Placement

Refer customers to the placement tests FIRST and FOREMOST!

Can my student do TT Geometry *before* Algebra 2?

Opinions on this differ. One risk of taking Geometry in between the two algebras is that the student might forget a lot of the Algebra 1 he learned during the year he spends on geometry. Also, if a student has done well with Algebra 1, why break the positive momentum?

On the other hand, since the PSAT has geometry on it, students who take Algebra 1 in the 9th grade may want to take Geometry in the 10th if they plan to take the PSAT in the 11th grade. You should know, however, that the purpose of the PSAT is to provide a warm-up to the SAT and to identify potential National Merit Finalists. Since there are other ways to prepare for the SAT (such as checking out a library book that contains several practice SATs), and since very few students ever become National Merit Finalists (about 2 or 3 in each large high school), the argument for taking Geometry before Algebra 2 is not overwhelming.

After Singapore Math

Most of Singapore Math's pre-algebra is in Primary Math levels 5 and 6. Once a student finished Primary Math level 6, he's generally ready for Algebra # I wouldn't hesitate to recommend that a student who finished and did well with Primary Math move right into TT Algebra 1.

What about a young student (5th/6th grade) finished with Singapore 6B?

Do you think your son son is ready for algebra? I mean, not necessarily ability, but maturity? How has he done with the early algebra sections of 6A? I guess there are two options. Go with pre-algebra and let him grow a year older. He may thrive - particularly because TT would be a different program than what he's been doing and because he may enjoy the review without a lot of the difficulty. He may love doing pre-algebra. On the other hand, he may be bored and want to move on. If you think he'd do better to do algebra - even at a slow and relaxed pace - then go ahead and start it. If he's chomping to do algebra, maybe even half-paced algebra would be better than pre-algebra. But you know him best.

Transitioning from Singapore's NEM 1 to TT?

NEM 1 contains a some algebra 1, some geometry, and some other advanced math topics. I agree that someone finishing NEM 1 has not necessarily had a full algebra 1 course and therefore should probably start in TT Algebra 1 and work quickly through "review" sections.