I will be a junior next year & the top portion I plan on taking 11th grade and the bottom 12th grade. The grade in parenthesis indicate years that you have to take to that course obviously. Anyways here’s what I was planning on taking and I’m mostly looking for any thoughts on my schedule for next year. I know 6 AP’s are a lot, but I have 100+'s and have for the past 2 years in all 6 of my honors classes and never have any kind of work. I want a challenge and I’m really into history, but is 3 at a time too much? Also, AP bio and AP chem at my school are 2 periods long so taking that eliminates one other class. The other ones we have that I’m not planning on taking are AP 1/2 Pysch & AP Human Geography & AP Biology (2 blk. course). I’d like to not take Pysch because it’s a half semester and I wouldn’t have anything to pair it with. Also, AP Capstone is something I’m also very interested in as I’m the reason we will offer it this year and the others are mandatory so there’s not really a lot to change and move around. Anyways, what are your thoughts specifically on the history for the most part? How much do they overlap at all and if so, is it worth it? I heard AP Human Geo was fairly easy and pointless so I don’t really see a point in taking it not as a prerequisite for any class. I could drop Euro & World for AP Bio but I’d personally rather take History classes unless it’s something chemistry/physics or math related. Will colleges care at all? Will any of this help with a career in law? Sorry that’s so long ahhhggggg but thanks for taking the time to read this.
11th Grade:
AP Language and Composition (11th)
Precalculus Honors (11th)
AP Physics I
AP Eurpean History
AP US History (11th)
AP World History
AP Seminar (11th)
12th Grade:
AP Literature and Composition (12th)
AP Calculus BC (12th)
AP Statistics (12th)
AP Chemistry
AP Research (12th)
AP Macroeconomics & AP US Government & Politics
No
OMG yes. In addition to the extensive reading, it is highly likely that each will have a research project which is due at the same time.
Have you taken all 3 of them? Do you know how much reading it’d be?
I’ve taken all three classes, but took each in a different year. The workload will depend upon the teacher. My experience was about 30-45 minutes of textbook reading per night, but we also had books other than the text, essays, etc., that took up a bunch of time. Some schools also have AP exam practice as part of HW. For questions about the work, you should ask people who are currently taking the classes at your school.
Ahhh okay. And I would do that but I’m transferring to a new school next year and know basically no one espially no on who has taken any AP classes. Would you drop APEH & APWH for AP bio? I was kinda looking forward to all the history but if it’d be more beneficial to overload on too much history.
For a career in law, you do not need AP Bio. You are, however, missing a foreign language, which might be important depending upon what colleges you are targeting. If you’ve already met the colleges recommendations for foreign language, perhaps you can juggle things around by moving EH or WH to senior year, and moving, if allowed by the school, some combo of micro/macro/gov/psych to junior year.
I currently have 2 yrs in Spanish and 2 years in German which fulfills my states foreign language requirement and I know minimal isn’t good enough but I’d like to continue German if I had to pick one. The problem is that my school that I’m transferring to doesn’t offer German as an option and I’m not really interested in going back to Spanish. Government I believe is only a 12th grade class as is macroeconomics and we don’t offer taking micro at all so taking pysch would leave a semester free with nothing to pair it with which I’d like to try to avoid if possible.
It depends. For my D, AP Bio was way more work heavy than any of her AP History classes and 2 AP sciences in the same year sounds dreadful. If you’re truly a history buff, you’d probably be fine, but I’d think about doing AP World in 11th and AP Euro in 12th to break it up a bit if you can. I would not sacrifice 2 histories for one science. No way; no how.
Where are you in your foreign languages? Have you had biology at all?
I would say that as long as you have shown rigor in all areas, which you have, showing passion for one particular area is a good thing and is something colleges look favorably upon. That said, you should make these sorts of decisions based on your interests, strengths, and passions, not on what “looks good” to an admissions committee.
For the record, my D decided to forgo science in her senior year and is taking 3 literature classes. No complaints and certainly no problems with admissions – so far she has gotten into one ivy and she is being considered for a bunch of highly competitive scholarships.
Is there a non-AP semester course that can pair with this? Or don’t take psych at all and choose a year-long non-AP course. Not every course needs to be AP.
I believe sociology & genetics are the only semester classes left that I haven’t taken yet. I’d like to try to keep all AP even though I know it’ll be hard because I feel like every class I’ve ever taken is a joke and I believe I’ve taken 12 Honors in the past 2 years and people consistently don’t try and complain about even having to do work. I don’t feel like I’m challenged at all part of it being the school I’m at now which is changing next year but still though.
After not having history this year, I really miss taking it and my schedule this years feels somewhat empty. I’ve had Honors Bio & Honors Chem before. My forte is probably math and science more than anything else but I think 2 of the 3 sciences AP my school offers (physics/chem/bio) would be enough, right? Would you think ap statistics would be worth dropping senior year? If so I could get away with dropping just 1 history and 1 math for ap bio.
If you’ve already had honors bio, I’d skip AP Bio without giving it a second thought, unless perhaps you wanted to go into something like biomedical research or planned on medical school.
Statistics will be useful for any field – and in life.
As long as you have had the 3 lab sciences – bio, chem, physics – you’re fine. Take what you love.
I would agree.
I’m on the fence on this one. Personally, I think colleges stats with calculus is more valuable. But really, it’s a personal choice.
Thanks so much for both of your help, skieurope & LoveTheBard!!
If you’ve never taken an ap class before, which appears to be the case, I would take no more than 3 junior year then decide how many senior year. Taking even 3 or 4 would be pushing it, especially with the stress of transferring and not experiencing their rigor and way of doing things.
I’d modify it like this:
11th Grade ( you’re moving to a new school, its rigor may be way higher than what you’ve had so far, so give yourself some leeway to adapt)
AP Language and Composition (11th)
Precalculus Honors (11th)
AP Physics I
AP US History (11th)
AP Macroeconomics & AP US Government & Politics (would pair well with APUSH and makes sense if you really want to double up; you may have to explain your reasoning and present your 2-year plan)
German 3 online
AP Seminar (11th)
12th Grade:
AP Literature and Composition (12th) OR Honors English (often, 12th grade has cool seminars. 4 to 5 AP’s senior year is PLENTY, remember you’ll also have college applications)
AP Calculus BC (12th)
AP Statistics (12th) = > replace with AP Comparative Government?
AP Chemistry
AP Research (12th)
If you can do Dual Enrollment : German 201 dual enrollment Fall; History dual enrollement Spring.
I honestly hope it is & I’m actually in German II online at the moment as well as German I in class and it doesn’t seem that we offer German 3 online or in the classroom. & Macro & Government are 12th grade only as well so that really limits that. & we don’t offer comparative government i fortunetly but I’m self studying that now.
Since no one has said this (i think), are you planning to take AP calc AB in the summer? Cause you can’t skip from precalc to AP calc BC.
@setiwan it depends on the school, bc some schools teach AB as part of BC.