Advice on my course planning? (Sorry, this post is incredibly long.)

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello everyone. How are you all? Hope everyone is well.

I am a freshman at my high school right now. I decided to create this thread because I am not exactly sure what my future course plan-out should be. Sorry if this is a bothersome thread, or if I am rude at all in any way.

9th: (My schedule is right now.)
English 9 Honors
World History 1 Honors
Geometry Honors
Biology Honors
Health and P.E. 9 (They require two years of P.E.)
Orchestra
Spanish 2

10th:
English 10 Honors
AP World History
Algebra 2 Honors or Pre-Calculus Honors
Chemistry HN
Health and P.E. 10
Orchestra
Spanish 3

11th:
AP English Language
AP US History
Pre-Calculus Honors, AP Calculus AB, or AP Calculus BC
AP Chemistry, AP Physics 1, or AP Environmental Science
AP Psychology or AP Micro/Macro Economics (There is a very high chance I will pick AP Psychology.)
Orchestra
Spanish 4

12th:
AP English Literature
AP US and Comparative Government (1 period)
AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, or AP Statistics
AP Chemistry, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, or AP Environmental Science
Orchestra
Film Study or Creative Writing (Possibly both.)
One more class that I have not decided on yet. (I may take AP Psych or AP Econ here in place if I didn’t take one of them.)

I wanted to explain that my high school is different than others in many ways as there are no World Language honors classes. Freshmen are also not allowed to take an AP course. Even in 10th grade, the only AP classes they allow you to take are AP World History, AP Art History, AP Computer Science A, AP Human Geography and AP European History. They also require that you take 2 years of a World History and a year of each U.S. History and U.S. Government to graduate and do not accept any of the other social studies courses as a replacement. Also, my high school does not offer AP Comparative Government as a stand alone class, and they require you to take it together with AP US Government in one period. I am not exactly sure why this is.

The reason why there are two or more math courses I am puzzling upon is because there is a chance I may take Algebra 2 over the summer before tenth grade begins, so the way I go depends on what I do this summer.

I want to double major in political science and film study, so I have some questions I would like to ask in my course sequencing.

Which sciences that I listed as choices should I take? I really want to take AP Environmental Science in 12th grade because I am an interest in the environment and climate change and also because College Board recommended that future political science majors should take the class. I agreed as politicians and people in the political field need to know climate change, however, people on CC and other people I meet in life tell me really bad things or advise me against taking AP Environmental Science which makes me wonder if I should just take it in college to get experience for political science instead of taking it in high school. AP Chemistry or AP Physics in 11th grade is also a choice I am puzzling about.

AP Psychology or AP Economics is also a questionable decision I have. This is because I am very into Psychology, however, my county requires that you take at least one year of regular Economics or AP Economics. If I decide to take Economics, I know I will take it online over a summer. However, AP Economics isn’t a bad class to take, and AP Economics vs Regular Economics is also becoming a big deal for me. There is a high chance I will take AP Psychology, however, I have no clue on what to do with Economics.

For math, the only question I have is whether to take AP Calculus AB or BC.

I’m really sorry for the really long post, or if this thread is bothersome or rude. Sorry! I hope I did not offend or annoy anyone.

Thanks for all of your help! Have a good day!

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You are not alone on the fact that your school doesn’t allow freshmen to take APs (in fact my high school has even less AP options total that most, and only allows AP for sophomores if they do summer school to get ahead).

I suggest taking AP Calculus BC for math in senior year, if you think you can handle it, or take AP Calculus AB if math isn’t your thing.

Economics vs Psychology…that’s a hard one since Economics applies to political science, while Psychology hardly does. Is it possible to take regular Psychology in the summer, and then do AP Economics during the school year?

For the science classes, it seems that it really doesn’t matter that much, but I could be wrong. Perhaps another CCer can answer that question.

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@raventhemage Thanks for your advice! It is really helpful. However, College Board seems to recommend both Psychology and Economics for political science majors. They also recommended Psychology, but they didn’t recommend Economics for Film Directors. Nevertheless, thanks for the advice. It is really helpful! Thanks for letting me know about how many freshmen can not take APs. I was not aware of this.

Have a good day!

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Sorry to do this, but bump.

Have a good day!

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FWIW, at my high school, very few sophomores even were allowed to take APs.

I think on psych vs. econ, or really any class choice like that, for me it would come down to which teacher or class style I like better. As a freshman, it might be tough to know now, but ask around and see if you can hear the good and bad about each.

6

Since you’re taking Honors Chem sophomore year, you should go ahead and take AP Chem junior year just so you don’t forget too much information. The transition between Honors and AP will be much easier when you don’t have a 1+ year gap. Then, senior year you could take AP Environmental. Also, I’d recommend taking AP Econ in school just because it will be much more difficult to self-study that. AP Psych is well-known for being one of the easiest AP exams, so I’d suggest that if you want to take a course over the summer to take AP Psych.

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@whitespace @tupac4 Thank you guys for your help! I appreciate it! They helped me a lot.

Have a good day!