What's Enhanced Math 3 Like? (PHS)
Last school year as a freshman, I took Enhanced Math III with Mrs. Godett. While the course is definitely challenging, it is entirely possible to end with good grades, especially under the guidance of Mrs. Godett. There was only one class period of EM3 last year, and we consistently maintained the highest grades in the district for the course.
A Typical Day:
Lecture and notes (if you have Mrs. Godett). Mrs. Godett will teach all of the content of the section, with everyone taking notes, and then she will give multiple example problems.
She will go over some problems with the class and others the class will try by themselves.
Sometimes, we have an exit ticket at the end of class that goes in the Tests category in the gradebook.
Unit Breakdowns:
Fall Semester
Unit 1: Polynomials
Unit 2: Rational Functions
Unit 3: Radical Functions
Unit 4: Logarithmic Functions
Unit 5: Trigonometric Functions
Final Exam Units 1-5
Spring Semester
Chapter 8: Graphing Trigonometric Functions
Chapter 9: Analytic Trigonometry
Chapter 10: Additional Topics in Trigonometry
Chapter 11: Matrices
Chapter 14: Sequences & Series
Final Exam Chapters 8-14
End of Course Assessment (does not count for a grade)
Calculus Chapter 2: Limits & Derivatives (After trading in Precalculus textbooks for Calculus textbooks)
Final Exam Calculus
Tests
On test day, everyone will put their backpacks in the back of the classroom and switch the table groups to rows.
You will turn in their homework packet with the assignment sheet stapled to the top, and their notebook. These will be graded on completion.
Tests are all free response with the occasional multiple choice question. You will soon find that your grade depends almost entirely on partial credit. At the end of every test, there is a set of "Always, Sometimes, Never" questions.
After every test, you need to do test corrections.
In my year, we had one retake per semester. We had a final exam at the end of the fall semester, another final exam at the beginning of May, an End of Course Assessment in mid-May, and a Calculus final at the end of the year.
The tests are not too difficult (they only test you on what you learned in class!), but the part that makes them more challenging is the amount of time you get to take them.
Finals
All of the finals from my year were multiple choice on Scantrons.
There is no partial credit.
In my year, we had a Fall Semester Final in January, Spring Semester Final in May, End of Course Assessment in May, and Calculus Final in June.
Difficulty
Fast paced. Arguably the most challenging part about Enhanced Math III was the pace of the course. For instance, right off the bat on the first day of school, we got through a lesson of math, complete with notes and lecturing. We spent little time on “getting to know each other” activities like in other classes. In my year, we started with “Unit 0,” or in other words, a quick chapter of review, before we started learning EM3 content.
Manageable! If you pay attention in class and learn how to study effectively for your tests, Enhanced Math III will go smoothly for you.
TIPS
Take notes on everything! Even if you don’t think it’s significant, still try to scribble a little note about it in the margins of your notebook. It will most likely come in handy at some point. If it does not come up when you are studying for the unit or chapter test, it may come up after you’ve forgotten everything and have to study for finals.
Have both a scientific and graphing calculator. Teachers do have class sets, but not enough for the whole class. To avoid panic on test days, bring any calculator that your teacher might allow for the test. It’s convenient to keep it in your backpack at all times because you will occasionally have “exit tickets” (AKA pop quizzes), that require a calculator.
(For Mrs. Godett students) Don’t order UberEats during class. Yes. Seriously. Mrs. Godett will not let you leave the classroom to go to the restroom if it is around lunchtime because of people who order UberEats.
Avoid leaving your phone out during class. Even if you aren’t using it, just put it in your backpack or somewhere else out of view. It’s just the respectful thing to do.
Have study sessions. My class didn't discover the beauty of study sessions until late spring when Mrs. Godett brought it up to us, but we found it was incredibly helpful to meet with some classmates before tests to review content and ask questions.
The course for 2018-19 will definitely be different than my year, seeing as the incoming EM3 students covered some of this content in their Enhanced Math II classes.
How is Enhanced Math III different from Honors Precalculus?
It may be different during the 2018-19 school year, but last year, EM3 and HPC were very similar except for a few key differences.
In Honors Precalculus, almost everything was review for the students. The reason for this is they have one more year of math than the students going into Enhanced Math III. As a result, it was easier for them to keep up with the pace of the course. EM3 students tended to struggle more.
Enhanced Math III started off with five units, and then we switched to chapters during the second semester. Honors Precalculus stays in chapters the whole school year.
We cover all the same content, but in a different order. By the time we reached the second semester, EM3 was about a chapter behind HPC, but EM3 had already done one chapter that HPC had yet to do, so we were about caught up.
Mrs. Godett!
Mrs. Godett is the only teacher who taught Enhanced Math III when I took it, and she is an absolutely incredible math teacher. She is always super energetic, and remember those days when you complained about the class being too slow for you? Those days are over. At least, they’re over if you aren’t a Kumon overachiever that took Calculus when you were in kindergarten.
Mrs. Godett is super understanding and reasonable, and she cares deeply about her students. Sometimes, she will get irritated during class, but that’s the students’ faults for not being respectful.
Best of luck in your math classes this year!