Calculus for 11th Grade? Options for this kid

[Nicholas_mom]

I am looking for options about calculus class in 11 th grade.  Background--- ds has been taking Jann In Texas classes since 7th grade.  He is doing Prec-calc this year and next year he is ready for Calculus.  We are looking at Community College for the Calculus.  The CC says he needs to take a placement exam to do Calculus.  This year he took the PSAT exam.  Even though he does really well with math, he is not a math whiz.  He doesn't do well with timed tests.  Last year, he did the PSAT test and he never finished the math portion.  He still did rather well despite not finishing the math portion.  Ds said he felt he did better this year on the PSAT, because he finished most of the math test except for 1 test.  We are waiting patiently for the scores for this year to come out :)

I am all worried about him taking the college placement exam and whether or not he will pass to be able to take Calculus at CC.  So to ease my mind I am looking at other options while we wait until February/March to take the placement exams (because in his pre-calc class he will be further along in the calculus portion of the class.)  I also think he would do better taking Calculus all year than a quick semester of Calculus.

I noticed that some students will take reg./honors chemistry or biology and then later take AP Biology or AP Chemistry.  So I was wondering if it would look bad on his transcripts if he took a high school Calculus course in 11th grade and then Calculus at the CC for 12th grade?

If that is not good, maybe he should just take AP Calculus class instead because he could spend all year to practice the test before taking it.........

Your thought???

[Roadrunner]

CC calculus one year will be an equivalent of Calculus BC. If you wanted to take things slowly, you can take online class for Calculus AB, which basically teaches first semester of CC calculus over the course of one year. And then you can do Calculus BC the following year online or take Calculus 2 at the CC. 

Now disadvantage with an online approach is in order to place into the second semester of calculus at the CC, he will most likely need to pass the AP Calculus AB exam. At least that’s the story with out CC. 

[regentrude]

26 minutes ago, Nicholas_mom said:

I am all worried about him taking the college placement exam and whether or not he will pass to be able to take Calculus at CC.  So to ease my mind I am looking at other options while we wait until February/March to take the placement exams (because in his pre-calc class he will be further along in the calculus portion of the class.)  I also think he would do better taking Calculus all year than a quick semester of Calculus.

I noticed that some students will take reg./honors chemistry or biology and then later take AP Biology or AP Chemistry.  So I was wondering if it would look bad on his transcripts if he took a high school Calculus course in 11th grade and then Calculus at the CC for 12th grade?

If that is not good, maybe he should just take AP Calculus class instead because he could spend all year to practice the test before taking it.........

Why are you worried about the college placement exam? If the exam shows he isn't ready to place into calculus, then don't take the course. 

No, taking high school calculus and then a college class won't "look bad".

I am not sure what advantage the AP class would have if, as you say, he is not a great test taker. For AP credit, everything rests on the performance on one single test. In a college class, credit is earned through cumulative work over the course of a semester, much gentler and lower pressure. I would never consider AP for a kid who does not do well on timed tests.

I would take the placement test and see whether they would place him in calc 1, and then take the CC class.

Edited November 27, 2018 by regentrude

[EKS]

At our CC, the math placement exam (Accuplacer) is untimed.  

If he were to take calculus at home and then again at the CC, I'd just list the CC course.  This is what I did when my son placed into trig at the CC after taking precalculus (including trig) at home--I gave him a half credit for all of the other precalculus stuff he did at home and then listed the CC grade for the trig part.

[Roadrunner]

8 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Why are you worried about the college placement exam? If the exam shows he isn't ready to place into calculus, then don't take the course. 

No, taking high school calculus and then a college class won't "look bad".

I am not sure what advantage the AP class would have if, as you say, he is not a great test taker. For AP credit, everything rests on the performance on one single test. In a college class, credit is earned through cumulative work over the course of a semester, much gentler and lower pressure. I would never consider AP for a kid who does not do well on timed tests.

I would take the placement test and see whether they would place him in calc 1, and then take the CC class.

 

But aren’t college tests and exams timed as well? Also college class would move faster, won’t it? That was my reasoning.

At out CC sometimes grades depend on relatively few tests and then a final, all of those exams are timed. There is no way to earn any extra credit. Again, so much is teacher dependent, but one slip in a college course can really cost a student. 

You have a point about one exam at AP, but the curve on those is so extremely generous. 

[regentrude]

6 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

But aren’t college tests and exams timed as well? Also college class would move faster, won’t it? That was my reasoning.

At out CC sometimes grades depend on relatively few tests and then a final, all of those exams are timed. There is no way to earn any extra credit. Again, so much is teacher dependent, but one slip in a college course can really cost a student. 

You have a point about one exam at AP, but the curve on those is so extremely generous. 

Sure, college tests are timed, but there will be multiple tests, very likely graded homework assignments and/or quizzes, and all those together create the final grade. It is really hard to fail a college course if you put the work in continuously, because a single low exam won't mean failing the class.

On the AP test, everything rests on that single test, and if the score is not high enough, there will not just be a low grade - there will be NO credit whatsoever. 

ETA: I don't think it's necessary to spread out the content of just calculus 1 for an entire year. There's really not that much TO it. It's a good amount for a semester. IME, students who struggle in calculus usually do so because they have prealgebra/algebra deficits (and some have no work ethic.)

Edited November 27, 2018 by regentrude

[8filltheheart]

You could have him try the precal Clep exam. More than likely the CC gives credit for the CLEP and he won't need to take the placement exam. 

[HollyDay]

At our CC, the placement tests are untimed.  A student has 2 weeks to complete the test.  Dd did math one day and english the next.  She took an hour break during the test as well. A student can also take the test multiple times (at our CC you need to pay a retake fee).  Dd said it is "pretty chill."

Youngest dd switched over to MUS pre-cal and Cal.  It was good for her as she thinks along more theoretical lines than "plug and play" lines. 

[chiguirre]

My dd is in a similar situation. She plans to take the Accuplacer and register for the class it indicates. If she doesn't place in Calc, she'll just retake Precalc for a semester. She's a relatively slow worker so she sometimes has to guess a few at the end of an SAT section but she's never had a problem with the timing on a regular class test in either her high school or CC classes. Those tend to give ample time for a well prepared student even if they write slowly or need to think for a few minutes.

[8filltheheart]

2 hours ago, HollyDay said:

Youngest dd switched over to MUS pre-cal and Cal.  It was good for her as she thinks along more theoretical lines than "plug and play" lines. 

Curious as to what she was using prior to MUS? MUS is not very theoretical at all. It is pretty straightforward this is how you do this and why.

Edited November 28, 2018 by 8FillTheHeart

[HollyDay]

4 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Curious as to what she was using prior to MUS? MUS is not very theoretical at all. It is pretty straightforward this is how you do this and why.

She was using TT before.  It is the "why" that she particularly liked about the program

[Nicholas_mom]

Wow, I cannot thank you ladies enough.  All these ideas and advice are things I did not know!  Every post was very helpful!  I am glad I asked because I think I can sleep again 🙂

Roadrunner said:

Quote

But aren’t college tests and exams timed as well? Also college class would move faster, won’t it? That was my reasoning.

  

Roadrunner this was my thought exactly, hence why I was asking my question.  I was concerned that the CC Calculus class would move too fast for him.  One CC uses the ACCUPLACER and the other CC uses ALEKS placement test.  I did not know these placement test are not timed.  I will definitely look into it at our CC.

Quote

ETA: I don't think it's necessary to spread out the content of just calculus 1 for an entire year. There's really not that much TO it. It's a good amount for a semester. IME, students who struggle in calculus usually do so because they have prealgebra/algebra deficits (and some have no work ethic.)

  Regentrude.....THIS eases my mind.  He is definitely solid with the prealg/alg concepts, as he is going over it again this year w/pre-calc.

Thank you ladies for your sage advice and information.

ETA:  I am liking the idea when ds takes the placement exam, and for reason doesn't do well, then he can take Pre-calc at CC.  I will just have to wait and see.  I was too concerned that he would take something twice in high school with a transcripts that mainly shows honors english and science and advance math so I am trying to present ds as an honor student through his transcript.  Thank you, again.

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Nicholas_mom