beachnut Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 If you had a creative/language arts-oriented kid who's good enough at math to earn A's & B's in honors-level algebra I & II and geometry courses but won't be pursuing any type of math-related career, which would be the easiest route to earning college math credit -- CLEP, AP, or Dual Enrollment? My 9th grade DS doesn't like math, but can handle challenging courses. So, I'd like him to get college credit without overwhelming him. Any advice on which course/test would be a better fit for a bright, creative, non-mathy kid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I think you really need to consider goals when making this decision. You use the word "easiest". Some courses are certainly easier than others if the goal is to obtain college credits. But "easy" credits may not be the best credits for your student's ultimate college program. AP offers two math exams, Calc AB and Calc BC. The first is comparable to single semester Calculus course whereas the second is comparable to Calc I & II at the college level. This is quite different than say taking a Precalc class at a CC via dual enrollment. The latter is certainly easier but not necessarily the best choice for a science oriented student or one who is applying to competitive programs. But Precalc followed by a Statistics course at your local CC might prove to be a wise choice for say a future social science major who wants to complete math requirements before heading off to a four year school. CLEP offers three math choices: College Math, College Algebra and Calculus. I don't have any experience with CLEP so perhaps someone else can discuss how these three classes have worked with their students' goals. One other thing: some students and parents are taken by surprise when they realize the math requirements of colleges, both for applicants and for graduation. Business majors, for example, usually take Calculus. Nursing students take statistics. Also, some students who appear on track for one field can surprise you by being drawn to something completely different. I would argue that building a solid math foundation in high school is the best bet for all of these future possibilities. P.S. I was a "creative/language arts oriented" Math major! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 AP also offers Statistics. My eldest dd currently hopes to skip math in college by taking AP Calculus BC her junior year of high school and AP Statistics her senior year. I agree that it would be best to make that decision based on future plans. Dd already knows where she plans to attend college and checked with them on the best route to take. Her plan will cover all of the math she needs for any of the degrees she is currently considering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachnut Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 I think you really need to consider goals when making this decision. You use the word "easiest". Some courses are certainly easier than others if the goal is to obtain college credits. But "easy" credits may not be the best credits for your student's ultimate college program. But Precalc followed by a Statistics course at your local CC might prove to be a wise choice for say a future social science major who wants to complete math requirements before heading off to a four year school. DS plans to pursue a more creative career, such as illustration, animation, graphic design, creative writing, journalism, etc. He's never shown much interest in math/science careers. I was hoping to have him simply complete math requirements before heading off to a four-year state college. He will still be doing pre-calculus, calculus and probably statistics in high school, so he won't be slacking off in math. I just wanted him to try to get college credit in a way that's not going to consume his schedule and make him hate math by the time he's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 AP also offers Statistics. :lol: I dislike statistics so much that I went completely brain dead on that one! Thanks for the correction, Melissa! DS plans to pursue a more creative career, such as illustration, animation, graphic design, creative writing, journalism, etc. He's never shown much interest in math/science careers. I was hoping to have him simply complete math requirements before heading off to a four-year state college. He will still be doing pre-calculus, calculus and probably statistics in high school, so he won't be slacking off in math. I just wanted him to try to get college credit in a way that's not going to consume his schedule and make him hate math by the time he's done. These days animation combines both arts and computer science--the latter being math heavy. It might be productive to have your son do some research on college programs in these fields to see what kind of courses colleges require. As the college counselor, you might want to investigate transfer policies. Colleges don't always accept CLEP or dual enrollment credits. The paths our students follow are not always straightforward! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I was hoping to have him simply complete math requirements before heading off to a four-year state college. If this is definitely your plan, I'd check with my local community college and see about taking courses that would transfer there. Many work well with their associated state colleges. If you opt to consider a private college I'd be contacting them to see what would transfer. It's entirely possibly that cc courses outside of his major would transfer to those, but not guaranteed. To a large extent, it seems to depend upon the level of the college. AP is almost always accepted, but only works for Calc and Stats. Clep you'd have to check on. I have no experience with those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 A little off topic... I had to take statistics in college. It was not considered a math class. It did not count towards a math minor. It wasn't taught by the math department. It was taught by the statistics department. (My major was materials science and engineering.) In a high school, statistics counts as a math credit. But would AP Statistics be a math credit in college or a statistics credit? (I suppose the answer is going to be it depends on the college and the major.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 A little off topic... I had to take statistics in college. It was not considered a math class. It did not count towards a math minor. It wasn't taught by the math department. It was taught by the statistics department. (My major was materials science and engineering.) In a high school, statistics counts as a math credit. But would AP Statistics be a math credit in college or a statistics credit? (I suppose the answer is going to be it depends on the college and the major.) My son's college has a "quantitative reasoning" requirement which would be fulfilled by Calculus or Statistics--as well as some other choices. One college at which I taught had a similar requirement for liberal arts students who could choose classes from traditional math offerings as well as things like symbolic logic. I suspect that this could be another case of "Ask the College". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 DS plans to pursue a more creative career, such as illustration, animation, graphic design, creative writing, journalism, etc. He's never shown much interest in math/science careers. I was hoping to have him simply complete math requirements before heading off to a four-year state college. He will still be doing pre-calculus, calculus and probably statistics in high school, so he won't be slacking off in math. I just wanted him to try to get college credit in a way that's not going to consume his schedule and make him hate math by the time he's done. My dd is majoring in animation. She is required to take statistics and college algebra. She took statistics and trigonometry as dual credit courses at the cc, so she has finished all the math that she is required to take for her degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nykatie Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 My daughter took calculus at the community college and was able to both transfer in the credit and eliminate the math requirement with that one course. I'm not sure, but I believe AP would have got her out of the requirement but not given her a college credit. If you know what school you're looking forward to, I'd call and find out their policy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.