Hi, I’m planning on taking 5 APs during my sophomore year. They are as follows:
Calc BC (H PreCalc/Calc A last year),
Spanish Lang (H Spanish 3),
Comp Sci A (AP CSP),
Chem (AP Phys), and
World(nothing).
This would also be with H English and sports throughout the year. Last year, I got all As and 5s with the same sports and my non-AP classes were quite unstimulating. However, I have one more period this year due to Chem having a lab period for 3 days every week.
What advice do you have for my schedule and/or handling the load?
Thanks!
Don’t you need Spanish 4 before you take AP Spanish?
Have you taken honors chemistry and honors/regular Biology?
Right now, it looks like the overachieving sophomore’s hubris taken over your scheduling. Granted, you’ve done extremely well for a freshman with a very rigorous schedule but that sophomore plan looks neither reasonable nor necessary.
My advice would be to stick to AP world, AP calc, and AP CS A; to take Spanish 4& honors bio or chem and save those 2 APs for junior year. It’ll already be a HUGE step up from last year’s schedule.
Does your school offer MVC? Is there a decent community college nearby?
At some high schools, level 4 is AP level. If that is true at the OP’s high school, then taking AP Spanish would be the normal progression after Spanish 3 (similar to AP calculus BC after precalculus).
Thanks for the replies. @ucbalumnus , you’re right that my school naturally goes from Spanish 3 to AP. The precalculus class was actually precalc/Calc A, just to clarify. @MYOS1634 , I see no reason to skip on Calc BC when I have already done very well in Precalc/Calc A. What would you recommend I take? As for Chem, I also don’t feel like I need an honors background because I had no background in Physics and I am already mathematically strong. I have a slightly recent Chem background but not as a high school course. For math, the highest my school goes is IB HL Math 2 but there is a good cc nearby. To repeat, last year I had very little stimulation in my honors/normal classes.
I did say to keep AP calc (=BC since you’ve already done A).
If AP after Spanish level 3 is the normal progression then take that but be ready for a big step up.
That’d be 4 APs for sophomore year which is already pushing the envelope.
AP physics (1 or 2) does not assume any Physics background, just familiarity with algebra2. AP chem is a different sort of AP in that it assumes previous knowledge and is an advanced (level 2) subject. Same with AP calculus (assumes precalculus), AP foreign language (assumes previous study through CEF A2 level at least), AP physics C (assumes some Analysis and Physics knowledge).
3-4 APs will be very different in intensity from your freshman schedule. I can imagine most classes were unchallenging - with 3-4 APs and your other classes, it would not be the case anymore.
All in all, beware of the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to APs. You want to keep time to make an impact outside of school. Read How to be a high school superstar by cal Newport for instance.
@MYOS1634 yeah, I slightly misread your first comment. I have talked to people at my school about course difficulty and they say that Chem is doable, and Spanish Lang is not hard. I get what you’re saying about Chem but I’m feeling confident about being able to do it, and lots of sophomores at my school who are less STEM-inclined than I are taking it too. Since it’s not too out-of-the-ordinary at my school, is there still a problem? WHAP is also normal and CSA is not too hard. I’m thinking that the only concern is the synergistic workload. I do have above-average ECs as well, and will be developing them. Thanks again
I did 5 APs junior year, and everybody told me that I was crazy, but it actually wasn’t as bad as people let it on to be (granted, it would vary from school to school). Though, I did find difficulty managing sports with APs, since not everybody had the same schedule as me. It was also easy because despite having a heavy load, I did have plenty of free periods during the day, so I would not be overwhelmed. IMO, it might not be terrible that you’re taking 5 APs sophomore year, and junior year maybe go down a little so you have time for SAT/ACT studying. AP Chem also was fine without an honors chem background for me ( I took it 10th grade as well).
First, the AP courses that look like keepers for you:
AP calculus BC: keep, as it is normal progression in math.
AP Spanish: keep, as it is normal progression in Spanish (presumably, your middle/high school’s Spanish 1-3 were somewhat more intensive than at other middle/high schools where AP is level 5 instead of level 4 at your high school).
AP CS principles: keep, not generally considered that hard a course, and a good way to determine both your interest in CS and see how CS relates to other topics.
Then, the AP courses that you may not necessarily want to keep (or keep only one of):
AP chemistry: does your high school list regular chemistry as a prerequisite? Also consider the extra workload from the lab time.
AP world history: has a reputation of being a high volume of reading and work compared to other high school history and social studies courses.
Things to keep in mind:
If you are confident in your schedule, why ask us?
It is more important to do well in your courses than to take 5 APs and not to do well