At the moment, I’m taking Accelerated Chemistry (Which you could consider an honors class in other high schools, as my high school goes from regular, accelerated, and AP courses) as a freshman, so I was wondering what to take as my science class in my sophomore year.
It is often favorable to have all of biology, chemistry, and physics completed in high school (they do not all have to be at AP level), so you want to be sure to plan your high school schedule to include all of them for sciences (add an additional AP or otherwise advanced science if you like or are aiming at the most selective colleges).
Agree that you should cover all three. Taking Bio and Physics first may give you a better idea of which AP to take as a senior. Bio or Physics C May be more appealing once you get a taste of them.
Science AP also may be easier as a Senior. They are the more difficult end of the AP spectrum.
I’d take AP Physics 1 junior year, and one from AP bio, AP Chem, AP Physics 2, AP Physics C, or APES senior year, depending on what you want to major in (you could also take APES+ AP Chem or APES+ AP Bio if you really love science and plan to major in a science).
What is the normal progression of sciences?
In ours it is Bio, Chem, Physics and then an AP science.
Have you taken Accelerated Biology? When would that normally be taken?
If you haven’t taken that, I would take that next and then Junior take Physics and senior year an AP science related to your major.
I was originally supposed to take biology, but I got out of it since I started out on a higher math class (Accelerated Geometry and Trigonometry).
And yes, the progression of sciences goes from biology, chemistry, physics, and an AP science.
Then you will need to take biology (honors or AP) at some point.
science progression can vary by school. I wouldn’t say you get out of biology your just going in a different order. Colleges will look at your transcript and just not see biology. Starting at a higher math level does not imply to colleges that you have taken biology nor does it imply that you are exempt from biology so if you are applying to stem based major the colleges will probably question where biology went if you don’t have it at all.
In terms of accelerated being honors level that is a question for your school. Many schools have cp, accelerated then honors so it may or may not be honors level.
Agree - a change in math course work may have changed what was available or what you took, but it didn’t get you “out of it” from the expectation of an admissions officer.
Bio and Physics should be the next two years, in either order.
As stated above, when choosing which of the sciences to take as an AP you might consider how they relate to your college major, if you know what it will be. You can look at degree requirements of colleges to see which courses you will be likely to take in college for that major. Sometimes the quality of the teacher who teaches the AP level is just as important a factor though.
TLDR: Take both Bio (get the science trifecta) and AP Chem (will be easiest if taken directly after a chem course) next year.
Definitely take a bio course at some point. If you want to be a science major or even just take AP Chem at some point, it should probably be next year. however. As hard as AP Chem will be for a sophomore, it should come directly after your chem class otherwise there will be gaps in your knowledge. I think it would be reasonable to do both reg/accelerated bio along with AP chem if you don’t overload with other APs. Just taking AP Chem as a sophomore will be competitive enough for colleges, including ivies because sophomores aren’t expected to take that many APs, especially hard ones such as AP chem.