5 AP Classes in Senior Year?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello,

I’m new here, and I was curious to see what type of feedback I would get from this question. I’m a junior in high school, and so far over the course of the past two years, as well as junior year so far, I have taken 4 AP classes and 4 honors classes. The AP classes were and are AP World History, AP English Language, AP Spanish Language, and AP United States History 1 (at my school APUSH is taken in two years). I am a far more humanities-inclined person, so all of my past, current, and future AP classes have been, are, and will be humanities classes. While this question has been asked before on College Confidential, none of the other people asking have taken the same AP classes that I have. So, my question is this: based on my interests and what I have taken so far, do these 5 AP classes seem reasonable?:

AP English Literature and Composition
AP Latin: Caesar and Vergil
AP Spanish Literature and Culture
AP United States History 2
AP United States Government and Politics

(Spanish is not my first language, but my parents speak it, and I have also had a lot of prior experience with it, traveling to different Latin American countries to go to Spanish school there. Because of this, I find my AP Spanish Language class pretty easy, but I feel as though AP Spanish Literature would be a real challenge, but a real joy, for me.)

In addition to my academics, I am involved in several extracurriculars, having leadership positions in a few of them. I am not looking at extremely elite schools, I am just taking these classes because I have a strong interest, desire, and motivation to take them. The college major that I’m thinking about right now is history, if that helps. Although, another hesitation I have is the college application process. Even though I would be taking classes that I have a very strong interest in, I do not want to get burned out so as to not be able to work on my college applications. I will also talk to my guidance counselor about this, but I wanted to see what you all would think first. So, my long-winded question is: what do you all think about taking these 5 AP classes in senior year?

Thanks for your responses!

2

It really depends on the person. Some can handle 5+; others struggle with 2. Nobody here can tell which category you fall into.

Having said that, you may have overlooked your hidden first semester class - Colleges Apps and Essays. Students always underestimate the time this will take.

Apples and oranges. The difference between Spanish Lang and Lit compared to the difference between English Lang/Lit is light years apart. While English Lit has no prescribed reading list for the AP exam, AP Spanish Lit has a very lengthy list.
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/219542.html

In some past years, one of the essay questions would deal with a specific work; if one is not familiar with it, obviously kiss a high score goodbye on that question.

3

I’m like: why?? It’s great if these are your true, core interests based on your own passions. Otherwise, life is short and you should do what you feel truly excited about.

4

Yes, that’s exactly why I would that these classes. I have a true passion for each of these subjects.

5

I’m with Dustyfeathers, and I absolutely would not take lightly skieurope’s cautionary statement about first semester senior year.

5 AP’s can be par for the course at some schools, but it really is about the student’s individual strengths, commitment and discipline. Still, you are very heavy on the heavy reading courses. Do you need APUSH and Gov?

6

I think you should be able to handle it as long as

  1. you’re currently taking Latin 3-4 and doing well
  2. will only be taking regular /college prep math and science classes.
7

Yes, both of those things apply to me.

8

2 things, APUSH should be easy enough because it is split into two years, but Spanish lit will be a real challenge especially if you’re not a native speaker, along with Latin. Also be mindful that it costs $100 per AP exam, so don’t take them to take them, only take them if you have a real reason to take each one of them.

9

My D felt that 5 AP classes was a crushing workload and her academic workload as a deans list double major at Notre Dame is much lighter than what she had senior year. Once a student has demonstrated a certain level of academic rigor more is not better