<p>@school:
AP English Lang.
AP Spanish IV
AP U.S. History
AP Physics (B)
AP Calculus AB
Journalism [Copy Editor]</p>
<p>Self-study:
AP Chemistry (considering a class at a somewhat local JC)
AP European History
AP Psychology</p>
<p>Are there any pieces of advice (or maybe just someone's two cents) that you'd like to give to someone who wholeheartedly knows that they'll be in for a tough year?</p>
<p>I thank you all in advance for not discouraging me nor anyone else for trying to push themselves mentally and physically (sleep, what is that anyway?). I am not doing this to get into HYPS, I am more on a path of trying to find what I love to do and stretch myself to take advantage of what I can.</p>
<p>Self-studying for both chem and euro will kill you. You’re already doing one physical science (physics), so there’s absolutely no reason for you to self-study for chem. I would even recommend against taking the corresponding courses at your local college. It’s just not a good idea.</p>
<p>Actually, doing both US and euro might really kill you. I say you drop either euro or chem, depending on which area you’re stronger in (history or science).</p>
<p>The trend on here seems to involve kids skipping to calc BC, so I might as well ask - is it possible for you to take calc BC instead?</p>
<p>Haha. I hate to say it, but I’ve always considered myself someone who loves the humanities while keeping some interest in science. Math has always been a challenging subject for me, but I work hard and it’s worked well for me.</p>
<p>AP English Lang. - if you’re a really good critical analyst and essay writer. Then u’ll do fine.
(A perspective after taking a AP skills class that accompany that class. The AP Skills class was really difficult, so I would expect the same from the real course)</p>
<p>AP U.S. History - from that class, I would expect to do a lot of notes, especially due to the fact that my school uses the American Pageant book. I’m also self-studying AP European History for this school year, and after doing a few chapters from the AP Euro textbook, you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>AP Calculus AB - you’ll do fine if you’re good at math. Oh yeah, if u choose to take BC, then I hope u are adjusted to the more accelerated pace than in an AB class.</p>
<p>AP chemistry - it’s kinda difficult to self-study for the exam. Every year, there’s always a lab question for the FR that would mess with you.</p>
<p>AP Psychology - just buy barron’s, read the whole thing a few times, and u’ll get a 5.</p>
<p>well my advice is to start pounding away at those self-study aps you plan to take ASAP. At least finish one before school starts. AP euro or AP psych is easiest. It is all facts and connecting the dots.</p>
<p>I would say that AP Euro is definitely much more easy to self-study than Chem. Chem requires lab time and there are a lot more things beyond the books that you have to know. I’ve thought about self-studying Chem in the past but it’s just too much of a hassle. I would think of dropping it, unless you are very independent in science classes, because I find that I would need a teacher. Euro is easy to self-study in the respect that if you study enough you can achieve a five. Besides that, your schedule is really strong!</p>
<p>Well, you seem to know what you’re in for, and it doesn’t seem like you’ll let any of us significantly dissuade you. Kudos for mental strength. </p>
<p>That said, I would STRONGLY caution you against taking on two history classes and two physical sciences (chem and physics) simultaneously. Both histories are heavy on memorization of dates and concepts and, having taken both classes myself (one per year junior and senior year), Euro would be a biotch to self study. As some posters have said, you still have senior year ahead of you- why take everything now? I think you might be happier in the long run if you space the classes out more and give yourself some breathing room. Junior year can be stressful anyways- I think you’re underestimating just how much pressure 8 AP classes in a year could be. I don’t mean to be negative (I mean, dayum, you seem to be pretty on top of things), but if you try and take all of these exams at once, you might find that since your attention is divided you might score lower than you would otherwise if you weren’t taking 8 tests in a two-week period. </p>
<p>Basically, I know you want to challenge yourself and I respect that. I’m sure that technically you can pull it off, but I think your schedule is a bit overkill even for the best student. You’ll still get into a really top college even if you give yourself some free time to chill occasionally (look at it this way- the average AP student takes 1.7 tests before college, so you’re WAY above and beyond the call of duty, yknow?), and chilling just isn’t going to happen with a schedule like that.</p>
<p>Haha, well this is my intended schedule for senior year:
AP English Literature
AP Government (the one that isn’t comparative haha)
AP Environmental Science
AP Calculus BC
Journalism
ASB</p>
<p>Self-study: AP Spanish Literature, maybe AP Stats</p>
<p>I have a deep passion for foreign language, so anything of that sort, I WILL enjoy </p>
<p>@Keasbey Nights: At my school, students don’t generally skip Calculus AB unless they have already taken the course. I wish I could, but it’s too late to regret the past haha. Another things is that my high school won’t be offering AP Chemistry this year, so I am left to self-study. However, I will be asking my Chemistry teacher for an AP Chemistry textbook and plenty of help.</p>
<p>@tinuviel: Thanks for your input I’m not hoping for 5’s on all of my exams, I’m just trying to know it decently…maybe a 4 on all of them?</p>
<p>Ah, I see (in reference to calc). But seriously dude, don’t self-study three classes. You’re already going to have a full load, and it’s not like euro and chem are easy classes that you can spend a week on and be done. If anything, take AP Chem as a senior instead of AP Enviro (assuming they offer it next year).</p>
<p>AP English Lang. - Great class, easy if you’re already good at it. It’s a lot of essays and reading though.</p>
<p>AP Spanish IV - never taken it.</p>
<p>AP U.S. History - Solid history class. Pretty detailed, but AMSCO + CC should get you a 5. It’s interesting too.</p>
<p>AP Physics (B) - My favorite one on your list. It’s very broad but also very cool. You’ll like it.</p>
<p>AP Calculus AB - Pretty straightforward. Just do all the past FRQ’s and you’ll have a very high 5. </p>
<p>AP Chemistry (considering a class at a somewhat local JC) - I would do this next year over enviro. I haven’t taken it but it’s supposedly decently tough.</p>
<p>AP European History - My favorite ap ever. Very interesting class, but also very deep and pretty broad. Lots of work!</p>
<p>AP Psychology - I haven’t taken it, but I heard memorizing Barron’s is an easy 5, so I’d go with that.</p>
<p>I took AP English Language my junior year. I would recommend that you really work hard to improve your writing, especially by paying attention to how your favorite authors evoke the emotions they do. This isn’t just for the AP exam–AP English Language really changed my writing for the better, and I wish I’d worked harder at it to improve myself even more.</p>
<p>AP Psychology shouldn’t be too tough to self-study. I posted about this in another thread so I’ll just copy/paste what I wrote there:</p>
<p>I read part of David G. Myers’ Psychology, and then reviewed with Barron’s a month before the test, and skimmed it the night before. I ended up with a 4, but I think if you read all of Myers’ Psychology you can pull off a 5 easily, and a 4 with just Barron’s. The test itself is a lot easier than most that I’ve taken in that there is very little time pressure.</p>
<p>Self-studying AP Chemistry might be tough, especially if you haven’t taken any really good chem courses yet. I took AP Chemistry my sophomore year after taking a second-year chemistry course and managed a 4. Junior year I self-studied using Barron’s and retook the exam, and I got a 5. If you really work hard at it you should be fine on the test. However, I would recommend taking some sort of chem course that focuses on lab work, not for the AP but because it’s the best part of chemistry. :)</p>
<p>As far as the schedule is concerned, I think that AP Spanish Lit. self-study is a significant challenge and one that requires enormous focus and dedication. Here’s my anecdote: I have always enjoyed languages and hope to be proficient in Spanish. With that in mind, I decided that I would self-study Spanish Lit. in addition to taking an AP Spanish Lang. course last year. Long story short, I hardly made it past week one of study for Lit. Not only did I find much of the material very difficult to fully understand, but the sheer volume of literature knowledge required for the exam makes it very hard to digest and remember details, themes, symbols, etc. from so many works. </p>
<p>Having said that, if you’ve got a good memory and sincerely enjoy literature, then Lit. may be your cup of tea, but I would strongly recommend taking Lang. before attempting Lit. A solid preparation for Lang. will allow you to understand and appreciate the subtleties of Lit.; if you don’t grasp the nuances of the language, it’s very difficult to thoughtfully analyze the literature.</p>
<p>@lidusha: Thanks for all your advice, and I think I will strongly consider physically taking an AP Chemistry class next year instead! I sincerely enjoyed Chemistry [especially Organic], so hopefully, all will be well :)</p>
<p>@jablalf: Thank you for the feedback on my plans for AP Spanish Lit. On the other hand, maybe you only saw my tentative Senior schedule? I’m going to be an incoming Junior, and these are my plans for the next two years at my high school:</p>
<p>-Junior
AP English Lang.
AP Spanish IV
AP U.S. History
AP Physics (B)
AP Calculus AB
Journalism [Copy Editor]
Self-study:
AP European History
AP Psychology</p>
<p>-Senior
AP English Literature
AP Government and Politics
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus BC
Journalism
ASB</p>
<p>Self-study: AP Spanish Literature, AP Environmental Science, maybe AP Stats</p>
<p>So as you can see, I do intend on taking Spanish Language before even attempting Spanish Literature :)</p>
<p>i think that you’re underestimating the difficulty of the schedule because according to your hypothetical chance thread, you go to a small, not competitive public school and are doing pretty well (top 10 students out of 330)</p>
<p>I think it would be much more rewarding if you got more involved in a couple of extracurriculars than just taking every single AP offered (outside of the languages), both for you as a person as well as for college admissions.</p>
<p>if you truly just want to learn a lot of stuff and not trying to pad your resume, then just take a bunch of online courses. this way, all the tests won’t interfere w/ the ap tests from the ap courses ur taking at school. furthermore, just like with self-studying ap courses, there is no real commitment to finish so if things get too crazy you can always just set it aside and come back.</p>
<p>English Language - the only english class I didn’t hate. It was a fun one (got a 5)
Spanish IV - never took spanish, but did take Latin. These are fun AP tests and classes
US history - I very much dislike history, expect a lot of notes and memorization
Physics B - will be fine if you can grasp physics (not all people can), math oriented
Calc AB - I love calc, so if you are a math person it should be easy</p>
<p>Chem - should be fun, but I do not recommend as a self-study. Bio should be the only self-studied
Euro - I don’t see why anyone would want to do this and US history
Psych - good if you understand it (which it is easy to understand), many people think it will be easy but not all get 5s, actually only 19.2% in 2008. You MUST study for it (Barron’s all the way)</p>
<p>In general, I don’t recommend self-studying if you have a class at your school. Also, doing as many APs as you can is not always the best idea, especially since not all of them are going to do anything for you in college. I’d say to get rid of Euro and self-study Psych senior year. Also, if you do want to do chem, definitely take the class at the CC or you may lose a lot of essential labwork. </p>
<p>EDIT: You just changed your schedule in the above post. Make sure that’s the real one so people can answer correctly.</p>
<p>Excuse me, I don’t really mean to discourage you, but why would you post a topic asking for advice when you’re so adamant about doing this? I understand your ambitions but I feel almost like you’re just gloating about how difficult you’re going to make your life next year. Congratulations, you won’t sleep, that’s something for us to really be jealous of. If you’re really so “passionate” about all of these courses, then you would know that it’s quality over quantity and that if you have less to stress over, the better you’ll be able to learn the material. But hey, whatever.</p>
<p>^^AGREED! Well said tan2007. You seem to be telling us that we shouldn’t give you advice on how to make your schedule more “manageable”. This advice doesn’t just come out of nowhere, it is from personal experience. All of our advice comes mostly from our own decisions. So honestly, instead of saying that you don’t want to be “discouraged” out of classes, you should be saying “what do you think will make my schedule manageable?” We don’t tend to discourage, as many of us have demanding courseloads, rather we wish to enlighten. That is why people will say “I would drop [insert name of course] because I don’t think it would be a good idea when taking [insert other name of course]”. They don’t mean to discourage, rather they wish to keep you from insanity.</p>
I’m not hoping for 5’s on all of my exams, I’m just trying to know it decently…maybe a 4 on all of them?</p>