The GPA question was not one of a 4 or a 5, The Trig pre Cal is Honors and the AP Calculus is also a 5. My concern is that he may have a hard fought B vs. an easy A.
I stand by my recommendation to not bypass Trig, no matter what the GPA situation is. However, re GPA concerns getting a B in a challenging class vs an A in an easy class, this is another thing our ds has run into (different subject). The school district was really pushing one level of the subject for incoming 9th graders, but ds and his classmates had already had classes that put them above the level to begin with. DS' friends went with the district recommendation, but we requested ds go into the higher level class. DS did, subsequently, get a B in the class - but he has actually learned something in the class. His friends who went with the lower level class and got As haven't learned anything new, and have complained of being bored. I'll admit, I had some remorse over encouraging him to take the more difficult class because there is such a huge message given to the kids in high school about the value of aiming for the highest possible GPA - but at the end of the day, I have to think that when a college is looking at a student's transcript, it's going to be more important that a child shows ability and willingness to take risk and learn something than having all As and never stretching. I also had to step back and frame it outside the college angle too - life isn't all about college, and it would be really stressful to spend the next four years focusing on getting the highest possible GPA. But... that's just me
One other thing re GPA though - at this point, at 12 years old, you're still making choices for your ds. Eventually he's going to start to make his own choices. Our ds has opted to *not* take an AP course for one of his core subjects next year - school gives him the choice of taking AP or Honors. In our school district, only AP courses are weighted, so he's automatically lost a full potential grade point for next year's two semesters by not taking the AP course. The thing is - it's in a subject he's not interested in and he's not planning to study in college. It wouldn't gain him anything other than potentially one semester's elective credit in college in the field he plans to study, and he'll have other AP courses that can cover that. Plus, he might *want* to take an elective in college, who knows? Everything within me, the parent, was pushing him to take that AP course over the Honors but at the end of the day, it's got to be his choice. And he chose to focus his study time and effort on subjects that matter to him and to his future.. and really, that's what it's *supposed* to be about, not making choices of courses based on how GPA is impacted. Sorry if I sound like I'm up on a soapbox - it's not anyone here, it's our danged school district that gets me fired up about it - the counselors in ds' school actually suggest picking courses based on how it impacts your GPA, as well as suggest not putting high school courses taken in middle school on your transcript because they aren't weighted and might pull a GPA down, even if the student got an A.
This would create a situation where his last year or two of math will be outside of the HS.
Our ds is in the same situation - he has options to take higher level math through online courses or through our local university. FWIW, I think someone mentioned taking AP Statistics - that's what a lot of the kids in our district who are only one year ahead do to fill in that last year of math... but I'd be cautious about assuming that's what your ds would want to do. When we looked at the programs ds is interested in for college - there wasn't any credit given for AP Stats.
Best wishes,
polarbear
