ADVICE NEEDED -- class registration for junior year of HS to be prepared for college

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi all! This is my first post and I hope you will be willing to share some of your knowledge to help a girl out! (please bear with me and read everything; this is my first post on here)

I’m currently a sophomore in HS at a good public school. We have to decide course registration for next year and I’ve been stressing out a lot.

A bit of backstory: last year I took:
GT (our highest non-AP level) Alg 2, English, & Bio
Honors Chinese 3, Engineering, Computer Science
Spanish 1
AP US Government

I ended up with a 4.0 and a 5 on the AP gov test (with studying of the 5 steps to a 5 book, but not a ton of time studying), and a 5.38 QPA on our 6.0 scale. On the PSAT 10 for which the scores just came out, I got a 1440.

This year I’m taking GT Precalc, English, Chem
Honors Chinese 4, Spanish 3 (skipped Spanish 2)
AP World History and AP Comp Sci Principles
Piano

So far this year my grades have been As, but my precalc grade was close 1st quarter.

My current idea for my schedule next year is thus:
AP Calc AB (2 credits)
AP Chinese 5
AP Spanish 5 (my teacher recommended that I skip 4, and at my school, you don’t take the AP exam for AP 5 languages)
AP English 11
AP Seminar
Honors US History (I enjoy history, but I am trying not to overwhelm myself so I’m not taking AP)
AP Physics (Is my schedule too hard? Should I take Honors physics instead?)

What are your thoughts? Based on past classes will I be able to handle it? I know it’s a lot of work, but I’m willing to put in the effort. Also, how much homework could I plan on per night?
And also, will this prepare me to be a competitive applicant at top colleges?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP

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Hey! Fellow sophomore here as well. Nice to meet you and welcome to CC, and congrats on your PSAT score! You did MUCH better than me.

The schedule looks very excellent in terms of rigor. Assuming from your grades you have given us, I think that you may be able to handle the course-load, but I have to admit that six APs and an honors course in junior year may be too much. Usually, 3-4 is the sweet number, not only because you need APs for senior year but to reduce stress and anxiety while balancing a proper schedule.

If you know that you wish to major in the humanities and not STEM, I would recommend Honors Physics. Taking AP Physics 1 alongside THREE AP languages including Seminar and Calc AB is going to be very tough, and I think it’s best for your health and future. If you plan on going into STEM, it may be best to drop from either AP English or Seminar. AP English Lang and Seminar are both useful for everyone, but you do not need to take both as both focus on writing better. Pick the one that seems more interesting to you.

If my answer is vague, feel free to ask more questions.

Good luck and have a good day!