finishing Chalkdust Precalculus...

[Merry]

Well, my ds is in his senior year and is taking a physics class through a University model school. He's also working his way through the Chalkdust Precalculus and is doing ok. However, he's being very slow about it. He's still only on lesson 2.3. I plan for him to do a couple more lessons over the break but he won't finish the book by the middle of May which is his graduation date. So..if he finishes chapter 7, which he will be lucky to do so...what should I put down on his transcript? Would it still be considered precalculus or should it be called something else? The topics covered would be functions and their graphs, polynomial and rational functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, trigonometric functions, analytic trigonometry, additional topics in trig. (sines and cosines), and systems of equations and inequalities(chapter 7). Or should he just stop after trig. and call it trig.? He could do the topics in analytic geometry (chapter 10) instead of systems of equations and inequalities. Would that be adequate for a trig. course? Thanks!

[Jann in TX]

Pre-Calc is a combination of College Algebra and Trig--usually one semester of each.

College Algebra is usually the lowest level for-credit college math class. It would be easy for him to pick up a Trig class in college if he needs to take additional higher maths.

[MomsintheGarden]

That Chalkdust Precalculus course is VERY time-consuming. It took my oldest 1 1/2+ school years to complete it. He is very math-oriented, motivated, and an efficient worker. It is just a LOT of work. He got done with it 1/2 way through his senior year after working on it during the summer between his Sophomore/Junior years AND his entire Jr. year.

My second oldest did some last summer, will work on it all this (Jr.) year, and finish it up by the end of this coming summer.

For my 3rd oldest and younger, I will allot 1 1/2 school years for this book! I will have 3 1-semester courses: Advanced Algebra, Trigonometry, and Analytic Geometry.

I called CD and asked about the book - they said that the Precalc book takes most students 18 months to complete. I think they should post this on their website.

Trigonometry is covered in Chapters 4-6, so I'd give him 1/2 credit for that if he finishes them. If he finishes through Ch. 7 (finishing through Chapter 8 on matrices would be better), give him 1/2 credit for Advanced Algebra. Chapter 9 is an almost complete repeat of the probablility covered in Algebra II - skippable if you're in a pinch but good SAT prep. Chapters 10-11 are Analytic Geometry - give 1/2 credit for these if he finishes them. Chapter 12 is an intro to Calculus - also skippable because it will be covered in Calculus. BTW, Chapter P is also skippable because it's just background.

If he's going into a math/science major and will be taking Calculus, I'd consider making him work on this book over the summer. An intro to Analytic Geometry would be very useful.

HTH,
GardenMom

[Luann in ID]

I don't know if this will help you or not. Ds was having a little trouble with functions, and we happened to have a friend here picking apples. When she heard he was having trouble, she sat down to help him. She used to teach math at the university using the Larson text, and is currently writing the calculus text for a very well-known math program. (You would recognize it if I named it.)

She looked at the TOC and helped me pencil in the following notes:

6.3 and 6.4 - important
Chapter 8 - skip
9.4-9.7 - skip
10.1 and 10.2 - important

She drew a line under Chapter 10 and said we could call it done if we got that far, except 12.1 which she considered important.

ETA: I looked back over your post/questions again and realized this information probably won't be of much help to you. Sorry. Maybe someone else can use it.

I should also add that she made these notes assuming ds was going into engineering and knowing which classes he would be taking, so her suggestions may have been specific to that particular scenario. Ds has since decided to do aeronautical science instead.

Just a thought -- could he be doing too many problems per section? That may be slowing him down.

[Merry]

so he decided not to major in science/math after all. So we're changing from precalculus to I guess advanced math like GardenMom said. The info Luanne gave is very useful though if my younger son goes into science which I'm not sure of yet. Thanks! We'll aim for chapter 7. If we stop at 6, then we'll just call it Trigonometry, right?

[Merry]

when comparing the first 7 chapters in the Larson text and a copy of a College Algebra textbook that my college kid has, the topics covered are different so I think Advanced Algebra is a better name.

[MomsintheGarden]

If he finishes through Chapter 6, how about giving him 1 credit and calling it "Advanced Algebra with Trigonometry?"

GardenMom

[FloridaLisa]

A follow-up question. Ds is working through this material this year. Do you do all of the problems? If not, what problems do you assign? I'd love help insight from Luann in ID or Momsinthegarden of anyone else who has used this text.

Thanks!
Lisa

[MomsintheGarden]

Our children do every 4th problem, beginning with #1. They do #'s 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, etc. This usually catches at least one in each "group." Another mom on this board (sorry, I can't remember who it was or where I saw it) has her students do every 4th, but has them begin with #3. Chalkdust recommends doing every fourth problem.

If a student has problems with a concept, then there are plenty left for extra practice. Usually the problems are in pairs that ask about the same concept. For example, #s 48 and 49 in a section may ask a student to solve the same type of equation. If a student has a lot of trouble with #49, I would then have him do #48. I try to do extras sparingly if possible, so as not to discourage the student who is already doing a lot.

And one more thing - if you have the extra time you can preview the word problems and select the best types for the field the student plans to study.

GardenMom