Hey guys,
I’m currently a junior and will soon have to decide for my schedule for the next school year.
My potential plans:
Microbiology
AP Environmental
AP Biology
AP Calculus BC
Dual Enrollment: government, economics, and english
What do you guys think? Is it too much? If you’ve taken some of these classes, what was your experience with them and how successful were you?
Someone told me that taking AP bio and microbio isn’t good because they’re too similar. Is that true?
Thanks for the help 
I actually took AP Bio and AP Calc BC in my senior year! To be honest, I didn’t do well in those classes :(. However, I got college credit for Calculus so I guess it worked out in the end.
AP Bio and AP Calc both require a large time commitment. Since I had barely enough time to study for either class, I didn’t do as well as I could’ve. In my opinion, I’d drop Microbiology now but if you’d like, you can pick it back up in senior year. There may be things in AP Bio you might need to know before you take Microbiology (this holds true at my current school, students are required to take General Biology before taking Microbiology). If you feel that you can take on the challenge, go for it! Just be careful that you may be stretching yourself thin with all of these classes. Make sure to leave time for yourself and others, I know that I didn’t in high school. If you feel like you can’t handle it, you can always drop a class (or two).
I suggest you hear from other posters too and then make your decision. Either way, I know you’ll do great. I hope this helped and best of luck! You got this
Thanks for your reply and encouragement!
I see…sadly our school doesn’t allow us to “drop” classes. Once we signed up, we’re stuck for the whole year. Did you by chance take acc. precalc before AP Calc? I know not everyone does and wonder how helpful it is to AP because our school requires students to take acc. precalc before taking AP Calc AB or BC.
And yes, same here I think for microbiology. Only seniors can take it and by then they must’ve already taken regular biology. I was hoping taking the class would benefit me in AP bio and that it would show colleges my interest in the science field.
This year I am already spreading myself too thin and wish to take it slightly easier during senior year to maintain/boost my gpa, so I’m a little hesitant to challenge myself lol.
If it helps, my junior year schedule looks like this:
AP Lang
Acc. Pre-calc
oceanography
APUSH
AP Physics
AP Chem
Dual Enrollment: College Algebra and English 101
I took regular Pre-Calc before Calc BC because my sister did it too! The Accelerated Pre-Calc should give you a strong foundation in functions and some basic calculus (like limits, derivatives, and maybe even a little bit of definite integrals)
For next year, see what you could do better based on what you’ve accomplished this year. Take this year one day at a time, give yourself ample time to cover every subject and also give yourself some me time. I know that in my senior year, I definitely did not do that, but having time for yourself means a lot! Spend that time exercising, watching a little TV, or being with friends. Remember, high school isn’t just about getting those A’s, it’s about finding where you want to be after you graduate.
Build upon this year and use those lessons to make sure you’re ready for senior year!