Does Alg 1 in 5th grade cause entrance issues into college?

[tarahillmom]

Has anyone here heard of issues later with colleges when a child does Algebra in 5th grade. My home school association here in South Carolina is cautioning me against this because colleges will question the class and the credits later on. They are recommending having him take a competency test every year given by someone else to validate the class. I am not planning on having him graduate early since he plans on attending a large university. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

[Dmmetler]

Do what works for him-and worry about credits/college entrance later. I'm a college faculty adviser (admittedly, not in admissions) and it's not all that odd in my department to have students who have been taking college level music classes or studying with college professors for years entering as Freshmen. It's certainly not something that we have problems with because there's ALWAYS more to learn, and no matter how technically proficient someone is, there's something that can be learned by someone who has 20+ years of professional experience that simply won't have been learned yet by someone who is only in their late teens.

 

I seriously doubt any college would look askance at a student who has a large number of advanced math courses because they took algebra 1 before they were out of elementary school. They might end up doing research with a faculty member as an undergraduate under the guise of "Independent study" to get the right number of college credits, but the college will work it out :).

[boscopup]

If he has calculus listed in high school, I imagine the colleges would assume algebra I had been taken appropriately? :confused:

 

In my state, for an advanced diploma, you have to have 4 math credits, but I think it's assumed that if you are taking a higher math, the prerequisites have been covered already. You don't get high school credit for Algebra I taken in 5th grade, but you get credit for the math courses taken in high school.

[tarahillmom]

If he has calculus listed in high school, I imagine the colleges would assume algebra I had been taken appropriately? :confused:

 

In my state, for an advanced diploma, you have to have 4 math credits, but I think it's assumed that if you are taking a higher math, the prerequisites have been covered already. You don't get high school credit for Algebra I taken in 5th grade, but you get credit for the math courses taken in high school.

 

I am telling my accountability group I do not want Alg I for high school credit in 5th grade, but I could if I wanted to.

[8filltheheart]

Has anyone here heard of issues later with colleges when a child does Algebra in 5th grade. My home school association here in South Carolina is cautioning me against this because colleges will question the class and the credits later on. They are recommending having him take a competency test every year given by someone else to validate the class. I am not planning on having him graduate early since he plans on attending a large university. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

My ds's first high school math credit was pre-cal. On his transcript I group going down by subject and going across by grade. I include a column labeled <9th grade. For him, that column includes alg 1, geo, alg 2, alg 3, counting and probability. (The first alg 1 on his transcript is actually his 2nd alg 1 course since he took it 2 times w/ the 2nd using a more difficult text.) He has grades from AoPS for alg 3 and C&P. He took the SAT Math 2 last yr as a 9th grader (the math 2 is different from the SAT and is a subject test going through pre-cal.) His score definitely reflects that he has covered math through pre-cal w/high competency.

 

This yr he is taking AP cal BC and the score will hopefully reflect his knowledge of cal. PAH also gives report cards.

 

FWIW, I am not at all concerned about what his math track looks like b/c he has never shown the slightest difficulty in comprehending the material or that any pt he would not be able to keep up with the accelerated progression. If you search for posts by Kathy in Richmond, you will see that her kids were accepted at multiple top-tier schools and she has their math progression listed. (try searching her name and MIT) ETA: here is the link http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1559496&highlight=spectrum#post1559496 Also, I wanted to add that I agree w/the other posters that there does need to be math for every yr of high school on your student's transcript if you go this route. There are lots of options for higher math: EPGY, online, dual enrollment, etc. Also, AP stats is an option beyond AP cal.

Edited September 9, 2011 by 8FillTheHeart

[Mom0012]

In my county, you can earn high school and foreign language credits beginning in 6th grade. After asking on this board, I was discouraged from doing that unless I planned to have my child continue on and still take 4 years of math from 9th grade on.

 

Lisa

[kiana]

They might not count it as a math credit if he takes it that young. Shouldn't be a problem unless you were planning on doing his HS math in 5-8th grades and then skipping it in high school (which would be a bad idea).

[Barbara H]

If he's ready for it he should take it now! We did it that young and it was no problem at all. It is not at all uncommon in many areas to have sixth and seventh graders taking algebra 1. I wouldn't worry about it at all. Math at this level is sequential so as long as he has more advanced courses on his transcript they will recognize he's completed the earlier courses.

 

If he wants to be competitive for admissions and scholarships he should have math every year in high school. Are you aware of your options for online courses and do you have a college or university near you? In addition to calculus there are many other options like linear algebra, number theory, logic, etc. He'd be a very competitive candidate if he gets some of these courses in before college.

[wapiti]

Just throwing this out there as my gut reaction: for a student taking alg in 5th, as long as he has four years of math in high school, I'd guess that any college giving him a hard time about his high school math credits is the wrong school for him. I'd guess that application to highly selective schools should be on the table. I've been told by an admissions person at a very highly selective school that a student must have AP calc BC to be competitive for admissions there, which almost always means algebra prior to high school.

 

FWIW, it's possible that I might have a student (or two) taking alg in 5th two years from now, though it depends on what happens this year and next. If he were to take it in 5th, I'd probably add in some of the other AoPS books for a year (or maybe two), so that he would not be taking pre-calc until at least 9th.

[Crimson Wife]

In my state, for an advanced diploma, you have to have 4 math credits, but I think it's assumed that if you are taking a higher math, the prerequisites have been covered already.

 

This is my understanding of how CA works as well. A student needs 3 math credits through Trigonometry/Pre-Calc. for the UC a-g requirements but a score of 3 or higher on the AP Calculus exam satisfies the entire requirement.

[tarahillmom]

Thank you all so much. We of course will continue math until he graduates. I am encouraged by all of your ideas and thoughts.

[lewelma]

I also think that younger students often cannot complete a full year algebra class in one year, unless it is one of the easier programs. High school math programs usually assume 7 or more hours per week to complete. Young students often work somewhat slower, so you might expect 9 hours per week. And approaching 2 hours of math per weekday is often too much for the age, if your child is also needing to do LA, science, history, logic etc (obviously depends on your program of study). All you have to do is take 1.5 years to do the course if you are finding your son struggling to finish but not struggling to understand the material.

 

My ds started AoPS intro algebra at 9 1/2 and will take 2.5 years to complete it. This course is more like Algebra 1 and part of Algebra 2, plus at a higher level than something like MUS. This puts him in geometry in 7th.

 

I think that some administrators would assume that whatever "algebra" that was taken in 5th grade would simply not equate to a highschool level course for the reasons listed above.

 

Ruth in NZ

[higginszoo]

Algebra I in 8th grade is pretty common here, so it wouldn't show up on a transcript. It is even assumed for the International Baccalaureate programs around here (they take Geomettry, Alg II then need to be ready for IB Math beyond that). For Geometry in 6th grade, I did go ahead and get it documented and awarded credit by a cover school in case he wants to use it, but he's likely to go to community college (there will be placement exams for Math and English) and have enough credits there that anything before won't matter for 4 year school admissions, especially with his ACT scores.