Beast Academy as a supplement

[ScoutTN]

Dd will be a 6th grader next fall and MM is working well for her. She has recently expressed her enjoyment of math  because it is challenging and makes her think. (Verbal skills come very easily to her.) I am thinking of adding BA as a supplement for her. 

 

Where should I start? I have read here that the assessment/placement tests are not very helpful. Does she need to start at 3A? Not planning on getting through much before she goes to Pre-Algebra in 7th, just strengthening her problem solving skills.

[Jackie]

The placement tests are not very helpful in that they don't really tell people whether the program itself will be a good fit or the challenge level will be out of reach. I think they are fine for deciding whether mathematical skills known will allow for a child to be able to do the work.

 

Since it will purely be a fun supplement for problem solving skills, and you don't plan on doing the whole series, I would suggest that you and/or your daughter look through all the samples and topic listings and see what you/she wants to work on. If the concepts have been previously introduced in MM, then you and she can especially look for things that often are little emphasized in traditional programs. Examples might be 3B for the perfect squares section, 3D for estimation, 4B for logic, 4D for probability, 5B for statistics. Another option would be to find the topics that you think will most help for her to dig deeper on before prealgebra - books with sections on fractions, decimals, factors, expressions and equations. This page lists the topics included in each book and clicking through will let you find samples.

[ScoutTN]

The placement tests are not very helpful in that they don't really tell people whether the program itself will be a good fit or the challenge level will be out of reach. I think they are fine for deciding whether mathematical skills known will allow for a child to be able to do the work.

 

Since it will purely be a fun supplement for problem solving skills, and you don't plan on doing the whole series, I would suggest that you and/or your daughter look through all the samples and topic listings and see what you/she wants to work on. If the concepts have been previously introduced in MM, then you and she can especially look for things that often are little emphasized in traditional programs. Examples might be 3B for the perfect squares section, 3D for estimation, 4B for logic, 4D for probability, 5B for statistics. Another option would be to find the topics that you think will most help for her to dig deeper on before prealgebra - books with sections on fractions, decimals, factors, expressions and equations. This page lists the topics included in each book and clicking through will let you find samples.

 

 

This is very helpful. Thanks!