AoPS Intermediate Algebra

[Roadrunner]

Arrived. It's huge! I feel defeated just looking at it. For those of you who managed to do this book and precalculus in one year, I applaud.

 

Is this book doable in one year? DS took 10-11 months to work through the Intro to Algebra book and one school year for geometry. This book looks as a bigger undertaking both in size and difficulty. Can you share your experience?

[Loesje22000]

If I remember it well most students didn't do all the chapters.

There should be posts on the board from Katy in Richmond and / or Regentrude with details which chapters are the most beneficial.

 

I think it is impressing you did Intro to Algebra in one year ....:o

[lewelma]

It is doable in one year-- the class is only 5 months I think. But when my ds took the class, I remember it being about ten hours a week of homework. As you know, DS loves maths so this was not a huge ask but we did drop way back on English that year as he was writing so many proofs. The precalculus overlapped with intermediate algebra by three weeks if I remember correctly, so those three weeks were about 20 hours or 4 hours a day. I think it is ok to have seasons of things, so cut back on some other class if you need more time for maths. I will also add that my ds took almost three years to get through intro algebra. He was young, but he definitely picked up speed as he went through more aops books.

 

Ruth in NZ

Edited June 24, 2017 by lewelma

[Roadrunner]

Ruth, 10 hours sounds reasonable, but does that include working through the book in addition to problem sets provided by the teacher?

Geometry class takes him about 3-4 hours for class work (homework, alcumus), of which a big chunk is being spent on elaborate diagrams in asymptote for writing problems. But that time doesn't count the textbook, which is a different story. He didn't think Into to Algebra was hard, but finds geo tougher.

I am worried since this kid piled up a ton of work on himself next year, including two foreign languages, and he is young, hence probably less stamina.

[Mike in SA]

Precalculus in half a year seems a reasonable expectation; the intermediate book in half a year not so much.  It can be done, sure.  But that one is longer than the intro to algebra book that takes many people two years.

 

It took us a solid year to get through it, but we let things take the time that they take, and also had a parallel "advanced geometry" track and an "introduction to the mathematics of relativity" track.  If we had dropped the other two tracks and really pressed, or otherwise cut some of the content down, then half a year might have been possible for us.

 

I certainly wouldn't plan on half a year unless your child is absolutely voracious (e.g., Ruth's son, who is both talented and voracious).

[Roadrunner]

Oh, I am not planning on half. I am admiring those who managed it and asking if a full year is doable, because as you say, it is a monstrous book!

I guess the lack of alcumus should theoretically mean it's less work that the intro book.

 

Do most of you complete every single challenging problem or only assign a subset from the challenge section? How big of a subset? I am just curious.

[Mike in SA]

We do all of everything. The content at the end gets very esoteric, so we stopped putting together tests when the material exceeded all of our precalculus and college algebra textbooks.

[Julie of KY]

It is doable in a year, especially if you give yourself permission to skip some of the chapters. As referenced somewhere on the boards is an old post of  Kathy's talking about what is important in the book. Also (I think) the intro says the last four or so chapters are optional as they deal more with competition math.

[Roadrunner]

This kid will not agree to skip any chapters. I think I will let him work on his own and hold off on the online class for now until he has made some progress.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Roadrunner

[Arcadia]

Oldest did the books and classes over two years. He did part of the intermediate algebra and the introduction to geometry books concurrently then was bored and went for the online. He started the precalculus book after the intermediate algebra online class ended and finished the book after the precalculus online class ended. We school year round and he doesn't do sports or band/orchestra so he has too much free time. He choose to spend this summer on math camp and the intermediate number theory online class. His intermediate algebra book binding is very worn out of all his aops books.

 

My email records shows

 

Intermediate Algebra

June 3rd, 2015- November 11th,2015

 

Introduction to Geometry

June 5th- November 20th, 2015

 

Precalculus

December 1st, 2015- May 11th, 2016

Edited June 24, 2017 by Arcadia

[lewelma]

For the class, DS read the textbook before class, went to.class, and did only the assigned problems. The class gives way fewer problems than the textbook but usually they are the really hard ones. It was time consuming because of all the proof writing. DS definitely writes up proofs more fully and more carefully than when working through a book on his own. So basically fewer problems but more difficult and longer write ups than if you did the book only. 10 hours for 5 months, no breaks, is around 220 hours.

 

Also of note my ds did things slightly backwards. He focused more fully on the problem solving in the beginning taking almost 3 years with intro algebra and 1.5 years with geometry. But this meant the intermediate courses were not as hard for him because the problem solving foundation was so solid. So perhaps with a less strong problem solving background, you could take a year at two hours a day -- that would be a lot of hours!

Edited June 24, 2017 by lewelma

[daijobu]

Int. Algebra is long.  You finish one chapter on polynomials, and what do you know?  Another chapter on polynomials.  And another.  And another.  

[daijobu]

On the bright side, there's always at least one tough polynomial problem on the AMC 10/12, so you'll be super prepared.  

[Roadrunner]

Well, at least DS is super excited to tackle this book. I wish I could share in the excitement. All I feel is panic. 😂

[Joyful]

DS took the AoPS course, which is over 24 weeks. I think he spent about 10 hours a week on it. He read the chapters and worked through all the problems, including the challenge problems before class, and then worked on the problems assigned for class afterwards. So I think it is doable on your own over 10-12 months.

 

DS also took the AoPS Intro to Geometry course, which he loved. His feeling is that the Intermediate Algebra is easier than the Geometry, FWIW. So, maybe your DS will find this to be the case as well.  :001_smile: