AoPS Into to Algebra 1 Ch/week?

[workingmom]

DS 8th grade is starting AoPS Intro to Algebra. Its 22 Chapters. does it go one chapter a week pretty much for a strong math kid? I was hoping to have some competition prep time. Maybe we could do 4 days a week AoPS and one day work on competition math stuff (AMC, Mathcounts). Anyone have a schedule for that?

[lewelma]

AoPS Intro Algebra is Algebra 1 and half of algebra 2, so I think that trying to squeeze 22 chapters into 4 days a week in a 9-month year is pretty unrealistic even for a very strong math student.

 

Ruth in NZ

[regentrude]

No, I do not believe this is doable. One chapter a week would be an insane speed for this book.

The content of a typical algebra 1 course is taught in chapters 1-13 or 14. That's an entire high school year's worth of math at a much more challenging level than other curricula. The AoPS online class teaches this portion in 16 weeks and goes extremely fast, too fast for most students, even of AoPS caliber. The rest of the book is content usually taught in algebra 2 or not at all.

 

My very ambitious and mathy DD completed the entire book in one long school year, including summer. My very mathy albeit less ambitious DS took two years.

 

Besides, the book is so wonderful and the problems so much fun that it would be a shame to race through it without savoring everything.

[workingmom]

So about 1 chap every 2 weeks?

[Luckymama]

Dd's rate for the first half of the Intro to Algebra book was about 1 day per section (including all the problems and exercises) and two days for the end-of-chapter problems. She would do all the review problems and 30-50% of the challenge problems. I chose the challenge problems. She worked for 1.5 hours a day. This rate was her choice, not mine!

 

When dd wanted to take the online AoPS geometry course out of the recommended order (of alg 1-alg 2- geometry) Richard Rusczyk told me that a student getting 30-50% of the challenge problems correct would be more than adequately prepared for the rigor of the online course. I do have to say the book challenge problems seem easier than the class ones.

[regentrude]

So about 1 chap every 2 weeks?

 

Depends on your student. You can't really schedule AoPS well; some sections are easy, some are harder. Some problems take a few minutes, others half an hour.

I think you can realistically plan to cover the algebra 1 portion, i.e. ch 1-14, in a school year. Anything beyond that I'd consider bonus: some students can do the entire book in a year, many need longer.

[workingmom]

Ok thanks. Where does it indicate what percentage of problems correct is good vs when to slow down or go over again. Ds is used to get almost all if not all correct so I need him to see that's not going to be the case but mastery level is still considered x%

[Luckymama]

Ok thanks. Where does it indicate what percentage of problems correct is good vs when to slow down or go over again. Ds is used to get almost all if not all correct so I need him to see that's not going to be the case but mastery level is still considered x%

The book doesn't indicate that. In the conversation I had with Richard Rusczyk he said that 80-95% of the review problems and 30-50% of the challenge problems correct could correspond to the equivalent of an A in a class.

 

I sit at the table while dd works on math (no other kids at home). If she misses a problem she must redo it right then. She prefers that I check the solutions manual for her so that she doesn't see any of the solution. She works through the section problems one by one, checking in between. She works through the review questions in a cluster---I look at those as testing her knowledge. Should she miss a significant number I would find additional resources for practice (this has yet to happen, thankfully).

 

Because dd is so good at math and because she doesn't have to work on her own (since I don't have other kids or a job to take up my time) I am pretty relaxed about the way we approach math :)

[Julie of KY]

For AoPS books, we usually do a section per day and then spend a week on the review problems. This varies some as sometimes we do two sections and the number of days of review problems depends on the length of the chapter.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Based on our experience more than one section a day would be too fast. (Unless you were studying few subjects or spending some time on only math.) Some sections will take longer and some may require repeating, reviewing or finding more problems to solve before they are fully understood.

 

I typically plan about 4 sections a week for Intro to Algebra max.

[StephanieZ]

For AoPS books, we usually do a section per day and then spend a week on the review problems. This varies some as sometimes we do two sections and the number of days of review problems depends on the length of the chapter.

This is exactly how I schedule it, too. If you have self motivated kids who can just work effectively for an hour or so a day, then you can be loosey goosey. But, sad to admit, my kids require deadlines and schedules or they devolve into slugs.

 

One section a day, then a full week to get through the review and challenge set, and we are golden. It is conservative, and there will be occasional easy days and some long days. If the kid is self motivated, they could work ahead on the easy days so that when they come to a hard spot they could take two days on a section. But, as I said my kids are slugs, very smart slugs, lol. So, they putter around doing slug imitations when they have easy days, then bitch to high heaven when they have a hard day.

 

But, the above pace is very doable, even if the section is hard, and that doesn't happen all that often. The full week for the end of chapter is usually generous, but that is just fine, and can allow a breather.

 

Hth.

[daijobu]

For those who are using AOPS Algebra on their own (not the online class):  How long is it taking students to typically finish?  

[regentrude]

For those who are using AOPS Algebra on their own (not the online class):  How long is it taking students to typically finish?  

 

DD covered the entire book in one long school year, including summer.

DS did the algebra 1 portion in one school year, took a semester break for C&P, returned to algebra and took another year to finish, so a total of two school years.

[lewelma]

My son was young but he took 2.5 school years, this included *all* of the challengers.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

The whole book is taking 25-26 months.