I’m a high school sophomore trying to figure out what classes to take junior year. As of right now, I’m planning on aiming for a major in International Relations. I finished algebra 1 and 2 and geometry in middle school. Freshmen year I took Precalculus and passed with a solid B-. However, I only passed by putting in a lot of time and effort into the class. I absolutely hated Precalculus. This year I’m taking AP stats and so far I’m liking the class and doing well. But now I don’t know what math class to take next year. I’m planning on taking four other AP classes junior year. I don’t want to take AP Calculus AB if that means that I will do worse in those classes. But the only alternative is taking a semester of financial algebra and then taking no math senior year. However, this would look bad and my parents and guidance counselor don’t recommend this. Any advice would be much appreciated!
Also, for more context, I’m only aiming for semi-competitive colleges.
Hi, I’m a senior currently taking AP Calc AB and planning on studying International Relations.
The answer really depends on why you want to take calc. On one hand, IR majors tend to involve a fair amount of economics courses, both macro and micro, and economics is a decently calculus-heavy field. It’s a kind of math that you’ll have to learn eventually, so it might be nice to be exposed to it in high school. Colleges also do like to see that you take some kind of math during senior year. On the other hand, if you think it’ll bring your GPA down a significant amount and that you might not have time to put in the effort you’ll need to, you might want to wait to take it in college.
If you’re planning out junior and senior year courses, why not put off AP calc til senior year? You said (if I understood correctly) that either you take AP calc as a junior and then a different unspecified math your senior year, or you take financial algebra your junior year and no math senior year. What’s preventing you from doing financial algebra your junior year and AP calc senior year? Feel free to clarify if I misinterpreted the situation.
Thank you so much for your response
My math teacher said that most students who take precalculus and then don’t take any type of calculus for a year or two forget everything when they take AP calculus senior year. That would be the only reason as to why I would probably take AP calculus first. Since you are a AP calc student, do you think that the class is hard? I’ve heard mixed things from everyone that I’ve talked to.
A 5th AP course in Calc for someone who is not strong in Math could cause workload issues. But not taking math each year in high school could be an issue with colleges (and usually HS - it’s not required to graduate?).
Are those the only options you have left? Maybe the financial algebra class as a Junior, to avoid overload, then Calc as a Senior if workload isn’t as bad and it won’t affect your GPA as much for college admissions if it’s a challenge.
You’ve already skipped a year, so this seems to be a moot point. you should do some refresher at the end of the summer whenever you take it.
I hadn’t ever taken any type of precalc before this year. In fact, I was abroad for my whole junior year, and while you’d think math would be fairly constant between countries, turns out that it isn’t 
That being said, I’ve always been pretty good at math. You definitely know your mathematical ability better than I do, and if you say you both struggled with precalc and hated it, it’s probably not a good idea to cram the AP version in along with four other AP classes. It would probably be better for you to take it along with a less challenging total course load (if that’s what you’re planning on for senior year). Even if you’re not still an expert in the precalculus concepts you learned last year by the time senior year rolls around, IMO it would be worth delaying the class to focus on other courses during junior year.
Is it possible to do honors calculus and then AP?
@“jjulia.lynn” College Confidential covered this topic in an article that may help answer your question. Read more here: https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/deciding-between-ap-calculus-ab-and-bc