What do you call a class that is mostly a repeat of Precalculus?

[Bristayl]

My ds15, starting 10th grade this fall, took Precalculus/Trigonometry in a terrific local homeschool class last year and did great. I am definitely putting that class on his transcript with the grade from the teacher. 

We are in the position of needing to chase merit aid and I believe he has a chance at National Merit. But I feel that if he moves on to Calculus this fall, he will not remember his Precalculus well enough by fall of 11th grade. Also, our current plan is for him to take Calculus as a DE course in 11th grade. (The reason he isn't taking it as DE this year is because he is taking two other DE courses and it will be his first year taking DE in a classroom setting--last year he did DE online. So we thought it best to start with a couple of easier in-person classes for 10th grade).

He will need to take our local university's math placement test next spring to be eligible to take Calculus, and he will have access to Pearson's MyMathLab to prep for it. It looks like it would cover everything he would need for the SAT/PSAT except Statistics. I'm also planning for him to take the SAT Math 2 Subject Test at the end of 10th grade, so this would be good prep for that as well as it covers some of the topics that are on the Subject Test but not on the regular SAT.

I am planning to have him go through MyMathLab this school year and also do Statistics using The Practice of Statistics AP book (using a syllabus I found online but not covering all the chapters). I feel I should call the class "Statistics and (something," on his transcript since it is not just Statistics. I had though of "Statistics and Finite Mathematics" until I read that Finite Math is usually considered to be prep for business, and I wondered if it would look strange to have that after Precalculus. But I don't want to use the term "Precalculus" again, either.  

I organize my transcript by subject so technically I could just put "Statistics" for this year since he will already have "Precalculus" on the transcript. It just doesn't seem to truly represent the work he will be doing.

With his current interests, his likely college major will be Computer Science, possibly with a concentration in game development. (He will be doing a home-based class on game development this year also, based on a book recommended by a WTM-er, but that would not be a math credit).

Any advice?

 

[chiguirre]

1 hour ago, Bristayl said:

He will need to take our local university's math placement test next spring to be eligible to take Calculus, and he will have access to Pearson's MyMathLab to prep for it. It looks like it would cover everything he would need for the SAT/PSAT except Statistics. I'm also planning for him to take the SAT Math 2 Subject Test at the end of 10th grade, so this would be good prep for that as well as it covers some of the topics that are on the Subject Test but not on the regular SAT.

I am planning to have him go through MyMathLab this school year and also do Statistics using The Practice of Statistics AP book (using a syllabus I found online but not covering all the chapters). I feel I should call the class "Statistics and (something," on his transcript since it is not just Statistics. I had though of "Statistics and Finite Mathematics" until I read that Finite Math is usually considered to be prep for business, and I wondered if it would look strange to have that after Precalculus. But I don't want to use the term "Precalculus" again, either.  

I organize my transcript by subject so technically I could just put "Statistics" for this year since he will already have "Precalculus" on the transcript. It just doesn't seem to truly represent the work he will be doing.

With his current interests, his likely college major will be Computer Science, possibly with a concentration in game development. (He will be doing a home-based class on game development this year also, based on a book recommended by a WTM-er, but that would not be a math credit).

Any advice?

 

My dd took the math placement exam at Lone Star CC to register for Calc 1 last March, almost 3 months before she finished her Precalc class. I was nervous about it but the counselor pointed out that she could take it multiple times and that knowing what was on it would help her study for the second attempt if she needed it. So, we went ahead. It turned out that the exam mainly covers algebra topics from Alg II and the beginning of Precalc so dd passed on her first try. I don't know if your DE site uses the same test but it's likely since we're in the same state.

I think Statistics and Finite Math is fine for a course title. I doubt that it will make any difference what you call the class as long as you don't call it Precalc two years in a row. Another option might be Statistics and Advanced Topics in Algebra.

[domesticidyll]

I liked both of chiguirre's titles. Non-mathy people will look at the transcript and see something substantial-looking and recognize that it includes hard math, and mathy people will have a sense of the actual trajectory of your son's math learning. 

Could I ask for the name of the game development book?

[Bristayl]

1 hour ago, chiguirre said:

 It turned out that the exam mainly covers algebra topics from Alg II and the beginning of Precalc so dd passed on her first try. I don't know if your DE site uses the same test but it's likely since we're in the same state.

I think Statistics and Finite Math is fine for a course title. I doubt that it will make any difference what you call the class as long as you don't call it Precalc two years in a row. Another option might be Statistics and Advanced Topics in Algebra.

Thanks for your input!

I do have access to the topics in MyMathLab and a list of which are on the placement exam, but I was also wanting to use MyMathLab to prep for the SAT and SAT Math 2 test, so we will probably some additional topics besides what will be on the placement exam.

[Bristayl]

11 minutes ago, domesticidyll said:

I liked both of chiguirre's titles. Non-mathy people will look at the transcript and see something substantial-looking and recognize that it includes hard math, and mathy people will have a sense of the actual trajectory of your son's math learning. 

Could I ask for the name of the game development book?

 

He will want to apply to a few highly selective colleges, in addition to ones where he should be able to get merit aid, so I'm mulling how to avoid looking like he went "backwards" from Precalculus.

The book is Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development, 2nd ed. , by Jeremy Gibson Bond.

[BusyMom5]

Can you call last year Trig, and this year PreCalc?  My Dd is kinda in the same place.   She pland6to take Calc as DE in the spring,  but I'd like her to keep working through problems to keep up and for PSAT.  Shes already placed into Calc 1, but I decided her transcript will have 9th grade Al2, 10th grade Trigonometry,  11th grade .5 PreCalc, and 1 credit DE Calc.  12th grade she will probably do statistics.  

[Bristayl]

1 hour ago, BusyMom5 said:

Can you call last year Trig, and this year PreCalc?  My Dd is kinda in the same place.   She pland6to take Calc as DE in the spring,  but I'd like her to keep working through problems to keep up and for PSAT.  Shes already placed into Calc 1, but I decided her transcript will have 9th grade Al2, 10th grade Trigonometry,  11th grade .5 PreCalc, and 1 credit DE Calc.  12th grade she will probably do statistics.  

He will be applying to some schools that require course descriptions, and only the second semester of the class he took was trig, so I don't think that will work. Good thought, though!

[Miguelsmom]

Advance mathematics. My son took a class called College math readiness but that sounds like a remedial course. Intro to calculus and statistics? 

[Guest]

College algebra, maybe? It includes a lot of precalculus. 

[Frances]

6 hours ago, dmmetler said:

College algebra, maybe? It includes a lot of precalculus. 

I think this depends on location. Here College Algebra comes before Precalculus in the state system and there is very little overlap, so it would seem he was going backwards.

Since you organize your transcript by subject rather than year, I think I would just go with Statistics. You could also include both the outsourced course he did and his review this year under one course called Precalc and Trigonometry. I did this with several of the co-op classes we supplemented at home. So for instance, for World History we did a comprehensive year long course at home, but ds also did shorter, more narrowly focused classes at his co-op (one the same year and one a different year). I combined them all together under one course called World History, as I too did a transcript by subject area.

[domesticidyll]

Thanks for the book title!

The schools that are asking for course descriptions will probably go by the course description, not the syllabus name, for rigor, and will be used to seeing a variety of names. "Advanced Topics in Algebra" seems the most clearly non-remedial -- even the merit schools on your list should recognize that undergrad math courses include advanced algebra work.