Welcome AP Precalculus+, the newest addition to Skyline’s math curriculum. In the fall of 2023, Skyline adopted the AP Precalculus curriculum from the College Board. For the 2024-2025 school year and beyond, Skyline will offer AP Precalculus+, removing normal precalc from the curriculum.
This is, essentially, a name change. “We’re just replacing AP Precalculus with AP Precalculus+,” said Corey Nowitzke, Skyline AP Precalculus teacher, “and normal Precalculus with AP Precalculus.”
Skyline is making the name change in order to help more students get AP math credits and set standards for the Precalculus curriculum. “A student in Precalculus would be fully prepared for the AP Precalculus Exam in May. Since this is the case, we decided to name our Precalculus course AP Precalculus,” says Jeff Oleksinski, Skyline’s lead math teacher.
The AAPS course selection document says Algebra 2AC is a prerequisite for students to be able to take AP Precalculus. However this does not seem to be the case. “I don’t think it’s a requirement,” says Nowitzke. “That’s typically the sequence for students that are accelerated. Our accelerated class is AP Precalc+ and our regular version would be AP Precalc…It’s just a suggestion on where you could go with your math career.”
AP Precalculus will have a slight difference in content and mastery from the new incoming AP Precalculus+. “AP Precalc + has more content,” says Nowitzke. “It’s everything you need in Precalculus and more that you need to prepare for Calculus, including things such as limits, conics, and vectors.”
The version of Precalculus you should take depends on how you want to further your math career. “If you’re looking to pursue calculus, or other higher maths along the way, then I would say that AP Precalc + would be the way to go. If not, AP Precalc will be just fine,” says Nowitzke.
Teacher and student opinions disagree on the workload. “Workload is fairly heavy, I’d say, compared to the curricula that students have experienced in the past with Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 2,” says Nowitzke. “It’s a different type of curriculum and I think it’s a little more rigorous.”
However, many students think the AP Precalc+ course (AP Precalc this year, which becomes AP Precalc+) is not workload heavy. “It was slightly difficult but manageable with little to no work outside of school,” says Nicholas Farrell (‘26). Maddie Hicks (‘26) agrees: “It was really difficult but there was no work to do outside of school.”
Former AP Precalc students recommend taking AP Precalculus+. “I would recommend it, as it was fun,” says Farrell. “Mr. Nowitzke is a 10/10 teacher.”
