Hi guys! I’m in 8th grade, and we have started to choosing our classes for next year. So far, I’m in U.S. History Honors, Spanish 2 Honors, Honors Geometry, Honors Biology, and Language Arts 1 (not honors). Our school offers AP Biology as a potential replacement course for students that have qualified for honors bio. Since I have qualified for Honors bio, I want some advice on whether I should take AP Bio as a freshman. I know I want to do something medical related in the future, but I’m not sure whether I should still take AP will all the honors classes I am taking. Was there a struggle in balancing so many classes at once?
You might want to find out if any freshman prior have taken AP Bio and performed well on the exam. I would think that this class could be too advanced for a freshman, particularly without a prior bio course, but your school may have had better success.
Historically, tests that freshman often take (e.g. AP World History, AP Human Geo) have a low percentage of 5’s. Since the test redesign a couple of years ago, the percentage of 5’s in AP Bio overall have dropped, so that’s another consideration.
After the 2013 redesign, the % of 5’s have dropped to around 6.5% (2014).
I agree somewhat with @skieurope. Yes, biology is difficult for the majority of 9th graders, but there is a sizable minority that can handle it. My school also offers AP Biology to freshmen, and every year around 7% of the freshmen take it.
I took the redesigned exam without a prior bio class as a freshman and got a 5. 11% of our freshmen got a 5 on the new exam, and only 1 failed (with a 2). My school is a pretty competitive one though, and a majority of the freshmen in AP Bio have parent(s) who are doctors, so there’s a lot of focus on science/school in general.
The new exam is very conceptual, not focused on definitions as much. Be able to apply concepts across laboratory experiments. Last year’s test was very heavy on heredity and body systems.
I took 6 honors/PreAP courses and 2 AP classes as a freshman. The workload depends on your teacher, what grades you want, and extracurricular activities. Looking at your courses though, if you’re experienced with organizing your school work, workload shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve had pretty decent success in high school, and I’d be happy to share some tips if you’d like. The majority of your questions though can only be answered by upperclassmen at your school.