Anyone use upper levels of TT and do well on the SAT's

[michaeljenn]

I am trying to decide if I want to switch my dd over to TT from Saxon. She is in tears with Saxon and I just don't think she is really getting it. She has completed a few sample lesson online of TT and really LOVED it! However, I have read the reviews of TT and either people hate it or love it. I just want to make certain that she will be prepared for SAT's as she is college bound!!!

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

[holdoll]

Truthfully, my dd used it for Geometry after tearfully using Saxon for years. She had to use Chalkdust for review as she didn't do well on the SAT practice tests on the Geometry problems. It just wasn't right for her and I wish we had found Chalkdust sooner.

 

However, She is going to be taking Saxon Adv. Math this Fall but will be in an online classroom with a live instructor. This was her decision, so we're going to roll with it.

 

I was reading a post from a mom who was teasing her senior at the Univ of Wyoming about all the Saxon problems she used to complain about. The girl is doing really well in Physics and credits Saxon with that.

[Teachin'Mine]

What Saxon text did she complete this past year, and what grade is she going into?

[creekland]

I am trying to decide if I want to switch my dd over to TT from Saxon. She is in tears with Saxon and I just don't think she is really getting it. She has completed a few sample lesson online of TT and really LOVED it! However, I have read the reviews of TT and either people hate it or love it. I just want to make certain that she will be prepared for SAT's as she is college bound!!!

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

 

Yes, both of my boys have done extremely well on the ACT (97th and 99th percentiles) and the oldest did very well on the SAT (can't remember percentile, but upper 90's). They both did TT. Neither missed any Algebra questions at all on either test.

 

My suggestion to you would be to let her use TT, but keep the other books around for her to look at afterward. I use TT almost solely (I supplement matrices in Pre-Calc and we use Chalkdust for Calc), but I know others that like their younguns to use it to get the basics down well, then lightly go over more rigorous texts as a follow up. In the beginning with TT I kept bringing home ps tests and other such things to test their knowledge. I quit when I finally decided it really wasn't necessary. My boys tutor their ps counterparts.

 

Then too, the SAT Question of the Day is an excellent (free) resource and we have Barron's Test Review book here (my oldest didn't use it, my middle son did every question).

 

The best math program for any student is one that THEY get. The worst is one they don't.

[michaeljenn]

Thanks for the replies! Very helpful..

[ouzel]

My sons love TT. My neighbor had recommended TT and then she flipped when her son went into PS for pre-calc and was struggling with some areas TT hadn't covered in Alg II. She promptly regretted TT and bought Chalkdust for younger son. She put older son into a few tutoring sessions with a math prof., who said he's very well prepared . . .. that the problem was simply switching curriculum mid-stream. The pre-calc teacher held parent-teacher conferences and said her son (over any other student) had the best foundation. This son currently tutors peers at his university. I'm sticking with TT at this point, but adding in some LOF for the fun of it.

[creekland]

My sons love TT. My neighbor had recommended TT and then she flipped when her son went into PS for pre-calc and was struggling with some areas TT hadn't covered in Alg II. She promptly regretted TT and bought Chalkdust for younger son. She put older son into a few tutoring sessions with a math prof., who said he's very well prepared . . .. that the problem was simply switching curriculum mid-stream. The pre-calc teacher held parent-teacher conferences and said her son (over any other student) had the best foundation. This son currently tutors peers at his university. I'm sticking with TT at this point, but adding in some LOF for the fun of it.

 

I think your post is a superb summary of TT. It is slower. It changes when things are presented to a student. If one switches curriculum, all of that NEEDS to be taken into consideration. Pre-Calc is a must to cover all of the topics generally covered (and some Pre-Calc itself).

 

However, for kids that like the style in which things are presented (and understand what is being presented), their foundations are superb.

 

No curriculum works for every single student, but TT has done well for all three of mine (with my youngest just having finished Alg 1, so still in the process). My older two have completed through Pre-Calc. The oldest has finished Calc (with Chalkdust) and probably should have taken the AP test as he tested out of needing math in college, but doesn't get credits for it as he would have if he'd had a 4 or better on the AP. (He's a Business or Economics major, not science or math.)

[Jann in TX]

if all you are wanting is a decent/high SAT score--TT will usually fill that bill easily.

 

I've transitions several students from TT's Algebra 1 into a different Algebra 2--(mainly Lial Algebra 2) and while my TT students HAVE had a good foundation, they were simply lacking some EXPERIENCE with concepts traditionally placed at the Algebra 1 level... independent publishers can call a level whatever they wish--and include in that level whatever they wish.

 

TT's Algebra 2 program stops at the same place the SAT test does--about half way through a traditional PS Algebra 2 text. The rest of the material they put in the first 100 lessons of their Pre-Calc text...leaving only 30 lesson for a 'traditional' Pre-Calc course.

 

Students I've tutored after completing TT Pre-Calc did much better in college Calc if they re-took a FULL Pre-Calc course before taking college Calc.

 

Students moving from TT Algebra 2 had a more difficult transition moving into a traditional Pre-Calc program--depending on how 'natural' they were in Math.