# What math class are you guys in?

A lot of people who are really good at math are in like calculus or something in 6th grade or whatever. People also say that it doesn't really matter what class you're in, as long as you have common sense and are interested in math. But right now I'm in 7th grade and I'm in Algebra 1 (please, school system, ignore my Level 5 calculus rating). Of course, I would like to be in Trigonometry or higher, but the way the school system works, you can't just test your way into a class, you have to have a verified credit to have actually taken the class. I've considered Johns Hopkins summer courses, but they're super expensive. Tell me, what grade are you guys in and what math are you taking, and also tell me what you think I should do to get out of Algebra and into something cool. Thanks!

Note by Finn Hulse
4 years, 11 months ago

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I'm in 7th grade in Algebra 1 too, @Finn Hulse! However, I feel that skipping classes too much isn't good, or else you'll fall into the Calculus Trap. Learning says nothing, but applying your skills by joining a math club or creating a new invention does have a lot of impact, because if you learn, you have to apply it.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

You're 21 and in 7th grade?

- 4 years, 11 months ago

That was a mistake in my age. I don't know why its up there. I asked the Brilliant Staff to fix it for me along with the email notice on the top of the page, saying to fix my age. But for now @Finn Hulse, its like a neat disguise. Nobody will know my age.... ()_-

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Haha.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

$$Don\text{'}t \text{ mock me.}$$

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I'm not mocking you.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

If you learn you don't have to apply it, I learn for the sake of learning. Though I do participate in olympiads, that's not why I learn math.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I'm in the 9th grade. I live in Israel at the moment, but last year I was in the US in Algebra II. Since the 7th grade (maybe also 6th) I've hated school; I love to learn, but I feel like school gets in the way, and that no one really wants to help... almost four years have passed and nothing has changed, so I guess I've given up. Since two-three years ago I've been learning on my own using resources from the Internet, but lately I've only been interested in mathematics. Unfortunately I'm really bad at geometry.. I want to improve but don't know where to start, as all that is really missing for me is the intuition for problem solving geometry. I guess I could get this from practice.

I would suggest that you talk to your parents if you haven't already, and talk to anyone at your school that could help. Also, I would definitely suggest that you should study on your own if you're able and interested, and if you do, don't forget to study subjects that don't interest you as much, so that you won't fall behind relative to the other subjects :)

If you want some resources for self-study, this is what I use or have used:

• wikipedia.org (if you can wade through the rigor, it is excellent)
• khanacademy.org (almost always too slow, but pretty good)
• tutorial.math.lamar.edu (calculus topics, written specifically to teach rather than as a reference)
• scribd.com/search?query=Khor+Shi-Jie (I found this recently.. it looks very good, a few typos)
• brilliant.org (for practicing proof-writing)
• google.com (sometimes you can find a good .pdf on a topic)

EDIT: But you shouldn't forget about school.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Thanks! It just so happens that I use all of these resources too!

- 4 years, 11 months ago

It's not my ability level that's in the way. I could be in Calculus, I am Level 5, after all.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Yes, I didn't think so. It takes a knowledge of other parts of mathematics to be effective in Calculus. I was suggesting that you learn on your own not so that you can improve and then be moved to a more advanced class, but so that you can learn independently of school in the meantime, instead of hoping to be put into something more interesting. I guess you already do that though :)

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I'm in 10th grade and taking precalculus. Honestly, I think you're fine, since my school only offered Algebra I to 8th graders. However, I did do summer classes on Algebra II and Geometry at a local university. Look at other places and see what they have to offer.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Schools are limited, we can do nothing about them low USA standards

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Hi I am in 10th grade and I am in level 5 in Algebra, 5 in Number theory, 5 in combinatorics, 5 in Geometry, 5 in calculus, 5 in Mechanics and 5 in electricity and magnetism. I personally think to keep up with our intrests in maths, a lot of struggle has to be done.Here in India I have classes uptill 9 in evening starting from early morning 7 ( of course including tutions) SO I have to keep up all my work on maths only at night.And its very good experience here. Actually practise is the key so I think u must keep on thinking about all the things and not letting leisure time to be wasted.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

you dont feel tired? thats cool

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Actually I love doing maths all the time.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

hey bro..I'm from INDIA too(10th grade). Can you suggest me some sites and coaching institutions which can be helpful for IIT.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Hi, if you are on fb, then you can contact me here https://www.facebook.com/dinesh.chavan.984

- 4 years, 11 months ago

me, too. But now, i've many problem with my math teacher -_-

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Not anymore, youre blue all over. :)

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Yep,

- 4 years, 11 months ago

how did u do that......I mean do u study like 15-16 hours a day...??I am in class 9 and though the class topper but not extraordinary like u...

- 4 years, 4 months ago

now i'm in 10th grade and i really like math. but in this group i got level 2 in algebra,mechanics and geometry

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Don't worry about being in level 2. Level 2 is about the difficulty of most American highschool classes in my opinion/personal experience. In general though, it is not good to think of your level on Brilliant as correlating with your grade/age or any notion of where you should be*. Though we hope that Brilliant is useful to people who are studying in school, one of the best parts of Brilliant is that it is not limited to what your schools are willing to teach.

Staff - 4 years, 11 months ago

my school system is different. sorry can't help.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Malaysian syllabus combines every aspect but we barely go into deep details. :l

- 4 years, 11 months ago

skipping classes is not good, stick to it regularly and spare time practice ur tri and cal skills , i think it will be better way to handel it. And in last enjoy it. have great maths

- 4 years, 11 months ago

i'm in 11th grade and i still lv2 in algebra, numb. theory, and geometry

- 4 years, 11 months ago

oh i'm lvl 3 in algebra and combinatorics lvl 4 in number theory and lvl 2 in geometry :( i'm bad at geometry

- 4 years, 11 months ago

- 4 years, 11 months ago

oh and lv3 combinatorics

- 4 years, 11 months ago

cool-_-

- 4 years, 11 months ago

@Finn, you might want to visit "khanacademy.org". That's where I learnt most of what I know now. Its a really helpful, free website.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

iam in 10th grade and in algebra iam in first level because i have joined brilliant recently.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I'm in 8th grade, Geometry :/

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I never skipped any courses in Math, as I am only in Algebra 2/Trig as an 11th grader, but next year I'll probably be in AP Calculus AB through taking a summer course in Precalculus.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Through what program?

- 4 years, 11 months ago

My school offers its own non-credit bearing 6 week course in Precalculus. If you average an 80+ in the course, you skip from Algebra 2/Trig into Calculus. If you average a 95+ and score well on an entrance test, you are put in AP Calculus AB which is basically Calculus 1 plus a bit more I think

- 4 years, 11 months ago

That's cool!

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Huh. Precalculus groups together almost everything in math at that level(more trig though), so I would put more emphasis on it, because it covers a wider spectrum.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

dude algebra is the basic, fundamental and coolest thing in mathematics even if your trying to solve calculus you must know algebraic functions, algebraic multiplication, polynomial division

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Partial Differential Equations.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Could someone please explain the American school system? I would love to help but I haven't a clue what is going on.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

6th grade either Math 6 or Pre-Algebra 7th grade either Math 7 or Algebra I 8th grade either Intro to Algebra or Algebra I or Geometry 9th grade either Algebra, Geometry, Alg2, Trig, Precalc, or Calc 10th grade either Geometry, Alg2, Trig, Precalc, Calc, or Stat 11th grade either Alg2, Trig, Precalc, Calc, Stat, MultiCalc, etc, etc, etc.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Thanks. It's so much different to our system.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

WARNING: DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR LEVELS... MAYBE YOU WILL BE THE SMARTEST!!! I am in 9th grade, still I know trigonometry, calculus, tensors, some of quantum mechanics, and string theory. But, those physics stuff that I learned is in my mind "fully nonsense", which of String theory explains all the stuff in strings and branes??? That's why learning is also "getting into a bit of nonsense"

The relativity theory is just like an illusion that the past, present and future are carried in the form of light... and the same thing I found is that sound waves behave in this way... and then why Quantum and all that stuff???

That's why, I suggest you to learn only what you need, with some general knowledge(otherwise you will get lonely), Learning is fun, but learn only what makes best sense for you, instead of heating up your brain (like what I did...)

- 4 years, 11 months ago

and one more thing calculus is not that easy as u think

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Yeah, I know. But I'm pretty good at it. (Level 5).

- 4 years, 11 months ago

- 4 years, 11 months ago

- 4 years, 11 months ago

how to practice other topics?

- 4 years, 11 months ago

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I learn math to teach for peoples that want to get a medal in a Mathematical Olympiad .. it's is so good because I'm studding engineering and all problems can be solved by the math

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I'm also in 7th grade. My mom suggested that I test to get into the super gifted program at my school. The test was definitely grueling though, or I guess I could just say that it sucked. It took 5 hours. In that time period I took the A.C.T., and iq test, and a math test with pre-algebra through pre-calculus questions. In the end I passed and got into the program which is called T.V.M.S.C. I currently go for half the day and take physics, acc.algebra 1, and some other class specified as intro to research. The material is a little hard to grasp but instead of doing all of the normal superfluous things that kids my age normally do at school, I got to conduct several exciting experiments, and make more friends. Like you said, smart kids in sixth grade take calculus, but In my opinion, anyone that works as hard as they can can achieve those goals. Iq is only about 45% of the deal of genius, what really matters after that is how you use it.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Wow, I didn't know about those programs, cool! Do you still have the test? I would like to look at it :)

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Unfortunately, the advisors that gave me the test aren't allowed to show us our scores much less give us our test because they don't want us to be comparing ourselves with other people. They just tell us If we get in or not. The interesting thing about this though is that my program is literally in Boise, Idaho. The A.C.T. Was really annoying. Each subject had around 40 questions. Some were easy, and others were things that I wouldn't learn for another couple of years. I just want to do something about that with this website.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Wow

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I didn't mean you, I met the person that is MY age and somehow has enough experience in calculus to be a level 5 (Finn Hulse).

- 4 years, 11 months ago

I'm sorry that I can't ignore it, but how do you have a level 5 calculus level.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Reason 1: Swag

Reason 2: I learn math (and physics) VERY quickly, so I am "fluent" in Calculus I and parts of II, even though I'm still in the class (I'm in a virtual school, so I have to do each and every assignment before I move on to the next math course). To get an idea of how fast I learn math, last year, I was in Geometry in 8th grade when I went to a public school.

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Did not mean for the font to become enormous, sorry about that

- 4 years, 11 months ago

Wow. I'm in 6th grade doing the course of CC 8/Algebra 1. Everyone at my school says that that's really good, but I consider it being pretty easy.

- 4 years ago

Hey Finn I don't know if you've abandoned this thread but I'll ask you anyway. How do you do problems at calculus level so easily? Like I'm 15 (ignore my profile age) and I suck pretty badly at calculus combinatorics and geometry but algebra and number theory always came easily to me. By the time you see this I should be level 3 in both number theory and algebra but I have trouble keeping my rating above level 2 in geometry and I couldn't even dream of that in calculus. Combinatorics I can't push above a mid level 2. Can someone please explain to me how to get better at solving these kinds of problems? I only started Brilliant a month or 2 ago so my ratings might seem low but I have never been able to solve higher order math problems well. Any positive input is greatly appreciated.

- 3 years, 9 months ago