Photo Credit: Katie Woods

M-A students in Pre-Calc often spend hours doing their homework

After a year’s worth of bitter commentary from my upperclassmen friends or the little geniuses that took the class sophomore year, I am finally in PreCalculus myself. And the rumors are true: PreCalc is absurdly difficult.

PreCalc is a fast-moving course with a rigorous curriculum and a heavy workload.  I consistently have more PreCalc homework each night than from my two APs combined.

Even I, somewhat of an admitted math nerd, end up shoving my homework away from me in disgust at least once a week. Or I just give in to a PreCalc-induced meltdown (which happens probably more than once a week).

Although not explicitly stated in the course title, PreCalc is an honors course. The other course that is a logical next step after Algebra II is Algebra II/Trig, and this would be considered the “regular” option.

For those of you who have always struggled with numbers (or more specifically – graphing weirdly shaped functions and dealing with vague instructions such as “plug in a really big number”), I would suggest thinking twice before enrolling in PreCalc.

And yet, after all of the sweat and tears, PreCalc is worth a plain old 4 in terms of GPA. Just a 4.  The exact same as Alegbra II/Trig.

For a course to be considered “weighted,” M-A must submit a request to the UC system, which will approve the extra grade point based on the grade level that the course is designed for. PreCalculus is technically a junior class, thus it is not considered a 5-point course.

I believe that especially difficult and fast-moving courses should be awarded an extra grade point based on their content, not solely the grade level they were essentially “made for.” From my experience, PreCalc is at least as draining as AS chemistry, a weighted class.

AS chemistry is considered by the UC system to be a class for juniors, but here at M-A, chemistry is widely known as the “norm” science class for sophomores, whether it be regular or AS.

Students who choose to take the more rigorous option in terms of chemistry are graded on a 5-point scale. I see no reason why the students who challenge themselves in PreCalculus should be treated any differently.

Although the UC system doesn’t look like it will be changing its policies any time soon, I think that the students who enroll in PreCalc should be rewarded for their tireless efforts, late nights graphing parabolic asymptotes, and determination in studying for the countless tests that often result in nothing better than a C+.