of students at AOS/AET take a summer PE or foreign language class to clear some space.

For algebra 2 students, they might start at a higher level class like Math 5. This is what many students had trouble with last year, but they were taking it second semester and probably entered with either algebra 1 or geometry in 8th grade.



I would say someone with an A would not have trouble, but possibly would if they really had to struggle to get that A. The LCPS alg 2/trig class is weak and doesn't cover trig very well or for that matter alg 2. I don't know the TJ curriculum to say if this deficiency would have an impact.