Raw Materials | Computer Studies

INCENTIVE MATH

The creme of the crop, Incentive math is a challenging and rigorous course up to grade 9 that fully covers the student’s concurrent level of math with an additional roughly 2/3 of the subsequent year. Starting in grade 8, the program is meant for highly motivated high school students who have an above average ability and interest in mathematics. Incentive mathematics 8 students should expect to tackle shapes and square roots, percentages, exponent law, fractions, linear relations and equations, polynomials, the Pythagorean theorem, and probability. According to the official Palmer Incentive website, students must maintain a 73% (B) average in the course. Else, students across both years risk being ejected from the program and being placed in regular mathematics class the following year. It should be acknowledged that students in Incentive grade 9 mathematics will not be able to take pre-calculus 11 enriched the subsequent year if the student does not achieve at least an A average, even if they satisfy the 73% (B) average required to stay in the program. Rather, the student will be placed in a regular mathematics 11 pre-calculus course instead. As of September 17th, 2025, Mr. Michael Kwan teaches both incentive grade 8 and incentive grade 9 mathematics located upstairs in room 206.

ENRICHED COURSES

Enriched courses are meant to challenge highly motivated high school students that demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the academic subject. In terms of mathematics, R.C Palmer Secondary School offers the pre-calculus 11 enriched program. This course accelerates and goes more in-depth with the material done in a regular pre-calculus 11 course. Such material includes exponent law, radicals, polynomial factoring, rational expressions, quadratic functions, inequalities, and trigonometry. Unlike regular courses, admission is based off recommendation rather than automatic placement. Students are required to have achieved at least an (86%) A or above average in order to be considered. Students placed within this course are expected to participate in various math competitions, including the Pascal and Gauss contests. As of September 17th, 2025, Ms. Yanei Wang teaches this course downstairs in room 109.

MATH CLUB

R.C Palmer Secondary School is the home of the R.C Palmer Math Club. The club is split into junior (grades 8-9) and senior (grades 10-12) sections. Catering all students across all skill levels, the R.C Palmer Math Club provides an opportunity for students to enhance their mathematical ability, often beyond their grade level of material. The math club also encourages its members to participate in various math competitions, exposing members further to various difficult math questions to enhance their knowledge and problem-solving prowess. Such competitions that the R.C Palmer Math Club typically participate in include the:

MathChallengersBC and Pascal contests (grades 8-9)

Cayley Contest (grade 10)

Fermat contest (grade 11)

Euclid Contest (grade 12)

Canadian Open Math Challenge (grades 10-12)

Canadian National Mathematics League High School Contest (grades 8-12)

Note, The Junior Math Club division is sponsored by Mr. Kwan in room 206 for grade 8 and 9 students with meetings Thursday after school. The Senior Math Club division is sponsored by Mrs.Wang in room 109 for students grade 10-12 with meetings every Monday after school. Each division has its own complement of grade 10-12 student tutors which help encourage members to expand their knowledge of the subject.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT CALCULUS 12

Sophisticated university courses often require students to have a fundamental understanding of calculus. Advanced Placement Calculus 12 is a course offered by R.C Palmer Secondary School for motivated high school students with a sophisticated knowledge of the subject to expand their mathematical prowess further. This course follows the College Board Advanced Placement curriculum and is the equivalent of a first-year college course. Thus, students who take either the AB or BC test in May and score at least a 4 or higher are granted AP calculus 12 course credit. Course credit granted allows the student to skip one year of calculus in university. Moreover, according to R.C Palmer’s official website, “students who taken [this course] do significantly better in first year university where calculus is a required course for many programs.” It is to be noted that AP Calculus 12 is a recommended course and students not are placed automatically in this program. Instead, students must have maintained at least an 80% (B+) average in pre-calculus 11 or mathematics 11 enriched. Students are also required to have taken or be taking calculus 12 in order to be considered. AP calculus 12 includes topics such as limits, differentiation, derivatives and anti-derivatives, curve sketching, integration; and problems including rate, growth, and decay. A graphing calculator such as the Texas Instrument 83 to 89 are highly recommended.

Regular Math

Generally, students enroll in the same foundational math classes in grades 8-9. At Palmer, grade 8 to 9 regular math courses cover a variety of key mathematical concepts. This includes, perfect squares and cubes, square and cube roots, decimals, fractions, percentages, operations, discrete linear relations, surface area and volume, The Pythagorean Theorem, and finance literacy. Several fundamental math concepts are challenged, such as number sense, numeracy, patterns, computational fluency, geometry, data analysis, and problem solving. Students are also encouraged to construct their own understanding of mathematics, to apply math in meaningful contexts, and to transition from concrete to abstract thinking by means of connecting concrete, pictorial, and symbolic representations. Students develop into investigative thinkers and build perseverance by tackling challenging problems. Students are expected to have achieved a minimum of 50% to pass the course. As of September 19, 2025, Regular math 8-9 are thought by Mr.Li and Mr. Kwan in rooms 117 and 206 respectively.

FOUNDATIONS MATH

Offered in grades 10,11,12, foundations math is a median that lies between workplace and regular courses. Its curriculum focuses on elements that are required for further education of a career in the arts, nothing more. Students are able to establish a foundation of mathematical competence, delving into topics such as mathematical reasoning, angle relationships, graph analysis, applications of statistics, scale models, and financial literacy, all while reviewing previous years curriculum to solidify the students command over simple, daily life math problems. Note, students and parents are encouraged to research the admission requirements for post secondary programs as many top universities offer a significant advantage to students that have taken pre-calculus and AP as opposed to foundations, even in the arts.

WORKPLACE MATH

offered in all subsequent years following grade 8, workspace math is meant for students that struggled to pass regular math courses. It helps students developed foundational math skills to prepare themselves for future math courses required for graduation. Usually, only selected topics from regular mathematics for the respective grade will be covered, depending on each students progress throughout the course. The majority of students that take these courses feed into future workspace courses. However, if a student excels in the subject and shows a strong understanding over its core content and competencies, the student will instead be recommended to join regular mathematics. Key topics include computational fluency, geometry, measurement, data and graph analysis, probability, trigonometry, and finance literacy. Advanced topics, such as calculus, are left out. Note that, students that take this course will be subjected to much more extensive scrutiny in the future when applying to other courses.

PRECALC MATH

Pre-calculus, offered in garde 10 and above, marks the three-year-long transition students face prior to taking calculus in university. This course is meant for motivated students who wish to pursue sciences in the future or higher education. The core curriculum consists of transformations and analyses of various functions used in higher mathematics, geometric sequence and series, trigonometry, and finance literacy, and further scrutinize mathematics learned in previous courses.

Teacher Interview Questions

1. What is math all about?

2. Why is math important?

3. In you eyes, what is the general student opinion of math at Palmer?

4. How do you engage students that dislike math? Do you try to change their opinion on the subject?

5. What was your opinion of math as a 12 year old?

6. Do you believe that math at Palmer is of sufficient quantity?

7. What does math teach students outside of the curriculum?

8. What is something Palmer does better compared to other schools in math?

9. What do you think are the impacts of math on the Palmer community and society?

10. Whats your favorite math problem?

STUDENT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS