For many students, Precalculus Honors will be their hardest course in high school math. Although the math course skipping policy is different this year — students who didn’t take Algebra 2 Honors need to pass a placement test before enrolling — students still need comprehensive learning methods to achieve the high grades most want to have.
After taking Precalculus Honors, I have devised some actionable tips to remember (a list that is still relevant even this far into the school year).
Tips for daily class participation and homework
I found it useful to do homework right after class. This habit helped me strengthen my memory of the content and check for understanding. To be ready for the next class, I advise keeping track of any confusing problems you were unable to solve and resolve those issues by either asking friends or the teacher during tutorial.
In teacher PJ Yim’s class (the version of the class I took), you get a chance to bring up the problems you don’t understand well, and your peers will then try to explain them on the whiteboard. Yim calls students to go up to the board alphabetically and records the number of times they participate; if you participate enough, he will round up your grade at the end of the semester (a great help for those in the C+/B- or B+/A- categories).
Although you can choose to pass on these opportunities, I highly recommend taking every chance to go to the board since it not only helps your grade but also allows you to check and solidify your understanding through teaching others.
In addition, try to stay focused on listening to all the details of the lectures and take good notes. If you miss class, a great way to catch any missing notes is to watch the prerecorded videos posted by Yim. The example questions are useful tools that help you with homework problems and test review.
A foolproof way to review for tests
In speaking with junior Katherine Liu, a student who too Kristen Hamilton’s version of the class, I learned her approach to tests was to study hard on the weekend. She suggests that you should not overwork yourself at other times. If there is a tutorial before the test, solving 3-5 problems should be enough to warm up and prepare for the test.
I highly recommend asking questions well before the test date, reviewing at least two days ahead and clarifying those concepts that confuse you during tutorials, such as solving vector problems, how the right-hand rule works, etc. That way, a lighter review the night before can solidify your knowledge for the test.
I also found that depth of knowledge is vital in Precalc Honors. It’s important that you understand the logic behind every problem, and doing adequate practice problems is important, especially for maintaining a fast enough speed in pressure-packed tests. Most tests have a 85-minute time limit.
If there is no tutorial to prepare for the test, it is helpful to wake up a little bit earlier to help clear your head. Reviewing a sheet with key notes — like formulas and points that are easy to make mistakes on — while having breakfast can help you get into test mode.
For an overall review, you can first read over the notes and the problems you made mistakes on, then do the extra practices your teachers may give you to check whether you really understood the concepts or not. At this point, you should not have any questions about how to solve a question, but you can still pull out the problems you got wrong and look through any complicated solving procedures.
The hardest units of the course
The units I felt were the hardest were the trigonometry units — Units 4-6 in the first semester — because there were various formulas that needed to be memorized. Although the procedure for solving a certain type of problem is the same, there is a wide range of problems.
Because it is an honors course, it has six units in a semester rather than four, which requires students to adapt to a faster pace than the regular college preparation version of the class. Therefore, using every minute in class wisely can help you study more efficiently.
Fulfilling the gap between Algebra 2 and Precalculus
To prepare for this course ahead of time, strengthening your Algebra 2 skills during the summer before is a great way of establishing a solid foundation. You can review the basic types of functions, including polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric. Since you will dig deeper on these topics during the year, it is good to be able to recall them when you need to use them.
By taking all those suggestions, I wish you the best chances of surviving — hopefully, even thriving — in Precalculus Honors.
