Completing Beast Academy Level 5 is a big accomplishment! Now that your student has built a strong foundation in math, this is a great time to explore what's next for your student.
This guide outlines your student's next steps after completing Beast Academy Level 5.
What Comes After Beast Academy Level 5?
A student who has completed the Beast Academy series through Level 5 has the mathematical background necessary for Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) prealgebra. Our Math 6: Prealgebra courses are available in video format through Virtual Campus, in-person at AoPS Academy, and through our text-based interactive classrooms at AoPS Online. We also offer the Prealgebra textbook, which is used in our courses, but can also be used independently.
Transitioning from Beast Academy Math Level 5 to Prealgebra
Beast Academy prepares students to think like mathematicians by reasoning through unfamiliar problems, building intuition, and understanding the why behind the math. Prealgebra holds even higher standards for students' conceptual reasoning skills and pushes students further in terms of mathematical rigor and formalization.
Prealgebra is a natural next step for students who have completed Beast Academy because prealgebra students are expected to arrive with a solid base of arithmetic knowledge, which is the backbone of the Beast Academy curriculum. That foundation becomes the starting point for more formal, systematic reasoning. Prealgebra students are asked to formally justify their reasoning and carve their own path through increasingly complex problems, including those found in new territory such as plane geometry, number theory, and counting and probability. If your student enrolls in Math 6 or uses our Prealgebra textbook, you may notice it opening with arithmetic; this is intentional, as prealgebra starts by establishing why those operations work, laying the groundwork for everything that follows.
Available Modalities
Note:
- Our courses cover the same topics, regardless of modality.
- Our Math 6 courses are offered in Honors and Scholars tracks; availability depends on the format you choose. Learn more about our Scholars and Honors tracks here.
- Scholars versions of a course cover the same set of topics as the Honors version, but generally cover each topic at a deeper, more rigorous, and abstract level.
Students can access prealgebra through any of the following modalities:
AoPS Academy
A live, instructor-led, in-person class with small class sizes (<= 16 students per class). Students work through challenging math problems together, guided by an instructor, and complete weekly homework assignments on their own time. This format is ideal for students who thrive on in-person collaboration with peers.
Learn more about Honors Math 6: Prealgebra (Part 1) and Scholars Math 6: Prealgebra (available at select locations) at AoPS Academy.
AoPS Online Weekly Live Classes
A live, instructor-led, text-based online class. Students work through challenging math problems together in real time, complete weekly homework assignments on their own time and are supported by instructional videos as well as the ability to ask questions on the class message board between sessions. This format is ideal for students who enjoy collaborating with others in a fast-paced, text-based setting.
Learn more about Scholars Math 6: Prealgebra (Part 1) at AoPS Online.
Virtual Campus
A live, instructor-led, video-based online class with small class sizes (<= 16 students per class). Students work through challenging math problems together, guided by an instructor, and complete weekly homework assignments on their own time. This format is ideal for students who thrive in a collaborative setting but prefer the flexibility of learning from any location.
Learn more about Honors Math 6: Prealgebra (Part 1) at Virtual Campus.
AoPS Online Self-Paced Classes
A self-paced, automated, text-based online class. Students work through interactive lessons on their own schedule, supported by instructional videos and homework problems. This format is ideal for students who enjoy text-based settings and need a more flexible schedule or want to move at a faster or slower pace than a live class allows.
Learn more about Honors Math 6: Prealgebra (Part 1) at AoPS Online.
Prealgebra Textbook
While our Prealgebra textbook is used in each of our prealgebra courses, if your student is extremely self-motivated, you can also purchase the textbook directly without enrolling them in a course.
Looking for Something Different?
If your student is exceptionally self-motivated and would prefer to learn prealgebra on their own and at their own pace, they may benefit from using one or a combination of the following:
- Instructional videos: We offer a vast library of instructional videos (including prealgebra videos) that your student can access at any time for free through our website or YouTube channel.
- Alcumus: Alcumus is our adaptive problem-solving system that anyone can play. It adjusts to your student's skill level and covers a wide range of math topics.
- For the Win! (FTW): FTW is a fast-paced, competitive math game that helps students sharpen their calculation speed and accuracy.