Hi, I am currently a freshman taking English 9 honors, Biology, Algebra 2 honors, and some other elective courses. I find this schedule very easy and received all As. Next year, a lot of people at my school are taking AP courses.I am planning on taking honors pre-calc and english 10 honors next year, but other than that I’m not sure. The AP class most sophomores are taking next year at my school is AP world history, but I am hesitant to take this class because I have heard there is a lot of writing, which I don’t enjoy, and the teacher doesn’t give out any As. Also, I found biology extremely easy and was planning on taking chemistry next year. Should I take AP chemistry? I really love math and science but have no chemistry background knowledge. I could try to study over the summer. (there is no honors science at my school). Additionally, would it be insane to take ap world, ap chem, and honors pre-calc together as a sophomore?
Does AP chemistry at your school list regular chemistry as a prerequisite?
I would not take AP world or AP Euro unless it’s your thing. AP Euro was my daughter lowest grade in her high school career, C’s both semesters. She devoted hours a day to that class and couldn’t even break into a B. If science is your thing, then by all means take AP Chem if you can as a sophomore. You’re already taking honors classes, so it sounds like you’re in good shape.
No, chemistry is not listed as a prerequisite.
Seek out and follow the advice of your current science teacher and your guidance counselor. A lot depends on how your HS is structured – for example at our HS honors chem is a prerequisite to AP chem while at some other high schools students can go right into AP chem. Also bear in mind that bio and chem are very different topics so breezing through bio is not necessarily an indicator that chem will also come easily to you.
My D is a soph, taking AP World History. It’s a nightmare in terms of how many hours of hw she has in this one class. It may just be her teacher, but it’s just absurd. The problem with a class like this is that it takes time away from other classes. I would talk to other kids in your school who have had the class and ask lots of questions about the class and teacher.
If you’re more interested in STEM, I would skip AP World and challenge yourself by taking AP Chem instead.
I am definitely a more science and math oriented person much like you. I would highly suggest AP world though, as it will teach time management in addition to a great history class. You should not go into AP Chem without a good background in chemistry. It wouldn’t be impossible just monumentally more difficult.
AP History classes teach you valuable time management skills. I took AP Euro and scored a 5 on the test, not because I did well in the class (The textbook sucked so I rarely read it), but because I researched the various topics. On the other hand if you are good at motivating yourself, you can take regular history and self-study for the AP test.
My Sophomore schedule looked a lot like the one you’re considering but I took regular chem since AP wasn’t offered to Sophomores and AP Euro. If you want to do AP Chem, the summer will be key so that you can introduce yourself to all the topics.
Look at what your possible target colleges recommend, in terms of the spread of courses. You’ll need 2-4 years of history and the more competitive colleges want that to include rigor.