Anonymous wrote:My DC went to a small Catholic K-8 which offered only one math class per year, meaning pre-Algebra level math in 8th grade. They worked in Khan Academy to get ahead and were able to test into an accelerated Alg I / Geometry class for 9th grade at their new HS. So far they have done great and will be in Alg II for 10th grade.

I'm so curious about what schools these are. Our Catholic K-8 is super small, only 1 class per grade, and they still split the class into different math levels in 4th grade so that about half of the 8th graders take Algebra 1 and half take pre-Algebra. They've even got a few students taking Geometry, though they have to do the classes after school. I'm so surprised there are schools out there that don't accommodate Algebra 1 in 8th.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our independent school the accelerated track is geometry in 8th grade which I think is necessary to get to Calc BC by senior year which the more competitive colleges prefer but would love feedback if I'm off on the progression.

Algebra 1 in 8th
Geometry in 9th
Algebra 2 in 10th
Honors PreCalc 11th
AB or BC Calc 12th

Right or wrong, some schools require AB before taking BC. Ours does.

Anonymous wrote:In our independent school the accelerated track is geometry in 8th grade which I think is necessary to get to Calc BC by senior year which the more competitive colleges prefer but would love feedback if I'm off on the progression.

Algebra 1 in 8th
Geometry in 9th
Algebra 2 in 10th
Honors PreCalc 11th
AB or BC Calc 12th

dang. I went to diff eq in public high school. the standard path was for the accelerated students to finish calc 3 senior year, so i had to double up trig and college algebra freshman year to get to calc 3 junior year. seems like schooling is just going backwards these days...

Anonymous wrote:It is a big problem if your school doesn't offer Algebra 1 for 8th graders. That is the pretty standard path and I would seriously question a school that didn't offer that.

+1 and many also offer Geometry. Not offering at least Algebra I in 8th would be a red flag for me about the overall quality of the education.