Our high school has a block schedule, basically 4 full year classes each semester. Max of 2 AP’s allowed in any semester Pretty much all the “smart” kids get tracked into AP World History as Soph, AP Am History as Junior, and AP Language/Literature as Junior/Senior. AP Calc is 1.5 semesters, so that takes up 2 slots.
S18 is taking AP World History and AP Human Geography as soph. He has 7 more AP’s he can take over junior and senior year, assuming one is Calc. For class rank purposes the AP classes are weighted enough that he pretty much has to take that amount. AP Calc, Spanish, Stats are definite classes to take. He is more interested in Chem, Bio, Computer Programming and Macro Econ than in the 3 that most of his classmates will take, Am Hist and the 2 English classes. Those are the only realistic ones he can take, basically he has to eliminate 3.
My thought is since he has World History and Human Geography, he could skip American History and replace it with something else. He is not particularly interested in History or English, more of a STEM personality.
So maybe:
Sophomore: AP World History, AP Human Geography
Junior: AP Stats, AP English Language, AP Spanish, AP Comp Programming
Senior: AP Calc, AP English Lit, AP Macro Econ
Thoughts? Keep English but lose Am History seem like good idea? He will probably do better on the AP test in a non-history subject.
Why does he have to take Stats? Unless he just really wants to take it or it is a required class, I would only do Calc. And why does he have to take AP English if it looks like AP Bio and Chem could be options?
This isn’t a bad schedule for sure, but if he is more interested in STEM, I would have him take mostly take STEM-related AP’s with AP whatever else just to fill in the last few options he has. If AP sciences are options, I would definitely try to skip out on Stats and an AP English. Most schools I’ve applied to specifically have spots for giving information on any course restrictions, so if he cannot do a lot of AP English or History in favor of more STEM classes, they will understand (provided he won’t change his mind and be a humanities major).
Another point of view to consider is if you’re going to a college that accepts a lot of AP credits, taking AP English and History can be nice for a STEM major because you’ll get out of some general eds.
There is no honors History or English at our school for Juniors and Seniors, just AP. So he would have honors English as a Freshman and Sophomore, and then go to regular English as a Junior and Senior. Seems to look weird to me, plus he frankly needs to be challenged a bit in that area. Since there is no honors option, the regular English classes are not at all challenging. Having said that, I know he would rather take AP Bio or Chem and then have an English class he could blow off and still get an A. Regardless of how that looks for applications, I have a feeling that when he is writing college papers he will wish he had been challenged more in Engish, not less. I don’t know, I would like more input on that.
He really likes math and his brain just works that way. Stats will probably be a very easy class for him, and one he wants to take. Plus he will have no math his junior year if he doesn’t take it, AP Stats and AP Calc are the only 2 math classes we have that he hasn’t taken yet.
No chance he becomes a Humanities major, he doesn’t like those classes and frankly he isn’t as good at them either. He isn’t sure what direction he wants to go, but it will probably be math heavy, possibly even a math major. That’s why we are currently thinking about Comp Programming and Econ. He may love them or hate them, but better to find that out now than after he starts college. Could also be in science or engineering. But at least he has been/will be exposed to Chem & Bio in a non-AP class before college.
@dadof4kids Depending on how the colleges he is looking at award AP credit, a nice compromise might be to do one AP English and one AP Science of his choice (if he likes math, he might enjoy Chem the most). I know some colleges give ENG 101 credit for one AP and 102 for another, but others give no credit or only placement into a different case. If your son is interested in colleges mostly offering the latter (like me), he could probably afford to let go of either AP Lit or AP Lang.
AP Lang is on of the most useful Ap’s because it’s helpful for all subjects.
I’d have him take AP Calculus junior year and not break the math sequence -you say he wouldn’t take any math if he didn’t take AP stats jr year, so I’m assuming he’s taking precalc sophomore year. Stats is a different type of math. He could take stats senior year as an elective. In addition, senior year, you could see if he can take a bit more math from a local community college. Is the AP calc class AB or BC? In addition, I’d replace AP Lit with AP Chem, and let him take Regular English senior year.