Ap Biology vs. Regular Physics - Which should I take?

Well we did some chemistry in honors bio so I have some understanding, and my schedule will be lopsided towards history next year, so shouldn’t that balance out?

Did you take history freshman year?

Yes, Civics. Well, civics is really more social studies/social sciences, but that’s what colleges require anyway. I plan to take several AP history classes Junior and Senior year.

You have to balance your schedule. You need to take one of each of the 5 core classes every year.
DO NOT take more than one history AP at the same time. They require a LOT of reading.
You CAN take AP Seminar and AP Lang, or AP Econ and AP Gov, but not AP Bio and AP Chem or APUSH and AP Euro.
(There are three types of AP’s: hardcore/core AP’s like AP Calc, AP Chem, AP Foreign Language, AP History…, complementary AP’s like AP Gov, AP CS…, and AP-lites like AP Human Geo, AP Stats…)

Typically, you’d have English Honors, Geometry H, Foreign Language 2 or 3, Global History or AP World or another social science class, a science (typically Honors Chemistry but in your case itd be Physics), plus one or two classes, which would be Algebra2, for you, some schools would include Health, PE, Art to that list.

@MemeDealer21 , it’s okay to take AP bio next year if it’ll be easier because regular bio is still fresh in your mind. But it’s really important to be exposed to everything in high school. First, it may be your only exposure you’ll have for the rest of your life. Second, if you need it in college, the assumption will be that you had it in high school. In both situations, you will be terribly crippled by not having learned this material in high school. So figure out how to get physics and chemistry before you graduate. And history, English, fl, etc… This is your foundation for life!

Alright, my plan is to take AP bio next year, H chemistry Junior year, and physics Senior year uf I really have to. My English should be fine since I’ve been in honors and hopefully my school will let me do AP English starting Junior year, I’ll take several history/social studies classes Junior and Senior year to balance out my lack of those classes sophomore year, and I’m taking 4 years of Spanish, although there sadly is no honors or AP Spanish in my school. For the life of me I don’t understand why colleges want physics when it will have nothing to do with my major in college and why I can’t expose myself to other types of science I’m more interested in, but if that’s to way it has to be, so be it. Thanks.

There are lots of things you will take in high school that have nothing to do with your college major but will help you in life. You probably won’t need Spanish and Bio and English for your major, but they will all serve you well in life. That’s the roughest part of high school, really. All those classes that don’t play to your strengths or interests. But sounds like you get it.

What you CAN do is take Honors Chem junior year (APES includes a lot of applied biology and chemistry) and then senior year both regular physics and APES. What “other sciences” are you interested in?
The reason Physics is important is epistemological; it has to do with the whole field of knowledge. It’s the same reason why you read novels, poetry, non fiction, and plays in English.
Most classes you’ll take will have nothing to do with your major but will be necessary either to function as a college student or to function as a citizen.
BTW what major are you interested in?

I’m more interested in less math based sciences like AP Bio, APES, A&P, etc. I originally wanted to do something like APES for my fourth year of science, but since so many people are advising me to take physics I guess I’m going to do that instead. I probably won’t double up on science senior year since there are other AP classes I’ll want to take instead of APES and I’m not going into STEM. I’m pretty undecided on my major but I can definitely rule out anything STEM related. I’m more of a liberal arts person. I like learning other languages and learning about history in my free time, so I’ll probably end up majoring in something related to that. I also kind of want to go into education. It seems like not taking any social sciences sophomore year is contradictory to that, but my schedule just doesn’t allow it unless I stay behind in math for the rest of high school or cut band, both of which I really do not want to do. If I take a lot of social science classes my next two years and self-study others, wouldn’t it be fine? Also my dad tells me that if I take physics senior year it doesn’t even matter because it’s too late. Is that really true?

Your dad knows that many public universities only count grades for 9-11, but 1) these universities put a lot of weight into your choice of classes for senior year 2) most private universities do request grades AND curriculum, either first quarter if you apply ED/EA, or first semester if you apply
Wrt Physics v. AP Bio and sophomore v. senior year, logic would mean taking Physics this year, Chemistry honors jr year, and whatever AP strikes you as most interesting senior year. Another option would be to take a risk if you’re confident you have everything you need and take APES senior year. Finally, you could take Physics (regular) through another means, such as summer school.
What classes are you taking this year, planning for sophomore year, and for junior year?

Alright, physics for summer school seems like a good option for me especially since Illinois Virtual School offers it, idk why I didn’t think of that, thanks. It’s also a good idea for me because I’ve heard from several people that our physics teacher sucks and doesn’t even know much about physics. I’m inclined to believe them since the same thing happened with my bio teacher last year. I finished freshman year with Spanish 1, Health/p.e., Civics, Band, Algebra 1, Honors bio, and Honors English, all A’s. My schedule as it is right now for sophomore year is Spanish 2, P.E., Band, Geometry H (might test out), Algebra 2 H, AP Bio, and Honors English 2. Junior year I haven’t planned out with my counselor, and I don’t know my school’s policy on AP classes not on IVS (of which there are many) nor do I know what their policy is on summer school (although I tried to do it this summer and they didn’t let me). Ideally it would be something like this: Spanish 3, Band, Honors Chem, AP Lang and Comp (not on IVS, might not be able to take it), APUSH, hopefully some other AP social studies class like Euro History, World History, or Human Geography. IVS doesn’t have any AP social studies classes besides Government and Politics which I do plan on taking, but is only for one semester. I know there are ways to take AP classes outside of IVS, I just don’t know if I’ll be allowed to. For math, it depends on how my math sophomore year goes. I know my school is okay with people taking pre-calc over the summer to take AP calculus AB Junior year because I know someone who has done it, and if my math classes go well sophomore year, I’ll probably do that, otherwise I’ll just take pre-calc junior year. Thanks so much for the help, btw.

Sounds like IVS Summer School for Physics is the perfect solution indeed.
I’m trying to track a good progression for you over all 4 years. So, let’s see.
Spanish 1-> Spanish 2 → Spanish 3-> Spanish 4 [if your school offers AP Spanish, see if IVS offers Spanish 2 over the summer so you could take SPanish 3 next year, Spanish4 junior year, and AP Spanish senior year. Spanish 2 is the easiest foreign language class to accelerate]
Health/PE → PE/ a semester elective you take just for fun → X → X
Civics → X → APUSH (+ AP hug?) → one from AP euro, AP world / AP US/Comp, Gov, AP Econ or one from first group + one from second group IVS
Band-> Band → Band-> Band
Algebra1-> Algebra2+GeometryH ->Precalculus H → AP Calculus AB
Honors Bio-> AP Bio-> summer: IVS physics-> Honors Chem → APES
Honors English-> Honors English → AP English Lang → any Honors English class

  • Look into Dual Enrollment if your school doesn’t have many AP classes in the academic subjects most interesting to you. Remember that you should only take an AP class if you’re reasonably sure you can get a B in it - no one’s impressed with a C, even if it’s an AP class, because it means you missed to much.

If you’re planning on multiple history classes in Junior and Senior year, what combinations? AP English plus 2 AP History classes could be too much. You need to plan out all 4 years so you don’t end up overloading. And if you already had trouble taking the classes you wanted this year because of schedule conflicts, you’re likely to have similar problems during Junior and Senior year. You won’t have the scheduling issue if those classes are online, but if you haven’t taking any online classes before, you don’t know if that method will work well for you. You’re suggesting AP Biology, having not taking chemistry (it doesn’t matter whether your school requires chemistry, most of the other students will have taken chemistry, and the curriculum is written with the expectation that you have taken it), and not having access to a competent biology teacher to go to for help if you’re struggling.

Because you’re looking to do something out of the ordinary, you need to plan out all 4 years. Doing so would go a long way to showing your parents and your counselor that you’ve thought this through, and it is a plan that will work. I applaud the idea that you want to try an AP next year, before you jump in to several as a Junior, but you should also consider that HS is a progression, and taking the regular sequence of classes will still prepare you. If you think you need a taste of AP next year, as a form of testing the waters, what will you do if you decide it’s too hard?

@MYOS1634 Spanish 1 → Spanish 2 → Spanish 3 → Spanish 4 (there is no chance I can do Spanish 2 over the summer because of how Spanish is set up at my school, my teacher uses very different teaching methods and what I have learned probably wouldn’t translate to other Spanish classes. She is also against online foreign language classes, she doesn’t think they work, and I agree with that somewhat. I do at least get to test for the Seal of Biliteracy if I do 4 years of Spanish, which I certainly will. I’m sure I could easily get it since I’m pretty good at Spanish so far and it does give college credit, so I’m pretty much satisfied with my Spanish progression as it is since taking AP Spanish really is not an option for me)
Health/P.E. → P.E. (I have to take it the entire year, can’t get a waiver until Junior year) → X → X
Civics → X (If I test out of Geometry I’ll try to take some AP history class, but like I said before, I might not be able to, in which case, I really am not sure what I would replace this with) → APUSH, AP HUG (I’ve seen the practice tests for that class, since I like to learn about geography on my own time, I could probably sit on the AP exam and get at least a three right now, so I might self-study since it seems remarkably easy) / some other AP social studies class → 2 of the following, AP Euro, AP World, AP G&P, might self-study one over the summer (This is another case where if I were to sit on an exam for any of these classes, I might be able to pass as it is which is why I’m not too concerned about taking 2 AP history classes, even if it is a lot of reading)
Algebra 1 → Geometry H (might test out), Algebra 2 → Precalc (we don’t have honors precalc, might take this over the summer if I think I’m up for it, if I do then AP Calc AB) - AP Calc AB / AP calc BC depending on if I take precalc over the summer (perhaps AP Stats could also be a good way to go instead of BC calc? I’ve never been the greatest in math but I have noticed I’m getting better and I have a lot of access to high quality math help, so would all this be too much do you think?)
Band all 4 years
I agree with what you wrote for science
Honors English → Honors English II → AP English lang → AP English lit (These aren’t on IVS but I know other online schools that offer them. It would be borderline unprecedented at my school to take APs outside of IVS since I’m pretty sure only one other person has done it. If this isn’t an option, I know my school offers duel credit English to Seniors only, so I may be stuck with that)

@CTScoutmom Alright, I planned it out, I’ll have some people help me edit it, though in case I made some mistakes. I too am concerned about overloading, but this is why I’m going to take AP sophomore year to get a feel for it. If sophomore year is difficult enough for me, I’ll make changes to my junior and senior year schedules to prevent overloading. However, if it ends up being anything like my freshman year was (unbelievably easy, rarely even got homework,) I’ll keep it as is. Are you sure I really need chemistry before AP Bio? I’ve read online elsewhere that it doesn’t really matter. Additionally, I know someone that goes to a different school that took AP bio before chemistry. I also do know some basic chemistry from 8th grade physical science and Honors bio. Not much, but some. If I really need it, there is a mostly competent chemistry teacher that I can go to. I don’t think I have to worry about AP bio being too difficult. I’ll study it a little this summer just to be safe. I’m pretty confident I can get at least a B, probably an A in it and get a 4 or maybe even 5 on the exam.

It sounds good.
Just be aware that AP human geography is an AP lite; econ/gov is not as are as APUSH, AP world, or AP euro. Two of the sat three should not be rien together.
Colleges don’t like self studying. They’d rather have you do something creative or important with your free time.

Alright. I really only want to self-study social studies APs because I really won’t have to work that hard them since I already know a lot of the material so I wouldn’t have to devote too much time to it. I know it’s not as effective as taking the class, but at least it might help a little.

Aargh lots of typos.

  • Not as hard as
  • Two of the last three should not be taken