AP Statistics or Math Studies at BHS?
My son is an average math student who is choosing classes right now for his senior year at Berkeley High. He really wants to take Statistics, but they dropped the regular class awhile ago and now only offer the AP version. I would prefer he choose Math Studies, which looks like a pre-calculus class that builds on the sort of beginning pre-calc that junior year Math 3 represents. His teacher says he'd be better off in Math Studies, while the counselors suggested to him that AP Stats would be easier. It's certainly more interesting to him, as it's applied rather than theoretical, but students can't drop AP classes, and he has chosen an already tough schedule for next year. I don't want him, and by extension us, to have a hellacious year because of a bad math choice. Any thoughts from people who have experience with either or both of these courses, and any ideas about who the teachers might be? By the way, he is one of the apparently few fortunate students who has had good math teachers so far, so it hasn't been about the teaching for him.
Parent Replies
My advice is to let your student make the choice. If your student wants to take Stats, let him! Stats is pretty interesting and IMO more relevant than calculus for many students. I have heard that the AP stats teacher is good, too. My son took Math Studies his junior year and said it was super easy. He's not great at math and had bad experiences with the math department at BHS, so he skipped math senior year and did a proctor period instead. He set up his senior year schedule with a good balance of hard/easy so that he wouldn't burn out too badly (all seniors do!!). He was accepted at several colleges and is doing well his freshman year. Good luck!
My daughter was fortunate enough to be able to drop her AP Stats class at BHS a few weeks ago and we're all breathing a sigh of relief. She's actually a weak math student with a learning disability (which is probably why they let her drop) but we all felt she needed to have 4 years of math on her transcript to be eligible for some of her college choices. Because of the way the BHS math department is set up, her only choices for credit were AP Stats and AP Calculus and Stats felt like the lesser of two evils (but was still miserable). She struggled and had to negotiate alternate ways to pass the class, which fortunately she did. We looked at many choices before signing her up for this class but none of them were viable for us (but might be for you). Options were signing up for statistics at the junior college level (some weren't offering and some started before BHS finished their spring semester) and taking at Tilden Prep, which we couldn't afford. If I were you, I'd choose Math Studies, but best of luck whichever way you go.
Math Studies is a good choice for a student who wants a math course but doesn't want the pressure of an AP class. Math Studies reviews high school math topics and then does some introductory statistics, and very introductory calculus (polynomial derivatives.) After Math Studies he'll be able to either go into a Calculus course or a Stats course in college. It provides a good foundation for students who may have missed something along the way.