If I may add, this adds to my skepticism about weaknesses in college admission process. How different your daughter's experience would be had she been interviewed by a faculty member in her department of interest! Why aren't faculty involved in the admissions process? (Probable answer: they were only too glad to give up an administrative committee that takes time away from research and teaching.)

Wow, Rice needs to do a better job of screening their alumni interviewers. Or just get rid of alumni interviews altogether since it really only serves to keep alumni in the loop rather than actually screen applicants. If Rice is going to so much trouble to market to and recruit students, they last thing they can afford is for their own alumni to dissuade them from attending.

Thanks, Lori. I don't do this nearly enough. I wish I had read this 10 years ago!

I think Bizarro got dogs right: Dog = God

Has he tried using different colored pencils and pens? Does he know how to label congruent angles (single arc, double arc, arc with a little line through it) and parallel lines (little arrow heads)? Does he have trouble seeing corresponding angles and sides in similar and congruent triangles? Try redrawing and isolating each triangle so they are side by side, oriented in the same way (with congruent angles marked as above). I routinely do this, especially when the 2 similar triangles and upside down and backward from each other, as you might find in a trapezoid. I can not read and understand from printed text and diagrams. I need to redraw the diagrams myself and rewrite the equations myself. It can be difficult for me to easily "see" angle ABC (especially if there are many other points mixed in), but relabeling it as "alpha" is easier for me. It's also difficult for me to see that segments AB and BA are in fact the same segment. If I relabel the distance as "x", it's easier for me to work the algebra. (LMK if this doesn't make sense, and I'll find some examples.) AoPS uses labeling that's more difficult for me to read, so I do a lot of relabeling to I can understand what's going on. HTH.

You can get copies of old AMC8's from the AoPS website. Print one out and have her take one every couple of weeks. Examine the problems she doesn't understand.

You've received some really good advice on this thread. As you are continuing your journey you will have more questions. Please come back to this group of amazing parents who collectively have a lot of experience with high school coursework, community colleges, college applications, math, science, history, the whole shebang. Post to this thread or start a new one. They are also very positive and encouraging. You're in good hands.

Thank you for this. I'm going to be using it the next time someone asks me if I have a teaching credential. Seriously. I get asked this probably every 6 months.

Check out How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport. In addition to college prep, he has some good study techniques for getting the most out of a student's limited time.

Ah, yes, now I get it. It seems like the AoPSers on my MathCounts team insist on figuring out some way to multiple a couple of nasty 2 or 3 digit numbers without using a calculator. Factor out something or distribute something else. "78 is just 2 less than 80 so..." Anything but use a calculator!

I am also curious about this, and I've not heard this before. What specifically do you mean by this? (Not offended or anything, just curious.)

I've purchased 2 microscopes from GreatScopes, and I've been happy with the purchases. If you buy one with 1000x be sure to watch some tutorial carefully on how to switch between lenses. You don't want to get oil on the wrong lens. I also recommend a mechanical stage, particularly if you are getting 1000x as it can be very difficult to control a slide with your fingers at that magnification. 1000x is nice if you plan to stain bacteria, otherwise you can do fine with 400x.

I'm with wapiti on this. We sit side by side at the start of each section, and I'll be reading out loud from the text, often transcribing the math as I read. I read out loud each problem and my dd will dictate as I write out her attempt at a solution. Then we read the solution carefully whether she gets it right or wrong. She does the exercises and checks against the solution manual herself. If she doesn't immediately know why she got a problem wrong, we work through the solution together. We don't skim the solution. We don't even merely read it. I write out the solution on a piece of paper as dictated by the book, as I were solving it myself. We use up a lot of paper in this house.

AP CS- edhesive (formerly amplify) AP chem- PAH AP stats PAH AP bio Stanford OHS

Hi, Amithy: I'm going to throw out another option, if you are conflicted. Many kids in school take the AoPS online class, say AoPS Algebra, after they've taken algebra at their regular school. So your dd could continue her study in Saxon geometry if she wants, and then supplement with the AoPS online algebra class. Or use the AoPS algebra or geometry textbook as a fun supplement for additional challenge. It might be a great way to review old material and then stretch for some harder problems.

Singapore math has a nice way to learn it. I remember cutting out little pieces of paper with "100" or "10" or "1" written on them, putting them all on a white board, and manipulating those while doing long division with a marker alongside it. I don't remember the specifics, but it seemed to click when we were dealing with concrete objects.

I hear a lot that parents want their students to have "critical thinking skills". But I'm not really sure what that means. What does it mean to you? How do you teach it? Specific examples help!

I just thought of another source of problems that use many different aspects of math. Look at the solutions to the harder AMC 12s or the AIMEs and Putnams. Here's an example of a problem that requires the understanding of: recursively defined functions logarithms and exponents modular arithmetic Fermat's Little Theorem

Thanks, Quark!

We've just been learning about polar, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates in AoPS PreCalculus. Take a look at chapter 5. You'll find algebraic equations that represent curves and lines or 2d surfaces in 3d space. You'll learn how to express x,y,z coordinates in terms of other parameters (angles and distances) using the pythagorean theorem and trig identities. Lots of good stuff from many different areas brought together.

Agreed! That stuff looks so cool.

Is there a live human teacher for the SV history class? Are papers assigned and what sorts of exams? No books? (Not being judgmental, I just want to get a feel for the class.)

Thank you posting this thread. I want to highlight that while those are the minimum SAT subject scores, it may be too low for admission to the more competitive UCs. LanguageBird is a-g approved for Spanish. We've taken a trial class and it seems fine, but we haven't signed on. My question is can SAT subject tests be taken in May of senior year, presumably after acceptances have been mailed? That way a low-but qualifying score in a weak subject may still qualify without hurting applications to private schools. Since mirabilis asked, here's how we're going about satisfying a-g. My dd the sophomore is a test-taker, so we're going to cover a lot of it with SAT subject tests and APs. She also hasn't been interested in CC, so we haven't done that yet. a=history: unschooled ancient history last year, this year studying renaissance with WTMA. Probably going to take SAT subject tests in world and US history after self-studying. No specific plans right now. b=english: probably the SAT and/or ACT or maybe SAT subject test. No plans yet. c=math: SAT subject test sophomore year, AP stat sophomore year, AP calc jr year. Math is a strength, though ironically, she took geometry at home with me, so we will have no validation for geometry. Except maybe reasonably good AMC scores. Oh wells. d=science: AP chem and SAT chemistry last year, AP bio and SAT bio this year, AP physics next year. Undecided about sr. year science (topic for another thread). e=foreign language: now taking a non a-g approved Spanish class by skype. SAT subject test. Can these be saved for May senior year or is that too late? f=arts: she participates in local musical theater, and they offer a concurrent enrollment option with local cc. I'm not sure if it's a-g, but it's as good as we're going to get. (I just realized that f=arts looks suspiciously like farts. That's just my juvenile humor and entirely unintentional.) g=elective: AP computer science, 8th grade. Great thread. Thank you for posting.

My dd tried a regular school after always being homeschooled and faced similar but different annoyances, mostly classes that were disappointing and not fitting her needs. She ended up dropping out and returning to homeschool, but it was always her choice.

Did your ds satisfy every single a-g?