Hello , I am at a impasse regarding my schedule for next year , junior year in High School. We do not have honors classes , as it is a straight jump to AP and the IB program . I want to go all in and take a lot of AP classes next year , but thanks to me being deficient in math ( Average C grade , lucky to top out at a C+) , I feel that I would be over stressing my self in a very important year . I plan to take summer acceleration courses at school to get enrichment , and get ahead . My current 9-12 Cumulative GPA is 3.5556 , U/W is 3.444 , and Class Rank is 308 out of 928 . ( I have already taken Bio in 9th by the way .)
So , here is what I am taking now
AP World History
AP English Language
Spanish 2
Earth Science
Geometry
(P.E)
Next Year , I plan on taking
AP US History
AP Eng Lit
AP Psychology
Chemistry
Algebra 2
Spanish 3
I feel I am not taking enough AP Classes to remain competitive within my school , and the pressure is high to get in to a UC (Berkeley, San Diego , Riverside , Irvine) or better due to high expectations . Should I challenge my self and up my science to AP Chem or AP Physics even though I have not taken the regular course yet , and have a not so great base of math ? This summer course at the school will supposedly allow me to take Alg.2 , and Jump in to Pre-Calculus/ Accelerated Pre-Calc . I also want to take a SL or two senior year , but I also forgot about my extracurriculars , which I am also lacking in . If anyone can offer a word of Advice , it would be greatly appreciated . Thank you in advance !
You should definitely not take AP Physics if you’re doing badly in math and CB recommends that you take algebra 2 before AP Chem so that’s probably not a good option.
AP Bio might be a better option, it is mostly memorization so math would not be an issue. Have you taken bio yet? how did you do?
I would definitely not skip Chem. Your schedule looks very similar to mine from this year except I’m in Spanish 4, and it’s AP lang and honors history instead of APUSH. It’s a heavy course load already, so I wouldn’t try to add an ap science when you haven’t done the basic science classes. Try and take one senior year instead.
I have taken Bio and finished with a 96 , and my math is not Bad , but Average to slightly above average . I need both reg Chem and Physics done at least , I plan to take at least One AP level (Chemistry) in Senior year . I appreciate it , I will opt not to do AP Physics , but pursue AP Chemistry in my senior year . I am just nervous for next year because my HS is competitive as is with IB /AP and many of my family members have been accepted into higher end UC’s (UCB,UCLA,UCSD) and other more rigorous schools so the pressure is higher now that junior year is around the corner .
So Would my course schedule for next year give me a fighting chance when applying to UC’s for instance ? I feel like my schedule is not competitive or rigorous enough compared to my fellow classmates. I plan on preparing everything for my college application earlier so I do not have to deal with any mishaps come deadline time .