Is it Normal to Take Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus Together in High School?

[virgosminx92]

My son is a sophomore this year and his counselor put him in a Trig. class this year and a pre-calc class. Is this normal to take both classes at the same time? and with 2 different teachers who teach differently? Help. thanks. He has already taken Alg. I and II and Geom.

 

[Moonbear]

Usually trig is taken before pre-calc. I'd recommend talking directly to the two math teachers about whether this makes sense. They may not be aware of the other classes your son is taking to notice a potential problem. Or, they may be able to assure you that the sequence at that school doesn't matter as much as in others because of the content of their classes.

 

[thrill3rnit3]

In my high school, trigonometry is a 1 semester course, while the trig "review" done in precalculus in usually during the 2nd semester. The 1st semester topics on precalculus doesn't really require trigonometry. So other students take it concurrently, trigonometry for the 1st semester, and precalculus for the full year.

There is also another option where students take trigonometry 1st sem, and they take a class called Math Analysis (pre calc minus the trig) during the 2nd semester, both semester-long classes.

 

[Feldoh]

A lot of schools don't even teach a trigonometry class it's simply integrated into the pre-calculus class, so it probably won't make much of a difference. Chances are by the time you son needs any trig in pre-calculus he will all ready have all the information.