<p>As a parent of a high school student, I like this board as opposing to the parents' board. I prefer to learn things such as course selection, test preparation, and so on from student's perspectives. I need your opions on course selection for my son's sophomore year. My son and me have talked about this a lot lately. He has options to chose two science courses for sophomore year, either AP Biology/Honors Chemistry or Honors Chemistry/Honors Biology. What are your suggestion? Thanks.</p>
<p>Is your child good at math? Does he like math? What math class is he taking this year?
AP Chem is more math oriented and involves a lot of problem solving using numbers, equations, etc.
AP Bio is more about learning and memorizing information. Hardly any math at all. It's almost like a history class in regards to the information and reading.</p>
<p>I would say that ap chemistry would be a very tough course to take in one's sophomore year. I'm currently enrolled in adv chem 2 (pretty much the equivalent of ap chem, but covers more), and it takes more time than all of my other homework combined. It's also necessary to have extremely good lab skills, so if your child hasn't had much hands-on lab experience it probably wouldn't be the best for him to take first.</p>
<p>Umm- AP Chem doesn't require labs, right? I'm self-studying it - and am concerned... Not to mention that my SAT II self-study made the entire test easy - minus the lab questions.</p>
<p>I would say ap bio just because since he's just a sophie it makes sense to go from an easier science (ap bio) to a harder one later (ap chem) math is bio is simple addition/subration/multiplication/division, maybe a tad bit of algebra 1, but that's it. AP chem is much more math strenuous</p>
<p>I wouldnt know (not a sci person) but my sister found AP Bio much easier than AP Chem, so I would give him AP Bio to introduce him to AP sci exams.</p>
<p>wow ap bio as a sophmore! i know seniors who are struggling with it. id only take it if the student is highly motivated (its mostly independent work). as for ap chem, i dont think its that bad (im a senior) but i probably wont take the ap test cuz of the fee and fact i dont think id get a 5 in order to get credit in college.</p>
<p>ap bio is a joke if you're motivated, but it's really easy to fall behind because of the massive memorizing. AP chem is actually hard, in terms of concepts.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone else. AP Bio is a lot easier than AP Chem. Bio is just a lot of memorization and stuff. I took AP Chem as a junior and had a really hard time with it. I say stick to the Bio :)</p>
<p>It depends on what math he's taking and how much your son wants to work in order to get a good grade. I'm getting an A in AP Chemistry right now, even though I'm not so great at math. Chemistry requires learning concepts, which is a bit difficult for most people.</p>
<p>AP Biology is really easy, most people take it senior year since they have lots of AP classes that year.</p>
<p>It doesn't look like he's had either science before. It will be tough going into AP with no prior knowledge or experience. It may be better for him to take honors chem or bio sophomore year and then the AP in his junior year. If that's possible.</p>
<p>Yeah, AP bio is very easy. The extent of what I do is read the book and take notes, which can be quite time consuming, but after that I review them briefly and get 100s on the tests, which my teacher says is harder than the AP. The class just requires a good deal of work at home, especially writing labs.</p>
<p>I took AP Chem as a sophmore, got a B in the class and a 4 on the exam. It was one of the toughest classes I have taken, third to AP Physics C and second to AP Music Theory. It is a fun class, however, and if the opportunity arises, I would take Chem.</p>
<p>I'm taking AP Chem as a sophomore right now, and it's AWESOME. If the math class your son will be taking in your sophomore year is advanced algebra, and your son is good at math, AP chem is advised. Other consideration are the teacher, and the expected class size (we only have 11 kids in my class... and my teacher is expecting there will be more than triple of kids taking that course next year because of IB program). Of course, AP Bio is not a bad idea at all, and my friend says this class is way easier than she thought. AP Bio is more of straight memorization, I've heard, so if your son is better at memorizing than analyzing, probably bio is more recommended than chem.</p>
<p>Oh, and one last thing: Ask your son which subject he likes better: Bio or Chem?</p>