Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Integrated math 3 = common core math classes

Hello- I don't really understand the difference between the Common Core upper level math classes and the traditional classes of Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, pre-calculus, and calculus.
Here are my questions:
1) Do most kids in advanced math take a year of AP AB Calculus and a year of BC Calculus? Or just a year total of that?
2) Is Integrated math 3 = pre-calculus? Would you go right from Integrated math 3 into AP Calculus?
My 8th grader skipped into Integrated Math 2 (he was supposed to be in Math 1). He's acing it and really likes it.
Next year, he would take Integrated math 3. Would he then take AP Calculus?
Next summer, he could take a 5-week Algebra II class or an actual pre-calculus 8 week class at the community college, coming out of Integrate Math 2. Would that be a good idea? I heard that you need Integrated Math 3 to do well in pre-calculus.
I don't really understand how they divide these CC classes up. Thanks for any advice you can give!

If you take a look at the CC standards website, it indicates that Integrated 1, 2, and 3 have the same content as alg I, alg II, and geometry, and similarly lead to precalculus. The primary difference is that geometry is woven throughout the integrated courses.

As it happens, I've used what CC calls the compacted integrated model with our homeschooled children (because we've used a Singapore-published standard-track math curriculum, which is designed to complete algebra II-level topics in 10th grade--note that this is not considered compacted in its country of origin), and have found it to be quite well laid out, with a particular advantage of making the function of algebra in geometry much more immediately understood. (I can't speak to how well US-published curricula have integrated the topics.)

page 4 has a simple schematic for the pathways, and the remainder of the appendix shows how the topics are divided across the classes in the various models, so you can compare traditional alg I/geo/alg II to Int 1/2/3:
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_Mathematics_Appendix_A.pdf

First place Common Core only goes up to Algebra II. Or Common Core Algebra II. So you are asking two questions here. Common Core has no affect on how College Board (a private company) designed it's Calculus classes. Common Core has no plan for after Algebra II and districts are doing very different things for their higher level math. It's goal is to get most student to finish Algebra II by the end of H.S. (In my state you are only required to take one class above algebra..)

Second since Common Core only goes up to Algebra II (or Math III) you will have to see how your school or district handles this. There is NO one standard way of how to handle upper level math courses.

I'll start with Calculus question since it's simpler. AB & BC Calc are supposed to be either/or courses. But it seems this varies school to school. AP Classes are supposed to be "College Course" not High School courses. Check out the AP web-site for more details of those classes. According to them (and DS17's school) Calc AB is 2/3 of the normal college course (2 quarters or 1+ semesters) in Calculus and BC is a full year. But I've heard of many schools (through this board) that do this as a 2 year sequence. In my son's school AB is taught either/or.. they use exactly the same book. Except AB goes slower & only covers 2/3 of the material before the AP Test. BC requires being in the honors track, and if you are not covering several chapters as homework over the summer. Universities vary as to how these two tests are mapped to their courses. But I've seen a 4-5 on the AB test cover 1 college semester, 2 calculus quarters. And BC vary even more wildly.

First.. C-Math 1, Math2, Math3 is the same material as CC-Agebra, CC-Gemoetry, CC-Algebra II sequence but taught is in a different 'coordinated' order.

Common Core is complicated since the courses DON'T ALIGN with the old sequence. This is why there is a lot of confusion. Common Core added a course call Common Core 8th grade. This class includes some pre-algebra, about 3-4 chapters from pre-CC algebra books and 3-4 chapters from pre-CC geometry books. (Before CC average 8th grades were taking either pre-algebra or algebra in 8th grade) Standard Trig was pushed down into this sequence. (It's spread out.) Basically if you finish the sequence you cover more material and don't have to take a Trig course.

Because of this my local district decided you could go straight from CC-Algebra II straight to AB Calculus without needed a pre-algebra class. But honestly my district hasn't really figured out how they are going to handle the courses more advanced that Algebra II yet. They have to figure it out by next year.

This gets even more complicated when you start adding "compacted" classes for gifted/advanced kids. Common Core recommends that no one skip any math class. Instead this 3-year sequence is often "compacted" into a 2-year accelerated class instead. Some 7-8th graders are taking compacted 7th,8th-Algebra in two years.

To add to this discussion. The new SAT is now aligned to the Common Core Algebra II. The math on the SAT is now easier in some ways & harder in others. If you haven't taken Algebra II you won't have seen enough material. BUT the questions used to be trickier questions & the new test the questions are a lot more straight forward. It's more a test of if you have learned the material than can you think like a mathematician.

Gotcha- thanks so much for the information.
Our junior high and high school have changed to common core, so it goes up through Integrated Math 3, then into calculus.
My son's teacher for the accelerated 5-week summer Geometry class, who teaches at a different school/different district, said that if he went from Integrated Math 3 into Calculus he would have trouble since he will have missed key concepts.
I guess the best thing would be to ask our high school math department what they think.
He is taking Integrated Math 2 now. He will take Integrated Math 3 next year. Do you think taking a one-year, 5 week Algebra II class next summer would be a waste of his time since he covered it already?
He took the SAT last year, both new and old, and did very well on it. (He actually got the exact same math score on the old and new exam).
He only had taken Algebra I at that point.
Thanks again!

My son's high school used to be on block schedule 4 classes first semester and four second semester. In order to have Calculus the entire year....they signed up for AP calc AB for first semester and Calculus BC the second same teacher just gave them more time to cover the material. They took the BC exam.

They dropped the 4 block per semester schedule and went back to traditional 7 periods a day but the signing up for both calc classes stuck around. They have two hours of Calc in a row, are able to cover everything without summer work or excessive homework (they still have homework, just not hours). I would assume if someone was struggling the teacher could decide before the deadline to have that student take the AB test instead of the BC test.

My son is looking forward to it. He has the teacher this year for precalc and loves her. I met her at open house and loved her.

For right now our district has kept the traditional distinct classes (but the textbooks have integrated a bit more just not as much as CC classes). I am happy that my older son has made it through without an upheaval of confusion. My younger son might squeak through too....he is in Algebra I right now and might take Geometry this summer And Algebra II next Fall. So any changes would have to happen soon and I don't see it going through that fast.