Being aware of where your child stands and where he or she should be upon entering the ninth grade will help you help him or her become academically prepared. By starting high school at a proficient level they will not be in a catch up mode. Students who enter high school academically behind will often struggle throughout all four grades.

Math Skills Needed
Ninth grade is often an important year for math subjects. In addition to the development of basic math skills, this year might be a student’s first introduction to algebra and more complex geometry concepts.
A student entering ninth grade needs an understanding of measurements of area of shapes as focus will be on learning mathematical equations for three dimensional objects. Familiarity with pyramids, cubes, circles, cones, spheres, and cylinders including congruence to solve geometric problems is helpful.

These students are expected to understand the impacts of the four basic math operations on whole and mixed numbers, as well as fractions, decimals, and integers. They should comprehend the inverse relationship of positive and negative numbers. These students should be able to apply properties of real numbers to solve problems that are associative, distributive, equality, inverse, and closure properties.
They should b e able to solve real-world problems by selecting correct operations with integers, ratios, rates, proportions, percents, decimals, and fractions.

Students entering ninth grade should know standard numerals for integers, fractions, decimals, percents, exponents, scientific notation, absolute value, radicals, and ratios. They should understand rational and irrational numbers in real-world situations and associations between fractions, decimals, and percents in real-world context.

Writing Skills Required
Writing skills are imperative for success in high school. By the time your child completes eighth grade he or she should

Be able to express a viewpoint in writing.
Solve problems by writing.
Combine relevant ideas.
Write at a higher level than their speech.
Use a writing a subject appropriate writing style

by David McLeod

Owner School-Supply-List.com and Elementary School Teacher

David has been teaching elementary school in Central Texas for over 7 years and has over 15 years of experience in online education related websites and blogs.