AP Chem, AP Bio or both?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi.

I am a sophomore and I am currently in regular chemistry. We’re going to be registering for our classes for next year soon. I really want to take AP Chem but I also really want to take AP Bio. I am a fairly good student, 4.0 cumulative GPA and 2 B+'s (in Chem and PLTW-POE) right now that I might be able to get up with my finals. So what I’m asking here is, how terrible would it be to take AP Chem and AP Bio at the same time? I don’t want to skip a year between regular Chem and AP but I also have been told more than once that Bio is more useful on the ACT (Which I’ll be taking next year). So the decision is: take AP Chem and risk the ACT score, take AP Bio and not take AP Chem, or take both and potentially stress myself to the brink of insanity.

What do I do?

2

First, take physics before contemplating any AP sciences.

I would not recommend taking both concurrently. In addition to the time commitment required by virtue of being AP’s, each requires a lot of time for labs and lab reports. For many schools, these classes are either double-periods, or require additional time before/after school.

3

My friend took both at the same time. She said it wasn’t bad, she just had a lot of homework. If you have the work ethic I think you can handle both. To compare, my friend got all A’s throughout high school, her GPA is a 4.9 weighted. So I guess it just depends if you can handle the work and if you’re good at science.

4

At my kids school, I think it would be a tough year to take both AP chem and AP Bio together. Lots of memorization involved.
My daughter is taking AP Chem and Honors Physics together this year and that is working out well for her. AP Chem is tough though and she had a high A in honors chem last year. She still has an A this year but she has had to sweat for it.

5

You are in a school with PLTW curriculum. Will you be continuing with another PLTW course next year? If you are already struggling with Chemistry and POE now, do you really want to be taking two AP level sciences plus an AP level engineering class? Not only will both of these classes demand a significant amount of your time (in and out of school), but your engineering class will as well. Don’t sabotage yourself.