Chalk Dust Pre-Calc taking a Looong time...

[April in CA]

Hello !

My 16 yo ds, 11th grade is using the CD Pre Calc program this year and it is taking him forever to get through the lessons. He reads through the lesson (thoroughly! - making sure he understands all the sample problems) and them watches the DVD lecture. This is day 1. The next day he works a variety of problems from the lesson. This is taking so long! I understand that math is challenging and I am okay with that, but how long should it take a bright and very conscientious (maybe too much so!) student to work the problems, and how many should he be doing per lesson? I am frustrated that we got a late start in math this year (his schedule is packed with hard and time-consuming things like physics) and I am worried that we won't finish. Is this book supposed to be finished in 1 year? Help!

Thanks for any thoughts and advice,

April

[SusanAR]

I haven't used CD precal, but I did talk with them on the phone about the program. They told me that it often takes 1.5 years to complete.

Some instructors feel that the concepts in precal are more important than those in calculus. Does he need to finish in a year?

Susan

[Hilary in MI]

My ds is doing Chalk Dust Algebra 2 this year and he'll start CD Precalculus next year. Here's a thread with comments about how time-consuming Precalculus is:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72656&highlight=cd+precalc

[LoriM]

My dd is a math major at the university. She spends as much as FIVE HOURS per day working the problems for two courses (Advanced Calculus and Differential Equations).

 

In PreCalc at home, she spent 1 hour in the morning, and 30 minutes in the evening, no matter how much she finished. The next morning, she picked up where she left off, and spent an hour in the morning, and 30 minutes in the evening. Four days per week, then took one day off.

 

In PreCalc at the CC, she finished about six chapters of the textbook in a semester. Routinely she had 300-500 problems to work per week. She spent about 2-3 hours per day on math (including 6 contact hours in the classroom each week).

 

I say all this to tell you that it varies, but it's reasonable to spend many hours on one subject. If you aren't willing for the time to be spent, then limit the time. :) One hour in the morning, and 30 minutes in the evening is probably sufficient. It sure worked for my dd longterm...because she just didn't quit.

[langfam]

DD started the year doing CD Precalculus. It was slow-going and she only got to Chapter 3. She really hated using the Larson book. She loved Dana Mosely. This child is never going to be a math major, so I switched her to TT Precalculus. I'll have to say there have been many happy math days since. She's really enjoying the course and is excited about her lessons each day....go figure.

My other kids who are using the CD texts from Prealgebra to Calculus are doing fine and making good progress, spending an hour or so, a day on math. I guess it just depends on each child. Like others have said, it may just take 1.5 semesters for CD Precal. My son who is doing CD Calculus has 6 chapters for the course and is only finishing the 4th.

[Brenda in MA]

My ds used it last year, and he would spend about 2 hours/day on math. I was told to have him do about 25 problems from each section. Depending upon the length of the sections, this sometimes meant every 4th problem and sometimes every 3rd. He started in late August and didn't finish the book until mid June, but he took the SAT2 Math Level 2 test in June and did quite well. He said that every topic on the test he had seen in CD PreCalc, so it's a tough program, but thorough.

 

HTH,

Brenda